March 3, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Autopsy reveals new details in self-immolation suicide of Tony Gonzales aide

Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, the congressional aide who had an affair with her boss, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, was legally intoxicated when she set herself on fire in her backyard in Uvalde, according to an autopsy report obtained by the San Antonio Express-News. Santos-Aviles, 35, had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.094 grams per deciliter, according to the five-page report from the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office. After lighting herself ablaze on the evening of Sept. 13, 2025, Santos-Aviles was flown to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where she died the next morning. It is illegal to drive in Texas and all other states with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 grams per deciliter or higher.

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There is no evidence Santos-Aviles drove while intoxicated that night, but the toxicology results suggest her judgment may have been compromised. At a blood alcohol level of 0.08 — less than what was in in her system — “judgment, self-control, reasoning and memory are impaired,” and it is “harder to detect danger,” according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In the hours before she soaked herself with gasoline and ignited the fluid with a handheld lighter, Santos-Aviles went to an Applebee's restaurant in Uvalde with longtime friends and members of their family, according to reports by police investigators. A member of the family told police Santos-Aviles had one alcoholic drink at the restaurant, and afterward she and another person stopped at a liquor store and purchased tequila, police reports state. Santos-Aviles drank some of the tequila at the friends' home. Because she had been drinking, one of the family members drove her to her own house at 8:15 p.m., police records state. She left her car behind.

Texas primaries could test whether Latino support for GOP is holding after 2024 gains

Ongoing primary elections in Texas could be a first look at whether Latino swing voters, who are increasingly influential in state elections, are sticking with the Republican Party. These voters were key in President Trump's reelection in 2024 and helped Republicans win in parts of the state where they have historically struggled, mostly along the southern border. Those gains also played a key role in how Republicans reshaped the state's congressional lines at Trump's urging last year. Three out of the five seats that the Republicans drew to favor their party rely on continued support from Latino voters. Yet there have been some recent signs that Latinos in the state, as well as nationwide, are beginning to back away from the Republican Party. And primaries could provide another picture on where that support currently stands.

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Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, said Latinos are mainly a young population that is expanding Texas' pool of new voters. And they are also a voting bloc that is not consistently aligned with either major political party. "The Latino electorate has emerged as the biggest swing vote in Texas because they are willing to side with either party," he said, "depending on the kinds of issues that are presented by the candidates." The economy and immigration were top issues that drove many Texas Latinos to support Trump in 2024. But lingering high prices and cost-of-living issues could become a liability for Republicans in power. "There's a sense that the Republicans have squandered a situation where they were likely to get the Latino vote on their side for several election cycles," Rottinghaus said. Daniel Garza works as president of the LIBRE Initiative to mobilize Latino voters to support conservative candidates. He believes the economy will continue to be the deciding factor in whom these voters support.

Epstein’s New Mexico ranch gets scrutiny at last. It may be too late.

One of Jeffrey Epstein’s most secretive and least scrutinized former properties is not an island. But it might as well be. His palatial 30,000-square-foot New Mexico mansion sits on a ridge overlooking thousands of acres of southwestern land he named Zorro Ranch. A sea of tufted grass, prickly cholla cactus and cracked arroyos, the sparsely populated high desert south of Santa Fe is a land where the nearest neighbors are miles away and most everyone minds their own business. Some of the financier’s victims have said they were trafficked there, famous figures visited, and Mr. Epstein mused about turning Zorro into a headquarters for outlandish genetic engineering experiments. And yet, New Mexico leaders say there has never been a thorough investigation of the criminal activity that may have occurred at the ranch during the 26 years the convicted sex offender owned it.

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A state-led inquiry into Mr. Epstein’s actions was taken over by federal prosecutors in 2019, and then apparently fizzled, according to New Mexico officials and recently unsealed records. Last month, lawmakers in New Mexico, spurred by the Justice Department’s latest release of Epstein documents, voted unanimously to change that, impaneling a bipartisan four-member “truth commission” in the State Legislature, equipped with subpoena power, to probe the sordid history of Zorro Ranch. The state’s attorney general also announced he would reopen an investigation his office had closed shortly before Mr. Epstein’s death in 2019. “We need to find out how he was able to operate without any accountability,” said Andrea Romero, a New Mexico state representative from Santa Fe who is leading the truth commission. “We have to understand what allowed this to happen.” That won’t be easy. Since Mr. Epstein’s death, the property has changed hands, potentially complicating the state’s investigation. The new owner, a Dallas real estate magnate and former state senator named Don Huffines, is running for comptroller of Texas, an inopportune moment for investigators, though he has said he would cooperate with law enforcement.

Iranian drones hit the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia, while hundreds are reported dead in Iran

Iran struck the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital with a drone early Tuesday as it kept hitting targets around the region, while the United States and Israel pounded Iran with airstrikes in what U.S. President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a relentless campaign that could last more than a month. The attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire” and minor damage, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound. It followed an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, which announced Tuesday it had been closed until further notice. The U.S. State Department also ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, as well as Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates as a precaution. The expanding conflict has so far killed hundreds of people, the vast majority in Iran.

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Across Iran’s capital, explosions rang out throughout the night into Tuesday, with aircraft heard overhead. It was not immediately clear what had been hit. The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site had sustained “some recent damage,” though there was “no radiological consequence expected.” Natanz earlier came under attack by the U.S. in the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June. In Lebanon, Israel launched more strikes on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia group. Explosions could be heard and smoke seen in a southern suburb of Beirut. Israel also said its soldiers were “operating in southern Lebanon.” Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army was evacuating some of its positions along the border. The expansion of Iranian retaliation across the Gulf and the intensity of the Israeli and American attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan portend a possibly prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Iran has hit many countries deemed safe havens in the Mideast in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli strikes. Recent targets include two Amazon data centers in the UAE and a drone impact near another in Bahrain that caused damage, the company said Tuesday. Iran has also hit energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices soaring. “The Strait of Hormuz is closed,” declared Iranian Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, threatening to set fire to any ships attempting to transit. “Don’t come to this region.”

State Stories

A third victim has died from the Buford's shooting, Austin Police say

Austin Police have identified three people killed in Sunday's shooting at a bar on West Sixth Street as investigators said they were still working to determine why the shooter opened fire. The shooting at Buford's bar early Sunday left four dead, including the suspected shooter, and as many as 13 others wounded. At a news conference on Monday, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis named two victims: 19-year-old Ryder Harrington and 21-year-old Savitha Shan. Late Monday, APD released the name of a third victim who has died: 30-year-old Jorge Pederson. Davis had stated earlier at the press conference that a person hospitalized from the shooting was expected to be taken off life support later that day.

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Before APD updated on Pederson's condition, Austin-Travis County EMS had said 14 people were hospitalized and three of those victims were in critical condition. Police identified 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne as the man who allegedly fired into the bar from a vehicle before exiting the car and shooting into crowds near the popular bar. Officers responded within a minute of receiving the first 911 call, police said, and fatally shot Diagne early Sunday morning. In a news conference Monday, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson praised the speed of the city's first responders, but he also praised the people of Austin for supporting one another amid a traumatic event. "I want to also say how proud I am and how the people that are this city have reacted with such great compassion," Watson said. "We're all mourning together and grieving as a group, but we're seeing tremendous compassion and love coming out of the people of Austin." APD is investigating the incident along with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Chief Davis said Monday that Diagne was wearing a shirt related to Iran. On Sunday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned against potential attacks stemming from U.S. actions in Iran.

71 Texas lawmakers call on Congress to pause immigration after the Sixth Street massacre

A group of 71 Texas lawmakers asked Congressional leaders to pause immigration in the wake of the deadly massacre on Sixth Street in Austin over the weekend. The FBI suspects Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized citizen originally from Sengal, opened fire into Buford’s Bar on Sixth Street killing two people and wounding 14 others. Police shot and killed Diagne on the street during his rampage as he wore a sweatshirt with the words “Property of Allah” printed on the front. “Terrorists do not care about party affiliation,” wrote state Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, and chairman of the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans’ Affairs. “While Americans on both sides of the aisle disagree—sometimes fiercely—on policy, we share far more in common with one another than we will ever share with radical Islamic extremism.”

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The 71 Texas lawmakers, all Republican, listed four demands in their letter to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Minority Leader, Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune, and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. First, they asked Congress to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Democrats refused to approve funding for DHS after masked federal agents participated in a violent roundup of people in Minneapolis that left two Americans dead. “Budgetary obstruction and political gamesmanship that starves DHS of the resources it needs is not a negotiating tactic, it is a national security failure,” the Texas Republicans wrote. Second, the Texans asked Congress to immediately freeze all H-1B visas and called for a “comprehensive audit of existing visa holders and their current status is completed.” Third, the Texans demanded Congress pause all immigration until proper vetting protocols are established.

$100 a barrel? How the war in Iran could affect oil and gas prices in Houston

Oil prices could surge to $100 a barrel if war with Iran continues, delivering a boost for Houston’s oil industry and pain at the pump for American consumers. The conflict is choking off oil and gas tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for 15% of the world’s oil supply and 20% of natural gas cargoes. Oil prices surged 13% since Thursday, leveling out around $71 in Monday afternoon trading. Just how much the price of oil could jump and how much impact Houston will feel depends on how long the conflict hampers global oil trade.

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“If the reduction in tanker traffic continues for a week or so, it will be historic,” Jim Burkhard, S&P Global’s vice president and global head of crude oil research, said in a statement. “Beyond that it would be epochal for the oil market with prices rising to ration scarce supply and impacts in financial markets.” Gasoline prices will likely begin to rise Monday or Tuesday, according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. Fuel pump prices will continue to rise over the next week to reflect the jump in oil prices that occurred over the weekend, said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. “The biggest impact is going to be on diesel prices, which have increased by about 25 cents per gallon,” Lipow said, noting much of the world’s diesel supplies come from the Middle East. The conflict in Iran and the associated surge in oil prices add to the seasonal price swing already underway. The geopolitical incident coincides with seasonal shifts that push up fuel prices each year as refineries undergo spring maintenance while they transition to more costly fuel blends for the summer season, limiting output and pushing up prices at a time when the weather warms and consumers start driving more.

Texas’ $10M bitcoin investment slips into the red amid crypto price dive

Boosted by a pro-cryptocurrency Trump administration, digital coins spent most of last year soaring to new heights. Bitcoin, the world’s most popular digital currency, skyrocketed from below $70,000 before the 2024 election to above $126,000 in October, an all-time high. But this year, amid broader geopolitical turbulence, economic uncertainty and growing pessimism around alternative investments, crypto has been in a nosedive, falling to a recent low below $64,000 — wiping out its entire run up from Trump’s second term. Other popular cryptos, including Ethereum, have also been plunging, and some analysts have been warning much steeper drops could be coming. “The crypto bubble is imploding,” Mike McGlone, a senior strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote recently on LinkedIn.

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Early Monday, Bitcoin posted something of a rebound, pushing back near $70,000, although the digital coin was still off more than 20% year-to-date. The recent tumble means Texas taxpayers are also in the red. Last year, as part of a broader, yearslong push to transform the state into a “crypto capital,” Gov. Greg Abbott signed a high-profile bill establishing a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” — essentially a new state investment fund, controlled by the Texas comptroller’s office and funded with public dollars that would buy and potentially sell crypto. In late November, the office made the fund’s first first purchase, buying around $5 million of a Bitcoin ETF, or exchange-traded fund. On Dec. 15, the state made another $5 million purchase of the same ETF, the comptroller’s office recently told The Dallas Morning News. Texas made its first purchase when Bitcoin was trading at around $91,000, and the second when it was trading around $87,000. The purchase prices mean that as of early Monday the state’s $10 million cumulative investment was valued around $7.8 million.

Houston rodeo begins its 94th season. Here’s how it’s addressing public safety

Monday kicked off the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, one of the most highly anticipated and highly attended local events of the year. This year’s rodeo comes on the heels of a deadly shooting in Austin that has prompted security concerns statewide. A shooting in Austin left two dead and injured 14 others, after a man allegedly fired a gun from his car into a downtown bar. The shooter, identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, allegedly exited his car and shot into crowds before being killed by police. The rodeo does not have a clear bag policy and permits small purses or backpacks to be brought into NRG Park. Prohibited items include fireworks, laser pointers, or other weapons in general.

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The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo does not allow firearms, whether open carry or concealed, according to the rodeo's website. Security at the rodeo includes the use of a body wand, checking bags at entrances, and random bag checks within NRG Park. “The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is committed to providing a safe, family-friendly environment for our community," a spokesperson for the rodeo said in a statement. "The safety of our guests, volunteers, staff and participants is our highest priority. We work year-round with law enforcement partners to implement and continuously evaluate comprehensive security measures, supported by state-of-the-art technology. We are focused on delivering a secure and welcoming experience at this year’s Rodeo.” In a statement on Saturday following the shooting, Governor Greg Abbott said he directed the Texas Military Department to send service members across the state, as well as increasing patrols at "vital energy facilities, ports, and along our border." Firearm bans at major events have drawn scrutiny in the past. The State Fair of Texas issued a ban on firearms after a 2023 shooting, prompting a lawsuit from the Texas Attorney General's office which was ultimately dismissed by a Dallas County judge.

Recent report shows data centers may negatively impact Texas’ water supply

Texas is home to 464 data centers, with over 70 additional sites under development, and the increasing water demand for these facilities is expected to continue to rise, according to a newly released report. In a state plagued by drought and a rapidly growing population, many people are concerned that these data centers are not disclosing how much water they plan to use. Using energy forecasts used at data centers, the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) estimated that Texas uses 8 billion gallons of water annually. Vice president for water and community resilience and the report’s author, Margaret Cook, emphasized the need for transparency between data centers and communities.

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"It’s important because we don’t have a whole lot of information about this," Cook said. "It’s a big phenomenon. It’s influencing a lot of communities, and community members don’t feel like they have enough information about these large water users coming into their community." Without knowing the facilities’ true impact, Cook said it's more difficult to create a state-wide water strategy. Increases in water usage are often tied to data center upgrades. Cities that build new pipelines or wells for these facilities could see an influx of taxpayer dollars. According to Cook, data centers may share information during negotiations, but often under a non-disclosure agreement. "They could be providing normal water rates, but they’re not accounting for the additional water supply and additional infrastructure that they’re going to need in the future, that this data center is adding to their community’s burden," Cook said.

North Texas officials discuss how to plan for region's water future

Dozens of North Texas officials are voicing their worries, ideas and dreams about the area’s water resources, as a regional influx of businesses and residents ramp up pressure to address looming scarcity concerns. On Friday, experts and decision-makers participated in a water workshop at the University of Texas at Arlington as part of Vision North Texas 2.0, a revamped public-private-academic partnership. The event brought together representatives from water utilities, regional groups, municipalities, consulting firms and more to discuss the region’s long-term water supply, infrastructure, growth pressures and resilience challenges. North Texas’ population is expected to surge to more than 12 million by 2050. That raises the stakes for the group, which is working to address regional growth while enhancing economic vitality, quality of life and long-term sustainability across 16 counties.

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This was the first in a series of workshops that will have different themes, but leaders said beginning with a look at the state of water in the region made the most sense. “Our region is growing at a pace that few parts of the country can match,” Ming-Han Li, dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs, or CAPPA, at UT Arlington, told the crowd. “That growth comes with extraordinary opportunities and responsibilities.” No one is bringing water with them, Li said, before posing questions to the group on how leaders can anticipate future drought rather than react to it. “How can we build a future when water is not a constraint but a catalyst for the thriving, equitable and resilient region we aspire to create?” Li said. CAPPA is a Vision North Texas 2.0 partner along with the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Urban Land Institute Dallas-Fort Worth and the North Texas Commission.

Brian Babin backs Houston’s bid to host major global space event

Houston is in the running to host the 80th International Astronautical Congress. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics has submitted a bid to host the event in October 2029 — just months after the 60th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, a Texas Republican and chair of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, has written a letter backing the AIAA.

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“Hosting the (International Astronautical Congress) in the United States would provide a valuable opportunity to reinforce global collaboration at a time when international cooperation in space is essential to scientific discovery, economic growth and the peaceful use of outer space,” Babin wrote in a letter on Monday to the International Astronautical Federation, which organizes the event. “It would also underscore the United States’ commitment to open dialogue, international partnership, and the advancement of a safe, sustainable and innovative space ecosystem.” The International Astronautical Congress is the world’s largest global space congress. It attracts governments, space agencies, industry leaders, researchers and students from around the world, according to a news release from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). AIAA has previously hosted six of these global space events, including the 2002 event in Houston. It estimates the 2029 congress could generate $35 million in economic impact for Texas and attract more than 13,000 delegates from over 80 countries.

Iranian drones hit the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia, while hundreds are reported dead in Iran

Iran struck the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital with a drone early Tuesday as it kept hitting targets around the region, while the United States and Israel pounded Iran with airstrikes in what U.S. President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a relentless campaign that could last more than a month. The attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire” and minor damage, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound. It followed an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, which announced Tuesday it had been closed until further notice. The U.S. State Department also ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, as well as Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates as a precaution.

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The expanding conflict has so far killed hundreds of people, the vast majority in Iran. Across Iran’s capital, explosions rang out throughout the night into Tuesday, with aircraft heard overhead. It was not immediately clear what had been hit. The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site had sustained “some recent damage,” though there was “no radiological consequence expected.” Natanz earlier came under attack by the U.S. in the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June. Related Stories As Mideast conflict widens, US says attacks on Iran will last weeks and intensify US and Israel pound Iran as Trump signals willingness to talk to new leaders after Khamenei's death What to know about the new US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

The Texas Senate primary ad wars have been expensive and the ads predictable.

$121 million is a lot of money to spend on five people. But that’s how much has been spent in the Democratic and Republican primaries for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by veteran Sen. John Cornyn. He is in a contentious primary against Attorney General Ken Paxton and Congressman Wesley Hunt. And has been running advertisements touting his re-election since last year. Cornyn and outside groups have spent nearly $65 million supporting the incumbent, with Hunt trailing at $11 million and presumed frontrunner Paxton’s total at $3.6 million. And we’re not even in the expected runoff. On the Democratic side, the leading candidates are Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Dallas and State Representative James Talarico of Austin. Talarico and his allies have spent around $18 million in his run while Crockett’s so far spent about $4.5 million.

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Introductions are everything, and Cornyn mastered it in 2008 when he rolled out his tongue in cheek advertisement “Big John” at the 2008 Republican Party of Texas convention. It was a knock off of a Jimmy Dean commercial, where a man with a low tenor voice extolls the virtues of Cornyn. Dressed as if he’s a ranch hand, the senator – then running for his second term – is described in the narrator’s deep, crooning voice as a fighter for Texas who delivers for his state. “He rose to the top in just one term, kept Texas in power, made lesser states squirm—big John … big, bad John,” he says. Career defining as it may be, it was instantly mocked by the political press mocked. Nonetheless Big John easily defeated his Democratic opponent former State Representative Rick Noriega of Houston that fall in Texas. Paxton kicked off his campaign implying support from President Trump, although the president has actually withheld an endorsement in the race, most recently calling all three candidates “good guys.” But the insinuation in the ad pulls from past comments made by Trump supporting Paxton. At one point, Trump calls Paxton “a really talented guy.” In another, Trump says, “I wish I had him in the White House!” The advertisement has one message, and that is “Trump/Paxton.” Paxton speaks only once, at the end, with the disclaimer “I’m Ken Paxton and I approve this message.”

Ryan Patrick: Texas should follow Florida’s lead in acting on litigation reform

(Ryan Patrick is the CEO of Texans for Lawsuit Reform and previously served as US attorney for the Southern District of Texas, a Texas district court judge, and a law firm partner in private practice.) From the ‘90s to early 2000s, Texas was the undisputed leader in civil justice reform. The question now is whether it intends to lead again by modernizing how medical damages are presented to juries or accept the consequences of falling behind as litigation costs spiral. Reestablishing fairness and transparency in medical damages is the clearest place to start. Insurance markets across the US are sending increasingly clear signals about how states price litigation risk. Florida, once described as a “judicial hellhole,” finally responded in 2023 by modernizing its civil justice systems and curbing inflated medical damages. Texas, meanwhile, hesitated. Florida’s experience shows how quickly capital markets respond when the rules become fair and predictable. When litigation risk falls, competition returns. Texas is now testing the opposite hypothesis: What happens when reform stalls?

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The answer is hitting Texans in their wallets and difficult budget conversations around the dinner table. Insurance rates in Texas are climbing at one of the fastest paces in the country. Texans now pay the fourth-highest combined home and auto insurance costs nationwide, with homeowners rates rising 19% in 2024 and auto insurance premiums jumping 25% in a single year. But insurance rates aren’t the only things rising in Texas. In 2024, Texas led the nation in “nuclear verdicts,” or jury awards exceeding $10 million. This creates a parasitic cycle where excessive verdicts feed off insurance pools, which reappear as higher premiums for families and businesses. As insurers absorb outsized jury awards, they respond by raising liability premiums for employers, who in turn pass those added costs along to consumers through higher prices and reduced services.

US moving pregnant immigrant girls to Texas to avoid providing abortions, critics say

All unaccompanied immigrant children who are pregnant, many by rape, are being moved to a single facility in Texas in order to avoid providing abortion services in a significant human rights violation, critics say. As detainees are frequently moved across state lines quickly, often to red states like Texas, pregnant people are facing challenges accessing reproductive health care in detention centers. Unaccompanied minors who lack immigration documentation are at high risk for trafficking and other forms of harm, so they fall under the care of the office of refugee resettlement (ORR), which previously had facilities across the country capable of caring for children under the age of 18 who are pregnant. Since July, more than a dozen pregnant children have been moved to a single facility in the small town of San Benito, along the south Texas border. The children kept in Texas are as young as 13, and about half are pregnant because of rape, according to a joint investigation by the Texas Newsroom and the California Newsroom.

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In Texas, abortion is banned in nearly all circumstances, including rape and incest. “It’s a choice to ensure zero abortions,” said Jonathan White, a former top official working with children’s programs in the ORR under the Obama and Trump administrations. When a pregnant child is moved to Texas, “as long as she is in Texas, she can’t access an abortion – without a federal official needing to deny her an abortion”, he said. The move amplifies existing concerns about reproductive healthcare in immigration detention centers, including allegations over the lack of appropriate healthcare for pregnant people, separation of nursing parents and infants, and forced sterilization in immigration facilities. The “total disregard” for the rights of pregnant and nursing detainees is a “dramatic violation” of international law and public health practices ensuring consensual medical treatment, said Diana Romero, professor and director of the Center on Immigrant, Refugee and Global Health at the CUNY graduate school of public health. Forcing any individual to carry a pregnancy to term is an “egregious” violation of rights, and relocation from other locations around the country to states with more restrictive abortion laws “adds a whole other layer of concern”, Romero said.

County Stories

Pretrial set to start for 2 former Tarrant County jailers indicted in Anthony Johnson, Jr.'s death

The pretrial for two former Tarrant County Jail officers indicted for murder in the death of Anthony Johnson, Jr. is set for Tuesday morning. Joel Garcia, 49, and Rafael Moreno, 39, were among several jailers that responded to an altercation with Johnson, a Marine veteran whose family says was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Partially released video footage from April 21, 2024, shows jailers pepper spraying Johnson in the face while restraining him face down on the ground. Moreno knelt on Johnson’s back for about 90 seconds, and Johnson can be heard saying he can’t breathe. Garcia, who was Moreno’s supervisor, recorded the incident on his phone. Johnson died after the altercation. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a homicide by asphyxiation.

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Rafael Moreno and Joel Garcia were fired in May 2024, reinstated after the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said they were incorrectly dismissed, then fired again. Both were indicted for murder in June 2024 and arrested a few days after, court records show. Daryl Washington, attorney for the Johnson family, told KERA News Monday he expects the trial will start sometime this year. “The family is anxious,” Washington said. “Their son was wrongfully taken away from them. And they want answers.” KERA News reached out to Garcia and Moreno’s attorneys and will update this story with any response. For nearly two years, the Johnson family has demanded accountability from Tarrant County and its staff. They filed a federal lawsuit against the county and 15 jailers, including Garcia and Moreno, for their son’s wrongful death.

City Stories

Houston’s 1940 Air Terminal Museum announces abrupt closure in midnight post

The 1940 Air Terminal Museum, a longstanding tribute to Houston's aviation history, has closed because it was no longer economically sustainable, according to its president. The museum is adjacent to Houston's Hobby Airport. Karen Nicolaou, president and director of The Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society, the nonprofit that operates the museum, said she hopes the closure is temporary as a workable financial solution is sought. "The museum has ceased operations at this time," according a Facebook post. "Thank you to everyone who has contributed."

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More than 50 people commented on the closure online since the announcement, which was posted at midnight on Monday, with many wondering what happened, if the closure was temporary and what will happen to the building and exhibits. The Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society nonprofit leases space in the old terminal building for the museum. She said the building is owned by Houston Airport System which reports to the city of Houston and the mayor's office and it is governed by federal aviation regulations. On March 6, 2019, the Houston Municipal Terminal Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places and is a recognized piece of history by the city of Houston. As a nonprofit that leases the building, she said they face restrictions on where they can get their funding and how they use the space. The final blow, Nicolaou said, was Facebook's refusal to let the group pay to promote their raffle fundraiser on the platform because the company considered it gambling. The board of the nonprofit hosted a raffle for a 1928 Ford Model A in December 2025 and had held a raffle the previous year as well. The group also tried raising money through GoFundMe pages and other methods before the closure. She said the raffle makes up over 50% of their budget and they've been doing the raffle for 10 years. The museum's website lists major benefactors for the museum which include United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Texas Preservation Trust, The Strake Foundation, The Houston Endowment and others.

Henry S. Miller III, RIP

The family of Henry S. Miller III announced this morning that Miller, who is credited with developing West Village and for his work in Highland Park Village and Preston Royal Village, died Saturday. He was 79.

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“Long before mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly urban districts became standard in American cities, he imagined a Dallas where shopping, dining, living, and public life could coexist seamlessly—and brought that vision to life with West Village,” an obituary accompanying the announcement said. West Village opened in Uptown in 2001. Miller’s father and the family purchased Highland Park Village in 1976, working to bring in new tenants and revitalize the center over time. That also meant maintaining a movie theater and a grocery store there at a loss, the family says, because he felt the shopping center belonged to the neighborhood. The family sold Highland Park Village in 2009. Miller is survived by his children, Kathryn Miller Rabey and her children Nicholas, Maximilian, and Olivia; Henry S. Miller IV and his wife Lydia, and their children Henry, Jack, Owen, and Mimi; Michael Alexander Miller and his wife Lindsey, and their children Layton Garrett, Miles, and Samuel; and Alexander Lewis Miller. Henry is also survived by his sisters, Patsy Miller Donosky and Jacqueline Miller Stewart and a large extended family. He was preceded in death by his brother, Vance C. Miller.

National Stories

Lawmakers: Israeli plan to attack Iran dictated Trump’s decision on strikes

Senior lawmakers in both parties said Monday that the Trump administration’s decision to launch bombing and missile strikes across Iran this weekend was largely dictated by Israel’s plan to attack Iran with or without U.S. support. Senior administration officials told Republican and Democratic lawmakers at a classified briefing on Capitol Hill that the Israeli plan to strike Iran pushed the United States to take preemptive action to protect U.S. troops stationed at bases throughout the Middle East, whom the Pentagon believed would have been targeted by retaliatory strikes. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who serves as vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee attended the briefing, said the decision to initiate a massive military assault on another country because of pressure from a U.S. ally put the nation in “uncharted” territory.

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“This is still a war of choice that has been acknowledged by others that was dictated by Israel’s goals and timeline,” Warner told reporters at the briefing. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine provided the briefing to lawmakers Monday afternoon. Warner said he supports Israel, but he questioned the decision to put American lives at risk when an imminent threat may be directed at an ally instead of the United States itself. “Israel is a great ally of America. I stand firmly with Israel. But I believe at the end of the day when we are talking about putting American soldiers in harm’s way and we have American casualties and expectations of more, there needs to be the proof of an imminent threat to American interests. I still don’t think that standard has been met,” he said. Warner argued if the military operation against Iran “was being driven by imminent security threats from Iran against America, I think we would have had better planning.”

Solar power’s newest friends: MAGA influencers

Environmentalists and solar power proponents have found a pair of surprise allies: Katie Miller and Kellyanne Conway. Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and Conway, the polling guru who led President Donald Trump’s first campaign, raised eyebrows this month when they publicly touted the clean energy source that has come under fire from the Trump administration. According to a confidential strategy memo obtained by POLITICO, their advocacy is aligned with a campaign by members of the nation’s largest renewable energy lobby group to MAGA-fy solar power — technology that Trump once derided as “a blight on our country.”

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The memo distributed earlier this month shows the American Clean Power Association launched the “American Energy First” campaign to engage Conway and conservative influencers like Miller “to amplify the benefits of solar energy” and “note the harm that could result from reckless trade policy.” The memo lays out a strategy to leverage recent Conway-driven polling data — commissioned by American Energy First and conducted in December — showing solar power was popular with Trump’s base. “As part of the campaign, ACP is working with a series of conservative influencers to secure opinion media placements authored by conservative columnists, former Republican lawmakers, and other credible Republican voices in conservative outlets,” the memo says. The campaign will expand in the coming weeks, it states, “with the release of polling data from a Trump aligned firm, paid media partnerships with podcasts like the Katie Miller Pod (Steven Miller’s wife), as well as advertorials and sponsorships with right-of-center publications like the Washington Reporter, The Dispatch and The Federalist.”

Tariffs confound small businesses again

President Trump’s whipsawing trade policy last year destabilized many American businesses. His new push to replace the system with a different batch of duties has bewildered companies all over again. Since the Supreme Court invalidated many of Mr. Trump’s tariffs last month, his administration has vowed to use other legal authorities to rebuild the program. Almost immediately, Mr. Trump wielded an unproven legal provision to enact a 10 percent across-the-board tariff on U.S. trading partners and threatened to raise the rate. The haphazard rollout has introduced a tangle of unknowns for companies. A new tariff system could upend months of business decisions, and many companies are bracing for prolonged uncertainty. They are also considering whether and how to seek refunds on tariffs they paid — and, if they receive them, whether they would return any money to customers.

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Peter Furth, whose company, FFF Associates in Stamford, Conn., imports fig paste from Turkey and Spain, said Mr. Trump’s tariffs had driven up costs and destroyed his cash flow. Mr. Furth has been passing on the additional costs to his customers, which include Mondelez, the maker of Fig Newtons; Nature’s Bakery; and J&J Snack Foods. He said he believed he had a contractual, and moral, obligation to return any tariff refund to customers. “I owe it back to them,” he said. “It’s very simple.” Smaller businesses like his have been particularly unmoored by the latest shifts in trade policy because, as during last year’s tariff chaos, they lack the legal and financial resources to weather unpredictability smoothly. “The level of uncertainty is crazy,” said Matt Weyandt, a co-founder of Xocolatl Chocolate, a craft chocolate maker in Atlanta. Mr. Weyandt, whose company sources cacao beans from countries including Peru, Nicaragua and Tanzania, is trying to establish whether exemptions on foreign agricultural products previously enacted by the Trump administration still stood, to no avail, he said. He was intrigued by the prospect of seeking a tariff refund, he said, but had no idea how to go about it.

America’s billionaires continue to flock to Wyoming

At his childhood home in Nebraska that lacked the comforts of television and air conditioning, Joe Ricketts learned that honest work and neighborly values were keys to success. After graduating college, he persuaded friends and family to lend him $12,500 in seed money for what became Ameritrade, the investing firm that would go on to disrupt the Wall Street trading establishment and put Mr. Ricketts on a path to riches. By 2015, his wealth had grown to $1 billion, and even that stunning figure now feels like a quaint memory, as the powerful elixir of rising stocks and falling taxes that has minted new billionaires across the country has catapulted Mr. Ricketts’s personal net worth to $8 billion. Along the way, Mr. Ricketts found new community in and around Jackson, Wyo., a playground for the rich. For some things, he has been celebrated: He has donated to research on conservation of red squirrels and American beavers. He contributed $1 million to building a hospital. He has taken pride in building a herd of white bison.

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But lately some of his neighbors have come up against the raw power of Mr. Ricketts’s financial muscle. Many of them fought against a plan he advanced a few years ago to turn his ranch into a resort for wealthy tourists, proposing to bypass regulations that limit construction during the brutal winter months to protect local wildlife. Then, when community opponents dug in, Mr. Ricketts simply acquired a different piece of land — a $9 million parcel that officials had hoped to turn into public land that could benefit everyone. “There is not much we can do to rein that in,” said Luther Propst, a county commissioner in Teton County, home to Jackson and the mountain outposts that surround it. The Jackson Hole region has long been a refuge for the rich, but an explosion of new affluence has allowed a growing cadre of extraordinarily wealthy people to dominate both the local economy and Wyoming state politics. Teton County is not merely the richest county in the country, per capita, by far; it is a window into America’s near future, as the country enters a new gilded age, one in which millionaires are turning into billionaires overnight. It is not merely the majesty of the Teton Range and the winding Snake River that have made Jackson Hole a destination for the ultrawealthy. Unlike states like Washington and California, which are moving to tax millionaires and billionaires, Wyoming has helped the rich hold on to their wealth. In 2022, the county assessor went to the state Legislature to support a bill closing the loopholes that allowed wealthy landowners to claim agricultural tax exemptions even when their large spreads were hardly working farms. But lawmakers declined to make the change.

Trump, who campaigned against 'endless' wars, enters Iran with no end date

To win the White House in 2016, Donald Trump first had to get by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the son and brother of two past presidents inextricably linked with U.S. wars in the Middle East. Attacking the Bush family dynasty — and its legacy — became a feature of Trump’s campaign. And that meant doubling down on criticism of the Iraq War that President George W. Bush had led the United States into under the premise of finding weapons of mass destruction that never materialized. “The war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake,” Trump responded, when asked at a Republican presidential debate in February 2016 if he still believed, as he said he did in 2008, that Bush should have been impeached for it.

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“We can make mistakes,” Trump added. “But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq.” The moment was one of many in Trump’s long history of denouncing forever wars and promising, as president himself, to keep the U.S. out of the sorts of foreign entanglements that could lead to them. But one year into his second term, Trump has ordered military action in multiple countries, including the January strike on Venezuela to capture Nicolás Maduro. And now with the war in Iran, Trump has plunged America into its most significant conflict since the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — without any congressional approval. “President Trump’s courageous decision to launch Operation Epic Fury is grounded in a truth that presidents for nearly 50 years have been talking about, but no president had the courage to confront: Iran poses a direct and imminent threat to the United States of America and our troops in the Middle East,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed statement. “The rogue Iranian Regime under the evil hand of the Ayatollah has killed and maimed thousands of American citizens and soldiers over the years — and that ends with President Trump.” Trump’s successful 2024 campaign to return to power was predicated in large part on how he hadn’t started any wars in his first term. “My entire adult lifetime has been shaped by presidents who threw America into unwise wars and failed to win them,” Trump’s future vice president, JD Vance, wrote for The Wall Street Journal in a January 2023 guest column endorsing Trump’s 2024 bid.

Republicans back Trump’s war on Iran

Republicans on Capitol Hill are about to give President Donald Trump a major boost — a green light to conduct a war against Iran without worrying about Congress, at least for now. The House and Senate are on track this week to vote down a pair of bipartisan war power resolutions aimed at limiting Trump’s ability to conduct the Iran campaign. Rank-and-file Republicans are prepared to back Trump, giving them co-ownership of a conflict that’s already unpopular with Americans. The Senate is likely to vote Wednesday, with the House set to vote on Thursday. The House and Senate will receive separate briefings on Iran this afternoon from top administration officials.

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In the Senate, previous GOP skeptics of Trump’s unilateral war-making authority say they’re comfortable with the president’s efforts on Iran. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) waffled on a Venezuela war powers resolution in January before ultimately voting against it. But Hawley said he’d oppose this Iran war powers measure, which is led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.). The Missouri Republican cautioned that he might change his mind if Trump deployed ground forces during the Iran conflict. “I’ve always said that committing ground troops would be something, I think, that would require immediate congressional authorization. But that doesn’t seem to be in the immediate horizon,” Hawley said Monday night. Two Republicans who supported the war powers push on Venezuela — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — were noncommittal on Iran. Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who eventually opposed the Venezuela resolution despite deep reservations, said he’d withhold judgement until after today’s Senate briefing.

Copyright March 03, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved