June 18, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Austin tech leader Joshua Baer, founder of Capital Factory, dies in plane crash in Laredo

Capital Factory founder Joshua Baer was killed in a plane crash on his way back to Austin from a vacation in Mexico late Tuesday night. The news was first reported by the Austin American-Statesman. Tech leaders and politicians, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Congressman Lloyd Doggett and Congressman John Carter, expressed condolences in posts on social media. "Josh has been one of the most significant figures driving innovation and entrepreneurship across America," Cruz said. "In Texas, he made our state a global leader. His impact was incalculable." The private plane crash happened on Loop 20 in Laredo, a few miles south of the city's airport. Video posted by the Laredo Police Department shows firefighters spraying the plane, which came to rest on a highway barrier after hitting a car.

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Baer founded Capital Factory, a tech investment company based in Austin, in 2009. Baer is the entrepreneur in residence for the Department of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin, according to his UT bio page, which says he lives in Austin with his wife and three children. Baer was also a speaker at the KUT Festival in May on a panel about AI in Austin. Six people were inside the plane, said investigator Jose Baeza with LPD at a news conference posted online. First responders took them out of the aircraft, but Baer did not survive. The five others on the plane, as well as the driver of the car that was hit on the highway, were taken to local hospitals and are in stable condition, said Gilberto Sanchez, the director of Laredo International Airport. Five officers were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and the plane crash caused road closures in the area.

Trump reviews slowed screwworm response, former officials say

The Trump administration’s sweeping federal spending reviews slowed government efforts to contain the New World screwworm, according to three former Agriculture Department officials and a fourth person with knowledge of the matter. USDA reviews held up funding for the construction of one facility that is crucial to slowing the flesh-eating pest’s threat to the U.S. cattle supply, according to the three former officials, who like the fourth person were granted anonymity to discuss internal decision-making. A $100 million research initiative designed to create new tools to slow the screwworm’s advance was also delayed, two of the former officials said. Skepticism from the White House budget office meanwhile delayed plans for a second facility at a Texas air base, said two of the former officials and the person with knowledge of the matter.

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“That sense of urgency wasn’t there,” said one of the former officials. “Even though screwworm was given a high priority, it did not help us get things done faster.” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has told Senate lawmakers that staff cuts had no effect on the government’s response and that President Donald Trump approved new spending to combat the screwworm early in 2025. She has repeatedly blamed former President Joe Biden’s administration for a faulty response to the threat and insists the screwworm would have arrived in the country sooner were it not for the Trump administration’s approach. “Since the initial few months of the second Trump administration, USDA has moved at lightning speed to obtain any and all necessary funding and approvals to fight New World screwworm,” USDA spokesperson Michael Abboud said in a statement. “We have aggressively moved dollars and project timelines at a pace unprecedented for [the] U.S. government, as expected of us by President Trump.” New presidents frequently review spending approved by their predecessors, but the Trump administration did not act quickly on the recommendations of career USDA staffers who sought to convey the seriousness of a potential outbreak, according to two of the former officials.

Apple price increases ‘unavoidable,’ Tim Cook says

Apple plans to raise prices on its products to offset the surging costs of memory and storage chips, Chief Executive Tim Cook said in an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal. “Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” he said. “We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.” Cook declined to offer details on the timing or scale of the planned price increases, nor which products would be affected. Apple’s next major product launch is likely to be in September when it releases the iPhone 18 lineup, expected to include a new foldable iPhone. Price increases, especially for Macs and iPads, could come sooner. Apple raised the starting price of the Mac Mini last month in between launch events.

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Skyrocketing demand for memory and storage chips from artificial-intelligence companies has pushed up their cost so much that Apple would have to raise device prices substantially to maintain its profit margins. Passing the higher cost on to consumers while maintaining its profit margin would add about $270 to the price of the next iPhone Pro model, estimates research firm TechInsights. Chips for memory and storage are key components inside most computing devices, including smartphones, laptops, game consoles, medical equipment and even cars. But now AI servers are gobbling up rapidly increasing volumes of those chips, so even a company as rich and powerful as Apple is struggling to secure supply. Since last year, when Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon began announcing big increases in their capital spending budgets, the prices for memory and storage chips have both quadrupled. TechInsights expects both prices to continue increasing into 2027. Memory, also called DRAM, and storage, also called NAND, are like elements of a mid-20th-century office: The memory is a desk that holds all the papers a worker needs to perform a task, while storage is the filing cabinet that holds everything else. Smartphones use DRAM memory to run apps currently in use; they use NAND storage to file away photos and videos, for example.

US and Iran presidents sign ceasefire agreement, but Trump says he could still resume attacks

The U.S. and Iran released the text of an interim agreement their presidents have signed to end their war on Wednesday, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to resume attacks and kill Iranian officials if they failed to honour their ?commitments. Trump, attending the G7 with other leaders in France, also withdrew at least one of his stated rationales for attacking Iran in the first place, saying it would be "unfair" for Tehran not to have ballistic missiles, having previously ?vowed to obliterate them. "We're going to bomb the hell out of them if they violate the agreement," Trump said of Iran at a press conference. "I don't want them to. I want them to honor the agreement." He also called Iranians "smart people" as U.S. and Iranian negotiators work on a permanent truce over the coming 60 days, which Trump said he hoped would usher in peace in the Middle East and lower oil prices.

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Earlier, he had said: "If I don't like it, if they don't behave, we'll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, OK?" Iran's leaders did not address the new threats while celebrating the ?moment, releasing photographs of what is believed to be the first agreement signed by both a U.S. and Iranian president since the Islamic Republic's founding in 1979. "Everything we sought to achieve through military action, we obtained several times over through negotiation; it ?was not even comparable," Iran's lead negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf told state television about the agreement, which includes the unfreezing of billions of dollars in Iranian assets. The U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran ?on February 28, assassinating the 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and military leaders on the first day. It quickly spiralled into a regional conflict that has killed more than 7,000 people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon; driven up energy prices; renewed inflationary pressures and sparked concerns about a ?major food supply crisis in developing countries.

State Stories

40+ Texas lawmakers back effort to pause major transmission lines

A coalition of Texas lawmakers (including nine state senators and 34 state representatives) are backing a legal motion against a controversial transmission line project. On Monday, State Representative Brad Buckley announced the legislators had signed an amicus brief asking to delay decisions related to proposed 765kV transmission lines, including projects like the Bell County East to Big Hill line. The brief also asks for the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) to stop evaluating projects on a case-by-case basis for now and to determine if the lines are needed at all. “The motion is intended to seek limited relief and would allow more time for route studies, environmental reviews, landowner concerns, or other project-specific issues,” a statement from Buckley’s office said.

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The Bell County East to Big Hill 765-kV transmission project, proposed by Oncor and the Lower Colorado River Authority, is designed to move power across Texas and strengthen the state grid as demand rises from population growth, data centers and industrial expansion. However, the proposed routes for the three transmission lines have seen significant pushback. “It’s going to traverse our property, not along the property lines, but right through the middle, about 150 feet from our front door,” said Burnet County resident Jan Rose. “It’s heartbreaking when you think about it,” said Rose, whose home sits up on a hill overlooking the valley to the north. “Every morning when you come out here, those power lines are going to be right in your focal point.” “The burden of this falls disproportionately on rural landowners,” Buckley said in the release. In March, the utilities filed plans with the Public Utility Commission of Texas that included 122 potential route options. Last week, administrative judges heard testimony from landowners about the proposed routes.

Talarico courted Silicon Valley donors in multi-day Bay Area trip

James Talarico has campaigned against the influence of billionaires in politics. Yet facing a must-win Senate race that could shatter spending records in one of the country’s biggest states, he’s turning to wealthy tech donors for help. Talarico attended at least four Bay Area fundraisers with prominent Democratic Party donors with ties to the tech industry in mid-April, according to copies of the invitations obtained by POLITICO, one donor and one Democratic aide with knowledge of the gatherings. They were granted anonymity to discuss private events. Talarico has vowed not to accept any corporate PAC money and backed a ban on super PACs as his race against Republican Ken Paxton accelerates toward what could be one of the most expensive Senate races in U.S. history and will determine the balance of power in Washington. Donations from the fundraisers, which have not been previously reported, were accepted on behalf of Talarico’s campaign committee, not any super PAC.

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Two super PACs, Moment of Truth PAC and Lone Star Rising PAC, have collectively pledged to spend big for Talarico. He also previously accepted PAC money in his last campaign for the state legislature. At the time, a spokesperson told POLITICO that Talarico would not “unilaterally disarm and let Texas Republicans play by different rules” while he pushed for stricter campaign finance legislation. Federal law prohibits the groups from coordinating directly with the campaign. “We already know who we’re running against: The billionaire megadonors and their corrupt political system,” Talarico said in his primary night victory speech in March. Talarico’s campaign pointed to his public comments supporting stricter campaign finance regulations. “James is the only candidate who’s outlined a comprehensive agenda to ban super PACs, ban corporate PACs, ban congressional stock trading and tax billionaires so we can fix this broken, corrupt political system,” Talarico spokesperson JT Ennis said in a statement to POLITICO. “If anyone supports taxing billionaires more and limiting big money’s influence on our politics, they’re welcome to help defeat politicians like Ken Paxton, who rake in millions of dollars from special interests then enrich wealthy donors while working Texans struggle.”

Houston bayous spared from significant flooding amid bouts of heavy rain, tropical storm

The Houston area appears to have dodged a bullet in terms of severe and widespread flooding. Tropical Storm Arthur and the heavy rainfall that preceded it largely spared the network of waterways that honeycombs the region. Rainy weather in the region had largely subsided by Wednesday afternoon. Galveston remained under a coastal flooding advisory through Wednesday night, but a tropical storm warning was scrapped as Arthur dissipated several hours after forming along the Texas coast.

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"The bayous and creeks have done really well with this event," said Jeff Lindner, meteorologist with the Harris County Flood Control District. "The breaks in the rainfall, so we get a couple hours of heavy rainfall and then we get 10, 12, 14 hours of a break, and that’s really saved us throughout this event, and so that’s given the bayous and creeks time to drain off the water before the next round comes in." Lindner said what made the difference was that, while regions to the north of Houston saw heavy rainfall, Montgomery and San Jacinto counties were mostly spared the worst effects. A 15-year-old boy drowned Tuesday evening in a flooded retention pond in Montgomery County. "That can come down the San Jacinto River and those watersheds and impact Harris County," Lindner said. Lindner said the main danger for the region in the immediate future will come not from flooding but from intense heat and humidity as temperatures soar back into the 90s as early as Thursday. The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for the Houston and Galveston region that will be in effect from 11 a.m. Thursday until 10 p.m. Friday. "The next four or five days is going to be the first taste of some really humid and hot conditions here," Lindner said, "so we need to really stress those heat precautions. Drink plenty of water. Take breaks in AC if you can."

Houston developer and homebuilder Vincent Kickerillo dies at 97

Vincent Kickerillo, a prolific real estate developer responsible for shaping much of west Houston, died June 7 at 97. Across his nearly 70-year career, his company developed more than 22,000 lots and built 16,500 homes. He transformed forested land into suburban-style homes along Memorial Drive, and established master-planned communities such as Keilliwood and Nottingham Country in Katy as well as Lakes of Parkway near the Energy Corridor. He was known for large, traditional brick houses with cedar-shingle roofs, fireplaces and open floor plans, many of which still stand today.

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“Vincent Kickerillo’s impact on the homebuilding industry and community development in our region cannot be overstated,” Aimee Bertrand, executive director and CEO of the Greater Houston Home Builders Association. “Generations of Houston builders and developers owe their careers and countless opportunities to Mr. Kickerillo.” Long before he and his wife, Mary, became familiar faces in Houston’s high-society circles, Kickerillo came from humble beginnings. The son of an Italian immigrant and sharecropper, Kickerillo was the youngest of 14 children in a low-income family in Bryan. He moved to Houston without his parents at 13, worked for Hughes Tool Co. and joined the Merchant Marines at 16, an experience his daughter said taught him the discipline he carried throughout his life. After at least 12 years as a merchant mariner, Kickerillo used earnings he won playing poker to start building houses. When he was unhappy with a builder’s work on his own Memorial Drive home, he took over construction himself. He liked the process so much he started his own company in 1957.

‘We didn’t have a lot of deer’: Screwworm threat revives old fears in South Texas

A South Texas veterinarian says older generations remember when screwworm infestations took a toll on local deer populations. Now, wildlife officials are working to keep the parasite from spreading again and threatening Texas’ $10 billion hunting industry. State officials are asking Texans to help protect the state’s white-tailed deer population from the spread of New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite spread by flies. Texas is home to more than 5 million white-tailed deer, including some of the largest bucks in the country. The herd attracts hunters and wildlife enthusiasts from across the state and beyond. Deer are among the wildlife vulnerable to screwworm infestations.

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Dr. Gaylon Wilmeth-Burleson, a veterinarian in Dilley, said older generations of South Texans still remember the parasite’s impact on wildlife before it was eradicated from the United States. “My dad can tell me stories about, you know, when he was a kid, we didn’t have a lot of deer down here anymore because of screw worm infestations,” Wilmeth-Burleson told TPR’s The Source. The timing is particularly concerning because South Texas is in the middle of fawning season, when newborn deer are especially vulnerable to infestation. “We are in the meat of the season,” Wilmeth-Burleson said. “Fawns in South Texas are born mid June through the end of July. Most of our fawns in this part of the world are June, so we are right smack dab in baby time for our deer.” Wilmeth-Burleson said newborn fawns can become infected through their navels, much like newborn calves.

Why The New York Times is expanding in Texas

For many people, Texas brings to mind politics and barbecue. “People know it as a big, red state,” said Fernando Alfonso III, The New York Times’s first Texas-based editor and the leader of a new team of reporters and editors in the state, which has been in the works since last year. But, he added, “it’s also a cultural force, from Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ fueling a Western-fashion revival, to shows like ‘Landman,’ to the endless fascination with Texas cuisine.” The new hub of Times journalists aims to capture all of that and more in its reporting. In its first six months, the team of five has covered the aftermath of the deadly flooding at Camp Mystic last summer, explored why so many people in San Antonio are still living in poverty despite the city’s booming economy, and followed a family of children who had to raise one another after their parents were taken by ICE.

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Over two interviews, Mr. Alfonso, who lives in the Houston suburb of Bellaire and joined The Times in December from The Houston Chronicle, shared more about why The Times is prioritizing Texas, how reporters navigate perceptions that The Times doesn’t understand the state and what story lines the nation should be watching. These are edited excerpts from the conversations. Why does The Times need a Texas hub? It’s a big state, an economic powerhouse, a cultural force; the stories out of Texas have been of great interest to the national New York Times audience. So the idea of creating a Texas hub is to use the state as a way to explain the phenomena to come or that are already happening across the country through different societal lenses, whether that’s business, culture, religion or, of course, politics. Texas looms large in American culture and politics. But there are distinct communities with particular approaches to civic life. How are we approaching those? It starts with just being there. You have to put in real time in a community before you can understand how it sees itself, which is often entirely different from how outsiders do. Texas is full of places and groups that are talked about constantly and understood almost never: Muslim families up in North Texas. Vietnamese communities down along the Gulf. Ranching families out near the border. And the suburbs that keep sprawling outward, reshaped by people moving from all over the country. What we’re after is how people here actually take part in civic life, where they find community, which institutions they trust, what they make of all the change around them. If living in Texas has taught me one thing, it’s that a lot of these communities don’t fit the boxes people outside the state like to reach for. The more time you spend with folks, the more tangled the story becomes — and a lot more interesting. How do you navigate perceptions that The Times doesn’t really understand Texas? I try to spend less time trying to persuade people that The Times isn’t what they think it is and far more trying to demonstrate how we work: the questions we ask, how we listen, how we verify information, why we call people back. We try to get it right. I also try to meet people where they are and take their opinions seriously. At my former newspaper, we had a longtime reader who frequently emailed me and other newsroom leaders with a barrage of criticisms. Some were justified. Many were not. I took it upon myself to meet him for coffee. We had a fairly intense but measured conversation about our coverage, the state of conservatism in Texas and the role of journalism. There was an understanding that we weren’t going to see eye to eye on everything. But there was enough shared experience that we walked away with a deeper respect for one another.

Uber plans Houston robotaxi service launch in 2027

Houston's growing robotaxi market will gain another competitor in mid-2027 as Uber, Nuro and Lucid plan to launch their own service. Andrew Chapin, chief operating officer at Nuro, said in a Wednesday announcement that Houston's large, varied metro area will allow Nuro to test its autonomous driving system across different types of roads and operating conditions. “We're excited to help bring this robotaxi service to the city through our partnership with Uber and Lucid,” he said.

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Lucid, a technology company, is manufacturing cars for the robotaxi service. Nuro, a company developing autonomous driving technology, is testing the self-driving system in cars with human monitors behind the wheel. Once the service officially launches, it will be made available through the rideshare company Uber. Nearly 100 vehicles will operate in Texas and California, running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Uber has secured a 50,000-square-foot depot facility and dedicated charging pitstop in Houston to support fleet operations. The robotaxis’ self-driving systems include cameras, lidar and radar. According to Nuro, the tests will consist of simulations, closed-course testing and supervised public-road testing. The companies said they plan to expand the robotaxis service to dozens of additional markets in the coming years. The San Francisco service plans to launch later this year.

Former San Antonio cop who fed homeless man feces-filled sandwich gets big promotion

The former San Antonio police officer accused of feeding a homeless man a sandwich stuffed with dog feces is now the chief of police of the small South Texas town of Benavides. One-time SAPD officer Matthew Luckhurst was appointed top cop in the town of about 1,100 people on June 1, Benavides City Clerk Tiffany Bazan told the Current. Benevides City Council discussed and voted on appointing Luckhurst as the town’s new chief of police on April 30, public records show. Prior to his promotion, Luckhurst worked as one of the two officers in town and earned a School-Based Law Enforcement Officer license in April 2024, public records show.

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Luckhurst was terminated from the San Antonio Police Department in 2020 following two poop-related incidents. In 2016, SAPD investigators accused Luckhurst of giving a homeless man a sandwich filled with dog shit while on patrol. A month later, Luckhurst found himself in another stinky situation over allegations he took a dump in a SAPD women’s restroom without flushing and rubbed a “brown substance with the consistency of tapioca” on the toilet seat after a female officer asked for the facilities to be kept clean. Although Luckhurst avoided being fired over the first incident on a technicality, SAPD canned the officer in 2020 over the second. Luckhurst subsequently found employment with the Floresville Police Department before being fired in 2022 amid public uproar over reporting on his rehiring in the Alamo City bedroom community. Benavides Mayor Ramiro Saenz was unavailable for immediate comment on Luckhurst’s promotion. However, Benavides’ prior police chief, Andre Hines, previously told the Current that Luckhurst met employment standards upon his hiring. “As required by the State of Texas, we have to do a background check,” Hines said. “And so when [Luckhurst] was applying for employment here with the City of Benevides, we request all information from these previous agencies that he has worked for.”

Hundreds of new river barriers arrive at the border

Nearly 300 giant cylindrical foam-filled buoys have been placed on the banks of the Rio Grande in the South Texas town of Eagle Pass, ready to be put in the international river. Frontera Foundation co-director Amerika Garcia-Grewal tells Border Report that the buoys arrived last week at the 47-acre Shelby Park, which is owned by the City of Eagle Pass and sits across the border from Piedras Negras, Mexico.

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Garcia-Grewal was able to get into the park and she took exclusive and up-close photos of the buoys, which the federal government is placing up and down the Rio Grande in South Texas. She says she is concerned about access to the park and destruction to the land. The Trump administration says the buoys — which measure 12 to 15 feet each in length, and 4 to 5 feet in diameter — will help prevent illegal immigration from Mexico. The devices are part of the agency’s “Smart Wall” system, which includes 536 miles planned of waterborne barrier flotation devices put in the Rio Grande, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. As of June 10, CBP reports that 15 miles of waterborne barrier has been put in the river, and 112 miles of the buoys are under construction.

Texas Comptroller greenlights all 8 Terafab tax break applications: Here’s what that means

The Texas Comptroller’s Office has issued formal recommendations to approve all eight tax incentive applications tied to the proposed TeraFab semiconductor manufacturing facility near Gibbons Creek Reservoir in Grimes County, clearing a major hurdle for what could be the largest industrial investment in Texas history. The recommendations, signed by Deputy Comptroller Lisa Craven and dated June 15, cover applications filed by TeraFab AI, LLC — a special-purpose entity linked to SpaceX — with both Iola ISD and Anderson-Shiro CISD. But the Comptroller’s approval is not the end of the road.

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Both Iola and Anderson-Shiro CISD received four applications for TeraFab, each with four phases. Each phase covers a separate piece of land with its own 10-year tax incentive period. The combined proposed investments could be as high as $119 billion, among the highest manufacturing investments in U.S. history. But it’s important to note that phases 2, 3, and 4 aren’t guaranteed. SpaceX’s own filings state that after completing each phase, the company will “determine whether to proceed with constructing the future phases.” The $119 billion figure — and the full job and tax projections — only materialize if all four phases are built in both districts. School property taxes are split into two buckets: maintenance and operations (M&O) and interest and sinking (I&S). M&O covers day-to-day costs like teacher salaries and utility bills. I&S covers repayments on voter-approved bonds used for things like new buildings and school buses. Under the JETI program, SpaceX would only pay M&O taxes on half of TeraFab’s appraised value for 10 years per phase — a significant discount on what would otherwise be one of the largest property tax bills in Texas history. The school district doesn’t simply absorb that loss: Texas’s school finance system is designed so the state sends additional funding to districts when their local tax base is reduced by incentive deals like this. In theory, the district gets made whole.

Will SpaceX fortunes trickle down to this Texas town?

Many of the tech bros who swing by Found Fine Art in Bastrop, Texas, are smitten with “Schoolgirl Witchblade,” a bronze statuette of a manga-style character with pigtails, a barely there bodice and a clawed hand ready for a supernatural brawl (price: $3,200). The preference seems on brand. These bros work for SpaceX, the reusable rocket and internet satellite megacorporation led by Elon Musk, who created a sexy, pigtailed, manga-style digital girlfriend for premium users of his Grok chatbot. “They ask a lot about these,” said Alexandria Lagos, a gallery sales associate, pointing to “Schoolgirl” and similar works. “Though I haven’t seen anyone buy one.” That could change. On Friday, SpaceX raised $75 billion in the largest initial public offering in history. The company employs 1,600 people near Bastrop, which means that a sizable chunk of the town’s 14,000 residents just got rich, or at least richer. On Thursday, the gallery’s owner, Jamie Howard, wore a look of subdued delight, as if she were waiting for a piñata to get whacked and the candy to drop on the floor.

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“I definitely have clients who plan to celebrate by investing in various things,” she said with a smile. “Once they cash out their shares there is going to be some delightful fallout around here.” The bounty has been five years in the making. Mr. Musk started buying land in Bastrop and Travis Counties, near Austin, in 2021, using about a dozen different private companies to snap up more than 1,000 acres. His tunneling enterprise, the Boring Company, opened here first, and Starlink, part of SpaceX, opened an operational plant two years later. The companies — plus X and a fledging residential community — form a compound on about 600 acres 10 miles northwest of downtown Bastrop, known to locals as “Elon Land.” Soon after the stock market closed on Friday, Elon Land was briefly a scene of pure jubilation. Ten SpaceX employees, dressed in jeans and black T-shirts with YOLO printed on them in large letters, gathered to celebrate at the Boring Bodega, a warehouse-size convenience store, bar and hair salon next to the Boring Company and across the street from SpaceX.

With gas tax holiday, are Texas Dems pushing ‘irresponsible’ policy for political gain?

President Donald Trump’s poorly planned war with Iran has paralyzed global shipping routes and spiked the average price of gas by about $1 per gallon nationwide. For three months, Americans have struggled to rationalize both the conflict and the painful prices at the pump, as many work several jobs and side hustles to survive the current affordability crisis. Meanwhile, Trump’s flagrant lack of concern has smashed his purported “America First” promise into bits—and Texas Democrats are scrambling to pick up the pieces. They’ve started with the cost of gas, one of the most salient barometers for the sitting president’s economic stewardship. On April 21, Texas’ Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico stood in a rainy gas station parking lot and, in his usual practiced cadence, proposed a suspension of the federal gas tax, which currently amounts to 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel. “Americans in the last election voted for two things: to end the forever wars and to make life more affordable,” Talarico said in his address. “But the people in power have done the exact opposite.”

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It’s a rather stark departure from the standard Democratic Party line, one that several other party members—in Texas and in Washington—have also rallied behind, including gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa and agriculture commissioner candidate Clayton Tucker. Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have also embraced the idea to satisfy voters on pocketbook issues. Still, several other Dems in Congress have lined up in opposition. Longtime critics of the gas tax holiday measure say that the idea amounts to scrounging for quarters in a junk drawer rather than focusing on the root cause of inflationary policies; they warn that a gas tax suspension could drastically defund public roadways and education in the long term. For years, the standard Democratic position on the federal gas tax has been to maintain (or even increase) the tax rate as a means to both shore up the infrastructure fund and curb car travel—one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. But populist “affordability” politics are in vogue for the out-of-power left as many average Americans face dire financial circumstances. Climate policy, which was all the rage for Democrats just five or six years ago, has now been sidelined as a toxic turnoff. The federal gas tax generates over $20 billion in annual revenue for the Highway Trust Fund, which covers the cost of construction and repair for highways, bridges, and mass transit. (The Texas state gas tax is a flat 20 cents per gallon for regular and diesel, which generates over $3.5 billion annually for the State Highway Fund and the Available School Fund.) A federal suspension for just five months could lead to a $17 billion deficit for the Highway Trust Fund, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Tropical Storm Arthur dissipates after forming along Texas coast

Tropical Storm Arthur formed Wednesday morning and dissipated several hours later after making landfall on the Texas coast. The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season brought gusty winds and some coastal flooding to the Galveston area and was expected to lead to rainy weather and potential flooding in the southeastern U.S. during the following days, according to the National Hurricane Center. Tropical storm warnings, which had been issued for Galveston and other coastal areas between Sargent, Texas, and Morgan City, Louisiana, were canceled Wednesday night. Galveston remained under a coastal flooding advisory until early Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

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Although the storm deteriorated after moving inland, Arthur was “expected to produce rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches, with isolated higher totals near 20 inches, through early Friday” along the upper Texas and Louisiana coasts and potentially in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, the National Hurricane Center wrote in a Wednesday night advisory. “This could generate dangerous to life-threatening flash flooding,” the advisory stated. Before Arthur formed and moved toward the Galveston area, local officials asked residents to stay aware by watching for weather alerts and flooding in the area. "If you can’t see the road, don’t drive through it. It’s not a time to try to gauge the depth of the water with your car or truck," Galveston County Judge Mark Henry said Tuesday. "If you can’t see the road, turn around, don’t drown, find another route." A flood watch for the Houston and Galveston areas, which had been set to expire Wednesday night, was called off earlier by the National Weather Service. A flood watch means conditions are favorable for possible flooding. A flood warning means flooding is imminent or underway.

County Stories

A 2nd man dies in Tarrant County Jail custody in as many days

A second man died this week at the Tarrant County Jail, according to the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office Wednesday. A 40-year-old man on Tuesday was kneeling next to his bed and failed to respond to verbal greetings from a detention officer during a routine cell check, the sheriff's office said in a press release. The officer then entered the cell after receiving no response and saw the unidentified man was having a "medical emergency," according to the press release. The man was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. “Many individuals entering our facility arrive with significant, long-term health issues related to substance abuse or other medical conditions," the sheriff's office said in a press release.

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"Our staff works diligently to identify medical and mental-health concerns through our screening process the moment someone comes into our custody. However, even with these efforts, we cannot compel individuals to follow the medical guidance provided by the doctors and nurses from John Peter Smith Hospital." The man was arrested by Fort Worth Police on a possession of marijuana less than two ounces charge. He was booked into the Tarrant County Jail Sunday. The sheriff's office said the man refused to cooperate or consent to a medical screening, which is conducted on all inmates after being booked. Another man, James Johnson, died while in custody at the county jail Monday under similar circumstances. Johnson experienced a medical emergency in his cell and also refused a medical screening, the sheriff's office claimed. Tuesday's death marks the third this year at Tarrant County Jail.

City Stories

Dallas convention center delayed until 2030

Dallas officials say a dispute over plans to redesign the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center has delayed its opening until 2030, forcing the city to relocate events expected at the facility. The $3.8 billion project has now been delayed twice, and some City Council members have raised concerns about the city’s management of one downtown's most ambitious redevelopment efforts. City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert sent a memo to council members Tuesday night flagging the latest delay. She said recent discussions about roads around the center, including at a committee meeting Monday, prompted staff to delay the planned closure of Jefferson Boulevard while city leaders consider whether to redesign portions of the project.

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The setback raises the stakes in an increasingly contentious debate over the project's future, with city officials warning that continued disruptions could cost Dallas convention business and undermine years of planning for a redevelopment expected to reshape downtown. Any delays beyond December 2030 could cost the city $1.4 million a month in lost tax revenue, according to Visit Dallas, the nonprofit responsible for marketing the city. Continued uncertainty and delays to the project give convention hotspots like Houston, Nashville and Denver a chance to snatch business from Dallas, the promotional group said in a recent report. Visit Dallas has asked the City Council to finalize a deadline for the opening – and stick to it – to prevent a further hit to the city’s reputation. The new convention center was originally expected to open in 2028 but that date was pushed back to late 2029, causing the relocation of some events. The latest delay will force nine conventions to move and a loss of about 30 conventions the city was about to book, Visit Dallas CEO Craig Davis said Wednesday.

San Antonio inches closer to buying property for Spurs arena as it prepares to talk with team owners

The city is closing in on plans to acquire the property formerly occupied by the Institute of Texan Cultures (ITC) for the planned Spurs arena. That announcement, and the pending acquisition of one of two federal buildings at Hemisfair, were part of a delayed progress update Wednesday on the $4 billion proposed downtown sports and entertainment mecca. The update came following a fiery discussion in May and a rush to vote last fall. The latest council discussion was more measured with city staff laying out various development milestones and council advocating for affordable housing, small business involvement and mobility and accessibility issues.

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Council members also said they’re eager to see the planned online dashboard, under development by the executive program manager Accenture. The public dashboard is expected in early 2027 and will track the various studies, construction and costs on the project known as Project Marvel. Last August, the council voted 7-4 to approve the framework for a $489 million city contribution to the arena anchoring the sweeping sports and entertainment district, and Bexar County voters followed it up by approving another $311 million on the Nov. 4 ballot. But the dazzling vision for the district has continued to shift since it’s gone from concept in November 2024 to actual implementation this year. Gone are plans for a new convention center hotel and hospitality school in place of a water chilling plant, and a land bridge connecting the East Side to downtown, while other pieces of the plan, like the former courthouse-turned-concert venue, have been put on pause. Moving forward at full speed are proposals for a new Spurs arena in place of the demolished ITC and an expanded Henry B. González Convention Center.

National Stories

Georgia Republicans backtrack on redistricting plans

Georgia lawmakers will not redraw the state’s political maps this month after GOP Gov. Brian Kemp called them into a special session to do so. Following a major Supreme Court ruling on redistricting this spring, Kemp asked the Republican-led Legislature to consider new congressional and state legislative lines ahead of the 2028 election, since the 2026 election is already underway. But on Wednesday afternoon, state Republican legislative leaders said they did not have enough time to take up redistricting in the current special session. “When the House learned that it was placed on the call for a special session, we knew it was not the right path forward for our state at this time. We believe that it is important to do things the Georgia way — responsibly, transparently and with ample opportunity for public input,” House Speaker Jon Burns said at a news conference at the state Capitol flanked by colleagues.

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Still, Republican leaders suggested they could revisit the issue ahead of the 2028 election cycle. “Because any changes to our current congressional or legislative districts would not go into effect until 2028, we believe it is prudent to take the appropriate and necessary time to do this important duty the right way and not to rush through it,” said Republican state Senate President Pro Tempore Larry Walker III. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday that some Republicans feared a redistricting push months out from competitive Senate and governor’s races could backfire and mobilize Democrats in the battleground state. Democrats celebrated as Republicans shelved their redistricting plans. “Republicans thought they could get away with drawing racist, rigged maps without a fight. Today, thanks to the people showing up and showing out, we won. Racist, rigged maps are dead for now,” state House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley and Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II said in a joint statement. “Fight now, vote Republicans out in November, and stop these racist, rigged maps for good.”

Pentagon chief lashes out at NATO allies and announces a review of US forces in Europe

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at NATO allies on Thursday, announcing a six-month Pentagon review of American forces in Europe whose outcome will depend on how fast the Europeans take responsibility for their own security. “This will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,” he told his NATO counterparts in Brussels. Hegseth lambasted European allies for failing to provide U.S. forces access to bases in Europe to launch attacks on Iran, calling it “shameful.”

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“These allies, they put America’s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access, basing and overflight that never should have been in question at all,” he said. Taking the microphone at the top of the meeting, Hegseth also railed against migration and gender equality policies in Europe, in remarks reminiscent to those of Vice President JD Vance in February last year that angered many Europeans. “Instead of tanks and fighters and air defenses, the focus has been on gender equity and climate change and defense austerity. Europe’s borders flew wide open, welfare states expanded, defense budgets cratered. Along with Europe’s belief in itself and its civilization,” Hegseth said. Hegseth’s comments largely mischaracterized European policies today. On defense, European allies and Canada have launched an unprecedented effort to boost defense spending and expand their armed forces. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte noted on Thursday that they spent $90 billion more on defense last year, a 20% increase over 2024. And while Europe accepted large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers more than a decade ago, most countries have tightened their borders since. The Trump administration now wants a reboot of the 32-nation organization to turn it into a “NATO 3.0” capable of deterring any threat, Hegseth said. Hegseth’s remarks came a few weeks after the United States told its allies that it would no longer supply certain warships and aircraft if one of them comes under attack. European allies and Canada are trying to work out how to plug the gaps.

Trump’s surprise DNI announcement leaves Senate Republicans reeling

President Donald Trump torched the Senate’s chances of expeditiously confirming Jay Clayton to become the next director of national intelligence on Wednesday, effectively grinding the chamber to a halt as members try to pick up the pieces following the presidential blockade. Senate Republicans had been confident they would be able to quickly confirm Clayton’s nomination this week. That move would have killed two birds with one stone — denying Bill Pulte from becoming acting DNI on Friday and potentially allowing them to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Those hopes were dashed in the wee hours of Wednesday morning with the president tying both items to unmovable business, leaving members fuming.

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“There’s some frustration,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of the mood of the conference after members convened for lunch. “702 is going to stay dark, and that’s a danger to the country during the World Cup. We have a lot of people here from around the world, and where we’ve got regimes like the Iranian regime mad at us.” “We’ve basically blinded our intelligence community,” Cornyn said, noting that 60% of the president’s daily brief, a summary of current national security threats, emanates from intelligence gathered via the spy powers. Both Democrats and Republicans raised concerns about Pulte’s credentials for the acting DNI post, and there appeared to be bipartisan support to confirm Clayton as soon as this week. Republicans have grown increasingly bothered by recent maneuvers from Trump, with a number of them coming at inopportune times. Those continued with Wednesday’s social media post that came just hours before Clayton was set to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the afternoon.

World Cup fans share videos of them trying American good. They’re a hit.

On Shaun Alexander’s recent trip to the United States, he checked off some of the classic American pastimes from his bucket list: Catch a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston, see live music in New York, visit the Alamo and try barbecue in Texas. But he also had an unusual goal: Alexander wanted to visit Bass Pro Shops in every state he passed through. “It’s just unbelievable,” said Alexander, 38, from Edinburgh. “It’s like a theme park and a museum all wrapped into, you know, a big retail store.” He is an avid fisherman, he said, but it was about much more than that. There was a model humpback whale on the roof of a location in Foxborough, Mass., that he compared to “the size of a whale that we have in one of our biggest museums in the U.K.” He added that it was “the type of thing that could really only exist in America.”

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Like many World Cup visitors, Alexander is going off the beaten path while he follows his team. Whether it’s because of the downtime between games, the routes between stadiums or the steep prices of hotels, many are getting out of big cities or taking road trips. Their itineraries may include the more traditional Statue of Liberty or the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But as millions of Americans follow along on social media, buoyed by the videos romanticizing daily life in their towns, the soccer tourists are also marveling over the everything-in-one Southern gas station chain Buc-ee’s, as well as combing through grocery store shelves and picking up Italian heroes at the local deli. “I’ve been coming to America since I was a kid, but we’re visiting places that I’ve never been,” said Sammie Bell, 30, from Hertfordshire, England, whose trip included stops in Dallas, Fort Worth and Tampa, Fla. She regarded not only the stadiums as highlights, but also the wildlife. The lizards she saw in Florida, she said, were “the animals we’d see in a zoo in England.” Alexander, who has come to be known online as Scottish Shaun, highlighted the ice machines. “In Europe, you have to fight for your ice.” For Elsa Thora, 24, who is from Stockholm, it was the fire trucks: “They’re shiny, they look really cool — just like in the movies.”

Trump-endorsed pastor suspends Oklahoma House campaign after texting scandal

Jackson Lahmeyer, an Oklahoma Republican congressional candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump, has suspended his campaign one day after advancing to a runoff, saying he did not want to be a “distraction” amid questions about the nature of his relationship with a former staffer. Lahmeyer, a megachurch pastor who is married with five children, has been mired in scandal since the Daily Mail published text messages, days before the primary, between him and a woman who formerly served as his campaign fundraiser that suggested an inappropriate relationship. In a statement Monday, Lahmeyer admitted to “crossing a boundary line through text messaging” with his former staffer but otherwise dismissed what he called a “distorted story from a British Tabloid.”

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In Tuesday’s Republican primary, Lahmeyer received 26 percent of the vote, coming in second to Oklahoma state Rep. Mark Tedford, who got 32 percent. The two were set to advance to a runoff when Lahmeyer abruptly announced he was leaving the race. “After prayerful consideration with my wife, Kendra, and my team over the last twenty four hours, I’ve made the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for Congress,” Lahmeyer said in a statement Wednesday. “I do not want to be a distraction to my family, my church, and the great people of Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, who deserve a strong conservative voice representing them in Washington,” he added. Last month, President Donald Trump endorsed Lahmeyer from a crowded field of nearly a dozen candidates hoping to succeed Rep. Kevin Hern (R), who is running for Senate. At the time, the president described Lahmeyer — who founded Pastors for Trump — as “a very successful Pastor, Businessman, and Civic Leader” who had his “Complete and Total Endorsement.”

RFK Jr. orders American exposed to Hantavirus to stay quarantined against medical advice

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered an American passenger exposed to hantavirus on a cruise ship to remain in quarantine Monday against her will and despite expert advice. Kennedy said the passenger, Angela Perryman, needed to remain isolated even though a review from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said she should be allowed to quarantine at home in Florida, according to his order viewed by The Wall Street Journal. Perryman, 47, was one of more than a dozen Americans exposed to hantavirus aboard a cruise ship earlier this spring. The group had initially been placed at a Nebraska quarantine unit. The World Health Organization had recommended people with high-risk exposure undergo quarantine at home or in a facility for 42 days “as a precautionary measure” because of the long incubation period of the virus.

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In a phone interview, Perryman said Kennedy’s quarantine order, slipped under her door Monday, was “ridiculous.” “I’m in a room 23, 24 hours a day,” she said. “It does not serve public health.” She said her quarantine was set to end on Sunday after 42 days. She expected some of the nine others in quarantine with her to head home this week. She said she believed Kennedy’s order was retaliation for speaking out against the quarantine measures. “I’m the only one here involuntarily,” she said. Courtney Spencer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said, “In the absence of proper home monitoring by state authorities, the administration’s quarantine order is necessary to ensure both Ms. Perryman’s and her community’s wellbeing.” Representatives for the White House didn’t respond to a request for comment. Hantavirus, a disease carried by rodents, typically doesn’t spread between humans. The Andes strain, which has left three people dead amid this outbreak, is the exception, but the CDC has maintained that the overall risk to the American public remains extremely low.

State Farm’s AI plan for sales agents sparks uproar. ‘A real slap in the face.’

State Farm rolled out the red carpet for its army of sales agents at a Las Vegas convention last month. Thousands who flew into Sin City on the insurer’s dime were treated to a Pink concert, a Jimmy Fallon-led singalong and selfies with the “Jake from State Farm” actor. Then Jon Farney, State Farm’s chief executive, took to the Allegiant Stadium stage and dropped a bombshell. Farney, a 33-year State Farm veteran, told his sales force he was ripping up their existing contracts. Any agent who wants to stay past 2027 will have to sign up to a new compensation deal and sales targets. “State Farm needs to change,” he said, according to a video of the event reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

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A big driver of that change: AI. The rapidly evolving technology is shaking up the industry’s decades-old sales model, paving the way for faster, cheaper, more targeted transactions. Apps and bots are reinventing how people want to buy products like insurance. Agents’ responses to the changes lighted up Facebook, Reddit and Instagram. “A lot of folks are really mad,” one commented. “Take it or leave. A real slap in the face.” The initiatives appear to be a response to State Farm’s eroding status in the industry. The insurer was this year usurped as the nation’s biggest personal auto insurer by Progressive, losing a throne it had held since World War II, according to S&P. The fast-growing Progressive sells over half its personal auto policies direct to consumers, using AI and tech to keep costs low, analysts said. State Farm, by contrast, is “the Goliath among agent-sold auto insurance,” said Michael Zaremski, an insurance analyst at BMO Capital Markets. Founded 104 years ago by an Illinois farmer turned insurance agent, State Farm grew to the nation’s biggest home and auto insurer on the back of a sprawling sales network.

Kevin Warsh’s first interest rates decision: Keep things steady

The Federal Reserve’s new chair, under immense pressure from President Donald Trump to lower interest rates, is keeping rates steady for now. It was the first test of Kevin Warsh’s commitment to maintaining the independence of the central bank as Trump continues to call for sweeping rate cuts. The Federal Open Market Committee maintained rates at 3.5 to 3.75% on Wednesday, citing economic uncertainty in the Middle East and high inflation. All twelve members, including Warsh, voted to hold rates. “Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace despite elevated uncertainty that owes, in part, to the conflict in the Middle East. Productivity growth and capital investment are strong. Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little.” the committee wrote in a statement.

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The committee also removed the easing bias, language that indicates the committee seeks to lower rates in its next meeting. Warsh has said the Fed should reel in its communications to the public about its policymaking, with Fed governors making fewer public appearances and the central bank releasing fewer economic forecasts, including “dot plot” projections. That easing language was absent from the Fed’s statement on Wednesday. Warsh’s calls to limit the Fed’s public communications rankled some on Capitol Hill. “I don’t know if I agree with Kevin on that, but he deserves to try it his way, and it may work better,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) said on Tuesday. “I’m very uneasy when the head of any government agency says they would like less transparency into their actions and thinking,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), who has accused Warsh of serving as Trump’s “sock puppet.” Economists widely expected the committee to cut the easing bias and maintain rates, as the Iran war supercharged inflation and Trump’s fluctuating tariff rates raised prices for consumers. The Trump administration has argued that oil prices will plummet when the Strait of Hormuz reopens, following the pending U.S. peace deal with Iran, but economists predict high prices for food and consumer goods will linger for months.

Copyright June 18, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved