January 14, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Trump's economic speech veers off-topic as he takes aim at Biden and Powell

President Trump gave a grievance-laden speech at the Detroit Economic Club Tuesday that touched on what he labeled a resurgent American economy but meandered into many different topics including criticism of former President Joe Biden, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Minnesota's Somali population and Minneapolis protesters. "We have quickly gone from the worst numbers on record to the best and strongest numbers and an economy that is far ahead," Trump said from the Detroit Economic Club. The speech, which comes amid polling showing his handling of the economy at a historic low, lasted just more than an hour. He touted plans to crack down on fraud, freeze federal payments to states with sanctuary cities and cap credit card fees at 10% for a year. He also teased further proposals to come on health care and housing.

click here for more

"It's unfair," Trump said in Detroit on credit card interest rates. "The rates are too high to provide further relief to hardworking Americans." But Trump spent much of his time blaming Biden for inflation rates and criticized the fed chair, Powell, whom the Justice Department is targeting in a new investigation. Trump told NBC News on Sunday he had nothing to do with the probe, but he has been criticizing Powell for months for not lowering interest rates and has been threatening to fire him. In his remarks, Trump referred to Powell as "that jerk" and said he would "be gone soon." Michigan was Trump's first domestic trip since a slew of international news – capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro; threatening military action against Iran after rising protests; seizing Greenland; trying to move forward in the Gaza peace deal; ongoing negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war – has been the president's main focus for weeks. But in the U.S., even a majority of the president's own supporters remain increasingly concerned about high costs and affordability.

Wall Street is suddenly on the defensive with the president

Wall Street thought it had an ally in Donald Trump. He’s becoming more of an adversary. The president largely delivered to investors last year, as his administration cut taxes, reduced spending and rolled back an aggressive tariff plan after it spooked markets. Now, after blindsiding Wall Street with a series of rapid-fire moves in the span of a week, Trump appears to be putting it on notice. He has sought to block large investors from buying houses, called for a cap on credit-card rates and announced restrictions on executive pay and stock buybacks. Then came the most stunning move of all: The Justice Department’s criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in what he said was an intimidation tactic to lower interest rates. “Investors thought after the April 2025 tariffs that uncertainty around policy would magically go away,” says Brad Golding, a hedge-fund manager at Christofferson Robb & Co. in New York. “Now, we’re seeing that midterm elections mean more than the profitability of banks and the stability of markets.”

click here for more

News of the investigation, which prompted JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and others in the banking world to defend the Fed, was an escalation in Trump’s pressure campaign on the Fed to lower rates. It was a clear message that voters’ concerns about the cost of living, and not investors, are now top of mind. On Monday evening, Trump issued his latest broadside against business on social media, saying he was working with Microsoft and other tech giants to make sure consumers don’t “pick up the tab” for higher electricity prices as heavy investment in artificial intelligence fuels power demand from data centers. White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement that multiple record stock market highs and rising real wages show Trump can “unleash historic prosperity” for consumers and investors alike. Investors can’t say they weren’t warned. Administration officials have spent over a year saying they were going to try to help consumers and others, even at the expense of investors. “For the last four decades, Wall Street has grown wealthier than ever before…for the next four years, it’s Main Street’s turn,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a group of bankers last April.

ICE arrested dozens of refugees in Minnesota and sent them to Texas, lawyers say

Federal immigration agents in recent days have arrested dozens of refugees in Minnesota who had passed security screenings before being admitted to the United States, according to their lawyers and immigrant rights advocates. The arrests of the refugees, who are mainly from Somalia and include children, come after an announcement last Friday that the Trump administration would “re-examine thousands of refugee cases through new background checks,” focusing on people who have yet to obtain green cards after arriving in the United States. But that announcement, by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, did not say that the refugees would be subject to arrest and transfer to immigrant detention facilities. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not respond to emailed questions on Tuesday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that detained the refugees, according to the lawyers, also did not respond.

click here for more

Michele Garnett McKenzie, executive director at the Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis, said most of the detainees were being transferred to facilities in Texas. She estimated that at least 100 people had been detained. “It’s happening very fast,” she said, adding, “It’s devastating the community.” Among the cases she cited was one of a Somali mother who was detained, leaving behind a toddler, and another family in which a mother and two adult children were detained. President Trump closed the United States to refugees from around the world on his first day in office. In November, he began targeting refugees in Minnesota, a blue state with the country’s largest Somali population, amid reports that some Somalis there had defrauded the state, collecting millions of dollars in social services that were never provided. Last week, his administration said that it was starting a “sweeping initiative” to conduct new background checks and intensive verification of refugees to check for fraud and other crimes. “The initial focus is on Minnesota’s 5,600 refugees who have not yet been given lawful permanent resident status,” said the announcement from Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Hundreds of private schools are being shut out of Texas' voucher program

Hundreds of private schools have been shut out of Texas’ new school voucher program while the state comptroller’s office awaits a decision in its bid to block some Islamic and allegedly Chinese-linked institutions. Nearly all schools accredited by Cognia, the largest private school accreditor in Texas, have been unable to submit applications in the month since the state began accepting them. As of Tuesday, only 30 of the 600 schools accredited solely by the nonprofit were added to the list of approved vendors, most of them offering only pre-K and kindergarten. The majority of those were added overnight on Monday, after Hearst Newspapers began inquiring about the issue. Applications for families are set to go live in just over three weeks. The hold-up appears to be linked to a request that acting comptroller Kelly Hancock made to the Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office on December 10, seeking a legal opinion on whether certain schools could be barred from the program for their alleged ties to the Chinese government or the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which Gov. Greg Abbott designated as a terror group.

click here for more

Hancock’s letter states that each of the schools in question is Cognia-accredited. But the pause appeared to reach beyond those targeted institutions. The Texas Private School Association told its members in December that all Cognia-accredited schools would be on hold “until the Attorney General submitted an answer to this request, or more information was provided.” Almost a third of private schools eligible to participate in the state’s $1 billion voucher program are Cognia-accredited. Another 200 are approved by Cognia and another accreditor, and some began receiving access to apply on Friday, according to the private school association. The Houston Quran Academy, a Cognia-accredited school, told Hearst Newspapers it applied in December but had not heard back. Beren Academy, a Jewish day school in Houston, said on Sunday it had not yet received an invitation to apply but was eager to be part of the new program. At least 15 Islamic-focused schools in Texas have received eligible accreditations, all from Cognia; none has been approved so far. A spokesperson for Cognia said the group was aware of a concern delaying its schools’ applications and it was working with the comptroller to find a resolution.

State Stories

Joe Rogan breaks with Trump over ‘Gestapo’ ICE operations

Podcaster Joe Rogan voiced sympathy with Americans who have expressed anger and frustration at the way President Trump’s administration has conducted immigration enforcement during his first year in office. “You don’t want militarized people in the streets just roaming around, snatching up people — many of which turn out to be U.S. citizens that just don’t have their papers on them,” Rogan said on Tuesday’s episode of his podcast, likely referring to the president’s deployment of National Guard soldiers to aid in the crackdown. He added, “Are we really gonna be the Gestapo, ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?” Rogan, who was interviewing Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), said issues concerning immigration “are more complicated than anyone wants to admit.”

click here for more

Trump’s immigration agenda reached a flash point last week following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, a Minnesota woman federal officials allege impeded an ICE operation in Minneapolis by using her vehicle as a weapon. The Department of Homeland Security has defended the officer who killed Good, while protests against immigration operations in the North Star State have grown in the days since the shooting. Polls indicate that many Americans disagree with the administration’s justification for the shooting and believe the officer should face legal action. Rogan, a prominent media voice who is particularly influential with young men, has broken with Trump on a number of issues in recent months after voicing support for the president during his 2024 campaign. Trump sat with the podcast host for a more than three-hour interview just days before the 2024 election, as part of an effort to use appearances with internet influencers and popular podcasters to shore up support among younger voters.

Democrat running for Greg Abbott's seat calls him 'most corrupt governor' in Texas history

Democratic gubernatorial candidate State Rep. Gina Hinojosa during a weekend campaign stop in San Antonio called Gov. Greg Abbott the “most corrupt governor” in the state’s history. “Texans are struggling,” said Hinojosa, an Austin Democrat. “We have the most people who are uninsured. Housing is more and more unaffordable. Our utility and electricity bills are skyrocketing under [Abbott] because of corruption.” The former Austin ISD school board trustee pointed to a September study by watchdog group Public Citizen, which found that Abbott awarded nearly $1 billion in no-bid state contracts to donors to his political campaigns. “That’s our tax dollars,” Hinojosa said. “What we know is that Greg Abbott is overseeing a system that is working against us with our own money. Texans are done with that. They want change, and that’s my message across the state.”

click here for more

Hinojosa’s comments came during a Sunday campaign event for U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett at Tony G’s on San Antonio’s East Side. Even so, Hinojosa — who declared her candidacy in October — said she wouldn’t be making an official endorsement of either Crockett or the Dallas congresswoman’s primary opponent, State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, in the state’s tightly contested U.S. Senate race. Hinojosa, who’s served a decade in the Texas House, is by and large the favorite to win the Democratic primary for governor. However, she said she’s taking nothing for granted. The state rep is ramping up her campaign to overcome not just a lack of name recognition outside Central Texas, but wide funding gap compared to the Republican governor’s nearly $100 million war chest as he seeks an unprecedented fourth term. “He can’t spend enough money to undo what people have known about him for 12 years,” Hinojosa said. “They know him. They don’t like him. So my challenge is to just get my name out there and to greet people as they change candidate who has a record of working for Texans.” Hinojosa said the state’s ongoing affordability crisis and the high rate of people without health insurance are among her top concerns. However, the outspoken school-voucher skeptic also said public education and funding Texas schools are other key priorities. “We’re all paying the Greg Abbott corruption tax,” Hinojosa said. “Our property taxes are going up under him, but we’re getting less. Where I live, 10 schools are shutting down — schools are shutting down all over this state because our money is not going towards our priorities.”

Proposed DSHS rules would increase hemp fees, ban intoxicating smokeable hemp in Texas

In accordance with Gov. Greg Abbott’s, R-Texas, September executive order, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) proposed several rule changes to tighten regulations on hemp-derived THC. Prior to the executive order, Abbott vetoed a bill which would’ve banned hemp in Texas — telling lawmakers to regulate it in a special session. Small business owners in the Texas hemp industry have several concerns with the proposed regulations. One regulation changes the definition of total THC to ban the smokable intoxicating hemp in a similar manner to how the federal government changed the total THC definition last year. Another dramatically increases fees, which hemp store operators say they can’t pay. Currently, the annual fee paid to manufacture consumable hemp is $250. Under the new proposal, it would be $25,000. On the retailer side, each hemp store would have to pay DSHS $20,000 under the proposed rule change as opposed to the current $150 fee.

click here for more

“[This] is not regulation, it’s a kill shot aimed at small operators,” Texas Hemp Farmer John Elmore told DSHS representatives at last Friday’s hearing. In an email to Nexstar, DSHS noted part of Abbott’s executive order requiring DSHS, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) and the Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension Service to “jointly conduct a study on implementation of rules similar to those in House Bill 309, 89th Texas Legislature, Second Called Session.“ HB 309, filed by State Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, was never referred to committee. It includes a proposed fee structure calling for a $25,000 hemp manufacturer’s license and $20,000 for an off-premise hemp retailers license. Still, hemp retailers think this is too much. “[We did] an analysis of how much it would take to fund all of DSHS’s inspection operations, down to the per diem meal allowance and mileage reimbursement, in order to have one agent for every 75 Texas hemp retailers in the state so that they could all be inspected annually,” multi-store operator Nicholas Mortillaro said. “It’s about $1,000 to $1,500 (per retailer)… so it’s very clear that those licensing fees have no reasonable relationship to the actual cost of regulation.” Betsy Jones, a policy advocate for Texans for a Safe and Drug-Free Youth, says those fees make sense to meet best practices for regulation.

A Dallas megadonor, a new nonprofit, and the war on ‘housing first’

On October 15, 2024, the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee held a wide-ranging special hearing in the Capitol’s underground extension. The first subject was “addressing homelessness,” an issue that affects tens of thousands of Texans on any given night. Among those who testified were elected politicians, law enforcement officials, and service providers from major cities across the state, as well as Monty Bennett—a Dallas hotelier and major conservative political donor who lacks experience providing homeless services but has given at least $127,500 combined to the campaigns of six GOP lawmakers on that committee since 2015. “I’ve taken up the charge to try to help my city with this big homelessness problem,” Bennett said. “There’s been a lot of great work, but the point is that it’s just not working, and I do believe that the state needs to get involved.” Bennett’s criticism that afternoon was relatively measured compared with the language that has appeared in the right-wing nonprofit news outlet where he serves as publisher and board member, The Dallas Express. A 2022 editorial board opinion piece, for example, was headlined “Dallas’ Office of Homeless Solutions Continues to Fail,” and another report that year proclaimed “Dallas Spends Millions on Homelessness; Gets No Results.”

click here for more

Bennett, who resides in the wealthy enclave city of Highland Park, recommended a model to the lawmakers: Haven for Hope, the primary homeless shelter in San Antonio, which, he said, could be emulated statewide. He also plugged a then-year-old Dallas nonprofit called Refuge for Renewal, where he’s a founding board member, which has proposed creating a new “transformational campus” for the homeless on approximately 50 acres of city-owned land nearly 10 miles outside downtown Dallas in Oak Cliff, a neighborhood with a history of redlining, racial segregation, and disinvestment. Tyler Arbogast, a real estate developer who briefly served as Refuge for Renewal’s executive director, was among those the committee specifically invited to testify (while Bennett spoke during the public testimony portion). Arbogast argued at the hearing that the current approach to homelessness is too fragmented, a problem that Refuge for Renewal could solve with the help of state funding. Two higher-ups with Ashford, the name of the group of hospitality companies that Bennett oversees, also testified. Refuge for Renewal has been covered favorably by The Dallas Express for the past year and a half, and Bennett has served as an apparent spokesperson for the organization. In addition to Bennett, its board of directors—according to its September 2023 state incorporation filing and its most recent federal tax filing—includes Rob Hays, who stepped down as CEO of Ashford Hospitality Trust in June 2024, and Mark Melton, a local lawyer and founder of the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center. The nonprofit’s tax filing shows $230,000 in contributions in 2024 and $239,000 in expenses. At the hearing, Bennett and co. stuck out from the crowd of ostensible experts. For one thing,Refuge for Renewal had not—and still has not—established a shelter or other form of service for the unhoused. For another, no representatives from Dallas’ established homeless service providers, including those who run the city’s two largest shelters, testified. If they had, they might have pushed back against the criticism they received in absentia, as well as Bennett’s expressed goals of rejecting what are known as “housing first” policies and shifting services for the unhoused away from downtown.

Mark Melton breaks up with Montgomery J. Bennett

Dallas writer and sometime D Magazine contributor Steven Monacelli published in the Texas Observer a story about Montgomery J. Bennett’s efforts to change how the city of Dallas serves its homeless population. Bennett is a founding board member of a nonprofit called Refuge for Renewal that seeks to create a “transformational campus” for homeless people on 50 acres of city-owned land in Oak Cliff. He is also a wealthy Highland Park resident and hotelier who publishes the right-wing propaganda site the Dallas Express and who once hired actors to stage a fake protest outside the D Magazine offices and hold signs calling me a racist. He is married to Sarah Zubiate Bennett, who co-founded the Dallas Express and who was recently arrested at JFK airport for possessing brass knuckles, but that’s really neither here nor there. Monacelli’s story is titled “A Dallas Megadonor, a New Nonprofit, and the War on ‘Housing First.’” The subtitle is “A scheme to relocate the unhoused out of one Texas city’s downtown sheds light on a larger right-wing takeover of federal homelessness policy.” I was surprised to read that attorney Mark Melton sits on the board of Bennett’s Refuge for Renewal. Melton is the founder of the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center. We profiled Melton in 2024. Correction: Melton used to sit on Bennett’s board. As I said, the Texas Observer published its story yesterday. Today Melton posted to Facebook a resignation letter that he sent to Bennett. In it, Melton says, “Perhaps this letter comes later than it should have.” He goes on to say, “I have watched with increasing concern as [Refuge for Renewal’s] rhetoric around homelessness has escalated from something that at first seemed altruistic to something more punitive, as if homeless people were themselves the problem instead of fellow human beings in need of a solution.” It’s a well-written letter. I encourage you to read it in its entirety:

click here for more

Dear Monty, Please accept this letter as my resignation from the board of directors of Refuge of Renewal, effective immediately. In our early meetings about the creation of this organization and its mission, we discussed how we might help our neighbors in need by providing them a one-stop-shop for necessary services to get them back on their feet, modeled after Haven for Hope in San Antonio. But I think I was clear in those discussions that I had no interest in being associated with any kind of program that would effectively criminalize poverty. Perhaps this letter comes later than it should have. Since that time, I have watched with increasing concern as the organization’s rhetoric around homelessness has escalated from something that at first seemed altruistic to something more punitive, as if homeless people were themselves the problem instead of fellow human beings in need of a solution. But the problem is not the unhoused people that we all co-exist with in our city; it’s the poverty that plagues them. And if the rest of us truly want to solve what some would view as “our” problem, we can do so only by solving theirs first. It has always been, and continues to be, my strong belief that social problems can only be solved by identifying and addressing the root causes, not simply removing the problem from the sight of those lucky enough to be unafflicted. Unfortunately, those root causes in this case are many, and they have only been compounded in recent years by brutal economic conditions that have made it exceedingly difficult for many people to afford basic needs. Homelessness will not be solved by forcing people to be “shipped off” to a place where they are out of sight and out of mind. It will be solved through smart policies that address poverty. Often, those living in poverty do so not because they have chosen their station, but because they had no choice at all. The solution is to provide them choices they cannot otherwise afford alone, not paternalistic mandates that wrongly presuppose that personal responsibility and accountability are magical cures to a disease that really is just a symptom. Though I appreciate your efforts to reach across the aisle to collaborate on an issue as important to our community as homelessness, it seems to me at this point that our respective ideas on how to address it are incompatible. I was hopeful in the beginning that despite our vastly divergent political views and personal philosophies, this might be an issue where we could find common ground and help our neighbors, together. But it seems this is not the issue where we will find ourselves substantially aligned. Sincerely, Mark Melton

Jurors hear school police officer talk of ‘mistake’ before Uvalde shooting

Jurors heard the first explanation from former school district police officer Adrian Gonzales of what he did before the Uvalde massacre when an interview he had with investigators was played in court Tuesday. Prosecutors showed the interview after questioning Texas Ranger Ricardo Guajardo, who talked to Gonzales the day after 19 children and two teachers were shot dead at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022. The attack remains one of the deadliest US school shootings, a continuing scourge that has spurred security measures in classrooms across America. The interview was one of the first conducted after the massacre as investigators tried to find out what happened with the gunman and why it took law enforcement 77 minutes to stop him after he entered the school.

click here for more

It’s now a key piece of evidence in the trial. Gonzales has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of endangering or abandoning a child. Prosecutors say Gonzales was told where the shooter was heading before he entered Garcia’s building and failed to delay or distract him. The interview was played toward the end of a dramatic day in the Corpus Christi courtroom that began with teachers who were shot, heard testimony from a father who went to Robb Elementary to find his daughter and ended up being in the group that killed the gunman, and also witnessed an outburst from an anguished relative in the public gallery. The distraught sister of a teacher killed in the Uvalde school massacre disrupted the trial of an officer accused of not doing enough to stop the shooter. The judge told the jury to disregard the outburst, which happened at the end of the morning sessions, and warned that further outbursts may result in a mistrial.

Texas creates a new path for rape kit testing

Nationally, about one in three survivors of sexual assault ever report their experiences to law enforcement, according to the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network. Texas is betting that gap is partly about what comes after a report, and a new state program now allows rape kits to be tested for DNA without filing a police report. Texas lawmakers say that gap is what House Bill 1422 was designed to address. The new law took effect in December through a “limited consent for DNA testing program,” allowing survivors to have sexual assault evidence tested without a police report – a shift supporters say could provide answers without forcing survivors into the criminal justice system. “I am proud to have authored this law to provide another option for survivors to have evidence kits tested,” HB 1422 author state Rep. Lacey Hull, a Houston Republican, wrote in a Texas Department of Public Safety press release. “

click here for more

“We know that making a report to law enforcement is a tremendously difficult decision. It is my hope that by providing an alternative testing option, we will empower survivors to subsequently make reports, and ultimately increase prosecutions of sexual assaults.” Under the new DNA testing program, survivors can undergo a forensic medical exam, have evidence collected, and receive limited DNA results directly through the state’s electronic Track-Kit system. DPS began accepting kits under the program on Dec. 1. The testing itself is intentionally narrow. Within 90 days of receiving a kit, DPS reports only one result to the survivor: whether foreign DNA was obtained, yes or no. The analysis does not identify whose DNA it is, and the results are not entered into the Combined DNA Index System or shared with law enforcement or prosecutors unless the survivor later files a police report and signs an additional consent form. Evidence collected under the program is stored for up to five years. After that five-year mark, survivors are notified through Track-Kit and given three months to decide whether to release the evidence to law enforcement before it is destroyed.

Kerr County moves forward on warning system after deadly floods

Kerr County commissioners on Monday voted to move forward on a flood warning siren system in the wake of the July 4 flooding last year that left more than 100 dead along the Guadalupe River. Commissioners approved an agreement with the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, or UGRA, to create the flood warning system. UGRA General Manager Tara Bushnoe told commissioners the agreement creates a mechanism for her agency to seek state water development board funds to help pay for the system.

click here for more

"This really continues our partnership between UGRA and Kerr County to make significant advances on the flood warning system for our community." The sirens could be used to alert those on the riverbanks about rising waters. During the July flooding, the river rose 26 feet in just 45 minutes, inundating summer camps and low water crossings. County officials have said they hoped to expedite the installation of such a system to protect the local summer camp industry. Many campers have said they did not plan to return to summer camps in the area this year after the deadly floods swept so many campers away before sunrise on July 4.

Tarrant Democrats seek to remove all GOP judicial, 2 Texas House candidates from ballot

The Tarrant County Democratic Party challenged the eligibility of all 41 Republican judicial candidates and two for Texas House in the March 3 primary election, seeking to remove all 43 from the ballot. Democrats announced they formally challenged the filings Tuesday morning, alleging that the candidates submitted applications with multiple errors. The action came roughly a week after local Republican Party chairman Tim Davis challenged seven Democratic candidates. “These aren’t minor errors,” Allison Campolo, chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, said in a press release. “We’re talking about petitions that don’t meet basic legal requirements, even though it’s very clear about what is needed for a candidate to appear on the ballot.” To run for a judicial position in Tarrant County, candidates must collect at least 250 voters’ signatures on a petition in support of their candidacy. In lieu of paying a filing fee, candidates can collect a total of 750 signatures.

click here for more

Campolo alleged some GOP election applications had altered candidate information, incomplete or missing voter signature information and missing details as well as redacted public information such as signers’ birthdays. Davis, the GOP chair, said in a statement that Republicans received the challenges and are beginning their review. “From the first pass, it appears the Democrats were about as sloppy with their challenge as they were with their original filings,” Davis wrote, adding that he noticed several typos, formatting issues and legal errors in the Democrats’ challenges. The majority of the challenged candidates are running for the 39 judicial and justice of the peace positions in Tarrant County up for grabs in November. One seat has multiple Republican candidates contending, and all but three of those positions are held by Republican incumbents. Democrats have 17 candidates running for those spots. If any of either party’s candidates are removed from the March ballot, leaving them without a November nomination, the parties’ executive committees can select replacement nominees. Those wishing to appear on the November ballot can file as a write-in candidate in races that saw candidates declared ineligible.

Hood County renames Granbury road after conservative activist Charlie Kirk

Hood County leaders renamed a stretch of road after Charlie Kirk Tuesday to honor the conservative leader four months after his shooting death. Changing Williamson Road to Charlie Kirk Memorial Parkway, the naming follows a similar move by county officials in Florida. Florida and Utah legislatures are also attempting to pass through bills that would rename other roads in his honor. "He was a steadfast voice for moral clarity and truth in public discourse, declaring that: 'Truth is not relative. It is eternal, and it must be defended,'" the Hood County proclamation reads. "And through this conviction, he inspired countless individuals to stand firm in their beliefs and uphold the foundational values of our republic."

click here for more

Hood County commissioners announced a dedication ceremony for Feb. 21. Kirk, who was killed during a debate at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, was well known for debate events with students on college campuses across the U.S. He founded Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization with thousands of chapters across high schools and colleges. The organization’s goal is to "identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government," according to its website. In the wake of his death, conservatives from local activists to President Donald Trump quickly rallied to honor Kirk. Trump awarded Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom — one of the highest civilian awards someone can receive — after his death. State and federal governments also quickly came down on people who criticized Kirk in the wake of his death. The Texas Education Agency investigated hundreds of teachers over their comments about Kirk, which sparked a lawsuit against the TEA by one of the largest teacher unions in Texas. The U.S. Department of State revoked at least six visas for people the agency said "celebrated the heinous assassination."

'Shamwow Guy' drops cleaning supplies on Texas doorsteps as part of his run for congress

The Republican primary in Texas’ 31st District took an odd turn this week as the once-ubiquitous pitchman from the Shamwow infomercials dropped off his namesake cleanup rags on voters’ doorsteps, according to the Quorum Report. The “Shamwow Guy” — whose real name is Offer Vince Shlomi — announced his candidacy in November for the House seat currently held by 84-year-old Republican U.S. Rep. John Carter.

click here for more

The Israeli-born infomercial pitchman is running on a MAGA-style platform, promising to “soak up the swamp” if elected to Congress and railing against “wokeism.” However, he doesn’t appear to have gained much momentum beyond some news coverage based his past TV exploits. His campaign doesn’t even have a website, for example. Just the same, Shlomi appears to be taking a grassroots approach by leaving Shamowow rags on doorsteps around Georgetown, as noted by Scott Braddock, the veteran Texas political reporter behind Quorum Report. Shlomi faces a crowded field in the Republican primary for the district north of Austin. Ten other candidates have filed to run. That list includes far-right firebrand Valentina Gomez Noriega, whose controversial campaign tactics have included burning a Quran with a flamethrower.

Fort Worth education leaders stress the value of choice for city’s families

Choice and innovation is essential across all school systems in order for children to thrive, even if it comes in different forms, according to Fort Worth education leaders. Representatives of the nonprofit The Miles Foundation, the parent advocacy group Parent Shield Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Independent School District shared their insights Tuesday night on how the city’s education ecosystem is evolving to meet the needs of students and parents . The speakers touched on topics such as Education Savings Accounts, public schools of choice and school performance data at an event hosted by Leadership Fort Worth at the Stage West Theatre in Near Southside. The speakers gave individual presentations and addressed questions from the crowd of attendees who filled up about half of the 144-seat venue.

click here for more

Texas’ new $1-billion Education Savings Account (ESA) program was the main topic of conversation with pros and cons of the controversial program shared by The Miles Foundation President and CEO Grant Coates, and Parent Shield Fort Worth Executive Director Trenace Dorsey-Hollins. Although both agreed that school choice is necessary for families, their opinions differed on what school choice should entail. The ESA program, frequently compared to school vouchers, provides families with about $10,000 in public funding for private school education, which is about 85% of the average state and local funding per student in public schools. Students with disabilities can receive up to $30,000 through the program while home-schooled students qualify for up to $2,000. When looking at income levels based on a family four, the program funding prioritizes students with disabilities whose families earn about $160,000. Then, students whose families earn less than $64,300 are prioritized next. The final qualifying groups are, in order, families who earn between $64,299 and $160,749, which is followed by families who earn $160,750 or more. Applications open next month to families, and the program begins in the 2026-27 school year. Advocates call it a win for school choice expansion while opponents say it will have a negative impact on public schools.

'You gon' see the Brooklyn in me': Eric Adams gets into tense argument with woman at Dallas-area airport

Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams was involved in a public back-and-forth with a woman while deplaning a flight at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and it was all caught on video. In the 30-second clip, which was shared to Reddit before widely being circulated online, Adams is seen talking to a white woman who says the former mayor threatened to punch her in the face. “Eric Adams, please punch me in the face,” the woman says. “Eric Adams, I would love for you to punch me in the face.” “I’m not mayor anymore, so go f–k yourself,” Adams tells the woman. “I’m not mayor anymore, those days are over.”

click here for more

The woman, who appears to be thankful Adams is no longer in charge of NYC, begins to walk past him, saying she’s glad she doesn’t have to see “his ugly ass face everywhere,” before he brushes up on her and tells her, “You’re gonna see the Brooklyn in me.” A spokesperson for Adams says the video does not show the full context of the exchange, and Adams, now a private citizen, was being harassed by the woman. “The clip is selectively edited, lacks critical context, and misrepresents what actually occurred,” Todd Shaprio said. Adams’ public spat with the woman is the latest in a series of unflattering headlines toward the former leader of New York City. According to Fortune, a cryptocurrency hawked by Adams on Monday (Jan. 12), dubbed NYC Token, crashed after its market cap was up $600 million. Insiders believed the NYC Token was yet another “rug pull,” a common practice in crypto where a meme coin’s creator inflates the worth of a coin, then quickly withdraws funds from the project, rendering the coin mostly worthless. Analysts believe the NYC Coin creator withdrew $2.5 million worth of cryptocurrency from a pool of coins established to facilitate trading hours after its launch. Adams was once indicted by felony prosecutors in 2024 on several counts, including bribery, fraud and soliciting a contribution by a foreign national in relation to Turkish nationals influencing his mayoral campaign. After Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, the Justice Department ordered prosecutors to drop all charges against Adams and a judge later dismissed his case.

Prominent Dallas architects say City Hall is sound, efficient and worth saving

Prominent Dallas architects have shot back at notions that the City Hall building downtown is functionally obsolete, saying it may be cheaper to renovate the I.M. Pei-designed structure than moving the operations to a nearby office tower. In a newly released position paper, the architects said City Hall’s layout and structural integrity remain well suited for modern government use, even as developers and some civic leaders insist the building’s condition and long-term costs require a broader rethink. “Dallas City Hall is a building constructed to last 100-years or more,” the architects said. “Casual comments about the building ‘falling down’ and failing structurally are inaccurate and highly misleading.” But developers and some former city leaders say the report downplays aging systems, operating costs and the opportunity to unlock prime, city-owned land. They argue the building’s repair costs may top $400 million.

click here for more

“For me, the big decision is not just City Hall,” former Mayor Tom Leppert told The Dallas Morning News last month. “It’s how we make a great downtown.” That clash over priorities has sharpened with the architects’ latest report. That same group in December said major redevelopment, including a potential arena, could be accommodated on other underused downtown sites without tearing down City Hall. Critics of that idea said the other sites aren’t as simple or available as the architects suggested as some of the options are privately owned. In the new paper, the architects question relocation as a solution. They note that downtown office towers often cited as alternatives for City Hall, including Bank of America Plaza, Comerica Tower and the AT&T Whitacre Tower, were built in the late 1980s. They are only slightly newer than City Hall and lack the parking, security and public access features of the current civic complex. “A lot of people are leaving those towers for the same reasons AT&T did,” Larry Good, one of the report’s authors, said Tuesday. The architects also said the four-acre plaza and surrounding grounds could be remade into a more active civic space, with greenery, food, art and amenities that help anchor a revitalized southern sector downtown.

National Stories

Six prosecutors quit over DOJ push to investigate Renee Good’s widow

Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned on Tuesday over the Justice Department’s push to investigate the widow of a woman killed by an ICE agent and the department’s reluctance to investigate the shooter, according to people with knowledge of their decision. Joseph H. Thompson, who was second in command at the U.S. attorney’s office and oversaw a sprawling fraud investigation that has roiled Minnesota’s political landscape, was among those who quit on Tuesday, according to three people with knowledge of the decision. Mr. Thompson’s resignation came after senior Justice Department officials pressed for a criminal investigation into the actions of the widow of Renee Nicole Good, the Minneapolis woman killed by an ICE agent on Wednesday. Mr. Thompson, 47, a career prosecutor, objected to that approach, as well as to the Justice Department’s refusal to include state officials in investigating whether the shooting itself was lawful, the people familiar with his decision said.

click here for more

The Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, said in an interview that Mr. Thompson’s resignation dealt a major blow to efforts to root out rampant theft from state agencies. The fraud cases, which involve schemes to cheat safety net programs, were the chief reason the Trump administration cited for its immigration crackdown in the state. The vast majority of defendants charged in the cases are American citizens of Somali origin. “When you lose the leader responsible for making the fraud cases, it tells you this isn’t really about prosecuting fraud,” Mr. O’Hara said. The other senior career prosecutors who resigned include Harry Jacobs, Melinda Williams and Thomas Calhoun-Lopez. Mr. Jacobs had been Mr. Thompson’s deputy overseeing the fraud investigation, which began in 2022. Mr. Calhoun-Lopez was the chief of the violent and major crimes unit. Mr. Thompson, Mr. Jacobs, Ms. Williams and Mr. Calhoun-Lopez declined to discuss the reasons they resigned. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tuesday’s resignations followed tumultuous days at the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota as prosecutors there and in Washington struggled to manage the outrage over Ms. Good’s killing, which set off angry protests in Minnesota and across the nation.

Trump makes obscene gesture, mouths expletive at Detroit factory heckler

President Donald Trump made an obscene gesture with his middle finger and mouthed an expletive to a factory employee who shouted at him during a tour of a Ford plant in Michigan on Tuesday — a reaction the White House said was “appropriate” given the heckling. A cellphone video captured Trump, who was visiting the Ford F-150 plant in Dearborn, twice mouthing “f--k you” as he pointed to someone calling up tohim from the factory floor below. The president subsequently raised his middle finger toward the heckler as he continued walking. He then waved. Out of frame in the video, a person can be heard yelling “pedophile protector” just before Trump mouthed the insult — an apparent reference to the Trump administration’s handling of the investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

click here for more

White House communications director Steven Cheung confirmed that the scene captured in the video was authentic. “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” Cheung said in a statement to The Washington Post. The incident was not the first of its kind in modern memory. In 1976, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller (R) was photographed raising his middle finger toward university students in upstate New York. TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old United Auto Workers Local 600 line worker at the factory, told The Post that he was the one shouting at Trump. He said he has been suspended from work pending an investigation. “As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever,” Sabula said, though he added that he is concerned about the future of his job and believes he has been “targeted for political retribution” for “embarrassing Trump in front of his friends.” Sabula identifies as politically independent and said he never voted for Trump but has supported other Republicans.

The AI Super PAC fight that might shape the midterms

An artificial intelligence industry PAC plans to pour over $100 million into this year’s midterm elections in hopes of getting more industry-friendly lawmakers into office, but the path to an AI-friendly Congress might not be an easy one. Its first target is Alex Bores, a Democrat running to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler in New York. The state Assembly member, a former Palantir engineer, successfully pushed the RAISE Act, one of the first state-level AI safety laws. If elected to the House, he wants to create more safety regulations for AI development, chatbots and data centers. Those views have earned him opposition from Leading the Future, a super PAC network that intends to influence AI policy in Washington and released an ad targeting Bores over his pro-AI regulation stances late last year. Bores said the spending planned by Leading the Future is outsized but also unsurprising.

click here for more

“These are people who want unbridled control over the American workforce or American education system, over our utility bills, over our climate,” Bores told NOTUS. “If they get that, that is worth a lot of money to them. And so, while $100 million is an insane amount for anyone to be spending, in some sense it’s just a [venture capital] investment for them, because their returns could be trillions,” Bores added. Leading the Future is backed by major donors to President Donald Trump, like Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman. The super PAC pledged major spending in the midterms in a push to replicate the crypto industry’s successful push for a friendlier Congress. The super PAC has money and influential backers, but it’s up against public skepticism of AI and wealthy pro-regulation donors. Another network of super PACs, called Public First, is serving as its counterpoint by pledging $50 million to support candidates who support AI regulation from both parties this year. As competing super PACs try to secure wins for candidates on both sides of the AI legislation debate, Bores’ campaign could become a test to see if money can ease Congress’ apprehension toward AI.

Why the renovation of Federal Reserve headquarters costs $2.5 billion

For months, the renovation of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters in Washington has been a subject of friction between the White House and the central bank. On Jan. 11, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Justice Department had issued subpoenas in advance of a possible criminal indictment related to the ongoing work. The cost of the work has ballooned to $2.5 billion, and allies of President Donald Trump have previously pressed for an investigation. Powell described the DOJ inquiry as a pressure campaign led by the White House. Any evidence of mismanagement or fraud, as Trump administration officials have suggested, could prove a useful pretext for removing Powell, who the president has repeatedly lambasted for interest rates higher than he’d like.

click here for more

Powell’s critics have pointed to certain features of the building plans as ostentatious, including vegetated roofs and changes to the elevator. The Fed has said the price tag for the renovation has more to do with the challenges of building — particularly underground — in what was once a swamp near the Tidal Basin along the Potomac River. The ongoing renovation and expansion of the historic 1937 building that houses the Fed, plus an adjacent 1931 federal building, has faced setbacks, with costs for the long-overdue rehab climbing more than 30% since 2023. Foundation work for the Fed expansion was so difficult that contractors responsible for the job received a 2025 award for “excellence in the face of adversity” from the Washington Building Congress, a building trades association. Powell has defended the renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters as transparent. He responded to Vought’s claims in a letter on July 17, saying that the gardens are merely green roofs, for example, and the elevator is being extended to accommodate disabled users. And in a video and written statement on Jan. 11, Powell said that the DOJ’s move “should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure.” The project was always going to be tricky, with initial cost estimates pinned at $1.9 billion. Construction on the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building and the adjacent Federal Reserve East Building involves adding new office space, removing asbestos and lead, and replacing antiquated mechanical systems. Neither the Eccles Building — an austere edifice designed by Paul Cret and dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt — nor the East Building has been fully renovated since they were built almost a century ago.

Battle for public funding of Christian schools expands

The ongoing effort to seek government funding for Christian public schools failed in Oklahoma last year, but advocates are trying again with Christian public schools in Colorado and Tennessee and a Jewish public school in Oklahoma. The Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 last May in a case over the constitutionality of the proposed St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself, setting up 4-4 tie that preserved Oklahoma’s constitutional ban against funding religious public schools. It was a rare loss for the powerhouse legal group Alliance Defending Freedom. But ADF didn’t take no for an answer. It went to Plan B: Working with Colorado conservatives to create a new Christian school that could give all nine members of the Supreme Court another opportunity to consider the issue.

click here for more

A new Christian school called Riverstone Academy opened with about two dozen students in Pueblo, south of Colorado Springs, last August. Founders decided not to inform state education officials about the school’s Christian orientation. Officials learned in October that Riverstone is a Christian school. The school hasn’t yet received any public funds but is requesting them, which would violate the state constitution, possibly setting up the new test case ADF seeks. Riverstone was founded with the help of Forging Education, a Colorado nonprofit that operates a network of private Christian schools and provides programs for homeschooled students, reported the Washington Post. “Our culture has become hostile to the Christian faith, and the public school system is the primary perpetuator of the secular, progressive worldview,” says Forging Education’s website. “Christians increasingly see the need to protect their children while still providing a quality academic education with a solid spiritual foundation.”

Experts who once backed 'shaken baby' science now fight to free imprisoned caregivers

Brian Wharton, the chief detective of a small police force in East Texas, had seen his share of tragedies on the job, but he had never handled a case like Robert Roberson’s: In January 2002, Roberson, a 35-year-old single father, arrived at the emergency room with his 2-year-old, Nikki, limp and bundled in a blanket. Roberson said the girl had fallen from bed overnight, but when nurses and doctors evaluated her severe head injuries, they grew suspicious. Wharton led the investigation. Specialists later found that Nikki must have been beaten, violently shaken or both. Roberson denied having harmed her; Wharton believed the experts. On the day the toddler was removed from life support, her father was charged with capital murder. Wharton testified for the prosecution. Roberson was convicted and sentenced to death. Fifteen years later, Wharton did something extraordinarily rare: He changed his mind. Presented with new evidence that cast doubt on the medical experts’ certainty about what happened to Nikki, Wharton determined that he had made a mistake.

click here for more

Now, he’s one of Roberson’s most vocal allies. He has attended legislative hearings and written clemency letters declaring his strong belief that Roberson is innocent and shouldn’t become the first person in the United States to be executed based on a “shaken baby” diagnosis. “The foundations of our case were built upon bad science,” Wharton said recently after his monthly visit to Roberson on death row. Thousands of caregivers have been arrested since the early 1980s based on the medical belief that young children hospitalized with three symptoms — brain swelling, bleeding in the brain and bleeding at the back of the eyes — must have been forcefully and deliberately shaken. Many doctors and pediatric associations remain steadfast in the view that those symptoms help prove that a child has suffered what is now often called “abusive head trauma.” But a growing number of medical and forensic experts say the diagnosis is too definitive, particularly in the absence of other signs of abuse. Accidental falls from changing tables can similarly jostle the brain.

Neil Gorsuch is the wild card in the Supreme Court’s trans athletes cases

All eyes were on Justice Neil Gorsuch on Tuesday, as the Supreme Court deliberated two cases on the rights of transgender athletes. The court appeared poised during oral arguments to uphold two laws, one in Idaho and one in West Virginia, that restrict trans athletes’ participation in women’s and girls’ sports. But Gorsuch cemented himself as a wild card among the court’s conservative justices when it comes to cases affecting LGBTQ+ people, undercutting the states’ arguments that they are not uniquely discriminating against transgender Americans. The stakes of such an argument from Gorsuch are big; if the high court views transgender Americans as a protected class, and under a heightened standard of scrutiny reserved for discrimination cases, it would make it much more difficult to enact the kinds of laws Republicans are pushing targeting trans people.

click here for more

The Supreme Court tends to rule against laws it determines are discriminatory. And on Tuesday, Gorsuch showed he was open to viewing these cases in that light. “There’s another way to think about the case … that is that transgender status should be conceived of as a discrete and insular class, subject to heightened scrutiny in and of itself given the history of de jure discrimination against transgender individuals in this country,” Gorsuch said, challenging Alan Michael Hurst, Idaho’s solicitor general. Hurst acknowledged that there has been “significant discrimination against transgender people in the history of this country,” but argued it’s not the same as discrimination against Black people and women. Gorsuch pushed back on Hurst. “You start by saying you don’t question that there’s a history of discrimination … and then you, well, but they don’t classify on that basis. How should we think about that?” Gorsuch asked, referring to transgender people. Hurst responded by saying that laws that have been struck down that have discriminated against women and Black people, for example, explicitly mentioned them. Idaho’s law, he argued, does not specifically say it targets trans people.

Eric Adams’ crypto coin accused of scamming investors, hijacking trademark

Eric Adams’ post-mayoral debut in the world of crypto currency ran into a bit of a buzz saw this week, with his new coin, The NYC Token, plunging in value shortly after he announced it as the “future of digital currency” at a frigid Times Square event. The token opened at 60 cents per share Monday afternoon and almost immediately sky dived to 10 cents a share. By Tuesday it was trading at around 13 cents, and the company running it had removed liquidity from the equation. Sites that cover crypto quickly accused developers of The NYC Token of “rug pulling,” effectively triggering big losses for those investors who jumped in at the start. Meanwhile, a self-proclaimed tech entrepreneur, Eddie Cullen, reached out to THE CITY to say he was shocked about Adams’ announcement, claiming that he’d pitched the idea to the then-Mayor last summer and even trademarked its name NYCToken.

click here for more

The ex-mayor, who was on the road in Dallas Tuesday, was unavailable for comment. And it was unclear what, if any effect the drop in value had on the deep-pocket investors backing Adams’ project. None of them have been disclosed. But a spokesperson for The NYC Token, Elissa Buchter, acknowledged the dip in value and the removal of liquidity, but insisted that the secret team backing the endeavor took nothing from the account. Team members are entitled to a 10% cut of profits. “After the launch of NYC Token, there was a lot of demand. Our market maker made adjustments in an attempt to keep trading running smoothly, and as part of this process, moved liquidity,” Buchter wrote in response to press inquiries. “The team has not sold any tokens and is subject to lockups (on sales) and transfer restrictions. THE TEAM HAS NOT WITHDRAWN ANY MONEY FROM THE ACCOUNT.”

Copyright January 14, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved