October 21, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Texas continued permitting data centers after Abbott’s pause, report finds

Regulators in Texas did not stop processing permits for data center projects when Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a pause last month, according to an analysis of public records released Monday by the oil and gas watchdog group FracTracker. Amid an upswell of public opposition to the booming buildout of digital infrastructure in Texas, Abbott directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in a Sept. 21 letter “to halt all permits sought by data centers.” But FracTracker, in collaboration with Public Citizen, identified 35 permitting actions taken by the TCEQ for data center projects in subsequent weeks. “TCEQ has continued reviewing applications and issuing approvals that allow data center development to proceed,” the groups said in a press release Monday. “These actions do not signal an agency trying to pause.” Abbott’s office and the TCEQ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Abbott has described his moratorium on data center projects as an opportunity for state agencies to evaluate the facilities’ impact on water resources and grid stability. “No other state agency shall move forward with regulatory approvals related to data centers until this information is acquired,” Abbott wrote in his Sept. 21 letter to TCEQ executive director Kelly Keel. Since that letter, the TCEQ has fast-tracked or assigned engineers to 14 permits, approved stormwater coverage for 11, certified emissions estimates for seven and issued public notice for three, according to permitting documents collected by FracTracker and Public Citizen. The permits regard construction of gas power generation facilities for energy-hungry facilities. All of the largest gas power projects currently proposed in Texas are specifically intended to serve data centers, which are primarily planned to run artificial intelligence. The projects would release tens of thousands of tons of regulated pollutants, according to permitting documents, as well as more than 100 million tons per year of greenhouse gases—an enormous amount roughly equal to the annual emissions of a mid-sized industrialized country.

Cryptic group behind transgender mailers formed weeks ago in Wyoming

Mailers from a mysterious group purporting to represent transgender students have riled up voters in Texas as early voting gets underway. But the Texas Transgender Student Union that sent the brochures and similar text messages that went out to voters earlier this month appears to have been created just weeks ago — and is registered as an LLC in Wyoming. Texas transgender advocacy groups have denied sending out the material, leading many to believe they may be coming from someone hoping to stir up Republican voters, rather than offer aid to transgender youth as they purport to be doing.

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The mysterious group emerged as Republicans have again seized on warnings about Democrats supporting gender-affirming care for children as they seek to boost voter turnout in what appears to be a highly competitive midterm. The group’s “Texas Trans & LGBTQ+ Student Resource Guide” appears to have been sent in recent days to many past GOP voters, including a handful of prominent right-wing influencers who posted images of them on Monday. The brochure looks to be written for students and encourages those considering hormones or gender-affirming care to reach out to trusted organizations before trying to find medication on their own. It includes websites for the Transgender Education Network of Texas, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. “This was sent to my home. Addressed to the ‘students’ of our family from the “Texas Transgender Student Union,” wrote Sara Gonzales, a conservative commentator with more than 500,000 followers on X. “It coaches minors on what to do if their parents are not supportive of their ‘trans’ identity and walks them through getting emancipated. THIS IS EVIL!!!!!”

School choice expansion fuels growth of classical Christian schools in Texas and beyond

Keith Castello spends a lot of time praying about available real estate. Driving in his white pickup under a glaring Texas sun, the classical Christian school administrator points out empty office parks, a shopping mall, and an old church — all locations he is scouting for new Christian schools. Demand is booming, he says. And part of that demand comes from a new state incentive: taxpayer money for kids who attend Christian schools. This summer, Texas began rolling out $1 billion in public funding that eligible families can put toward private education expenses. Republican-controlled state legislatures around the country have approved a cascade of similar programs in the past six years, alarming public school advocates. These programs mean half of school-age children in the United States are now eligible to apply for state money to attend private schools.

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In the U.S., most private schools are religious. Securing public money for them raises issues over church-state separation but fulfills a longstanding goal for Christian conservatives, who lobbied for this funding. “I have been praying for 28 years for things that are coming to fruition right now,” said Castello, who is launching three classical Christian schools this fall under his Kyrie Christian Academy brand. Those suburban Texas schools are part of a larger network, the Association of Classical Christian Schools, which has ties to the Trump administration and was founded by Doug Wilson, a conservative Idaho pastor and writer. The schools offer a liberal arts education, with an added emphasis on virtue and a biblical worldview. The annual ACCS conference in June in Atlanta buzzed with talk of the historic shift in school funding, which bolsters a conservative Christian push to remake the education landscape. Critics worry it will drain public schools, which educate students of all religious backgrounds and political persuasions. When students leave their public school, state money allocated to educate each student goes away too. Conservatives are banding together to leverage these expanding taxpayer-funded scholarships.

In Texas, extreme surgical errors leave some patients with few options

A Hays County couple is listening as the OB-GYN explains what just happened. It was a miscommunication, he tells them. He thought she wanted to be sterilized. A San Antonio woman undergoes a biopsy, but the hospital workers do more than that. They stick a chemo port into the border of her heart — a chemo port meant for someone else. A Houston woman is rushing out of the doctor’s office, telling her husband she’s too upset to talk. Her surgeon was supposed to remove the cancerous tumor in her breast. He was supposed to, but it’s still there. And it’s grown. A Grand Prairie woman is hunched over in pain. She goes to the emergency room, where a scan shows something inside her abdomen, something that’s not supposed to be there. It’s metal and it’s curved, a few centimeters long. It looks a lot like a surgical needle.

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There’s a category of extreme surgical errors called serious reportable events or, more colloquially, “never events.” Wrong procedure. Wrong patient. Wrong site. Unintentionally retained object. They’re called “never events,” but state data reveals Texas hospitals and surgery centers report around 200 errors in these four categories each year. That’s the reported number. The real number, patient safety advocates say, is likely higher. “A never event should never happen,” said Lillee Gelinas, patient safety director at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Worth. “So you have to ask yourself — we have to keep asking ourselves — why do they keep happening?” The Texans who experience one of these rare and shocking surgical errors may face another surprise if they seek justice through the courts. They may find the law is stacked against them. Texas has aggressive medical malpractice laws, which cap the amount of money that a patient can be awarded for pain, suffering and other difficult-to-quantify impacts of a medical error. There is no cap for medical bills or lost wages. The law’s original intent was to lower malpractice insurance premiums and keep more doctors in state. The caps for county hospitals are significantly lower, and apply to not just pain and suffering, but economic damages as well.

State Stories

Greg Abbott won't say if he supports selling state park to SpaceX

Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday declined to say whether he supports selling a South Texas state park to Elon Musk’s SpaceX as the Republican governor’s appointees on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission are reportedly considering. Abbott said he does not know the details of the possible sale of Boca Chica State Park, a beachfront stretch adjacent to Musk’s Starbase near Brownsville. “What I know is that that's not coming up for a vote anytime soon,” Abbott said, before touting his record adding state parks. “No state in America has been adding more parkland than what I've done and what Texas has done,” the governor said. “I want to continue to preserve our parkland in the state of Texas.”

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Texas Monthly reported on Friday that the commission planned to consider selling “1,300 acres” in Cameron County during a closed-door executive session at a meeting on Nov. 5. That vote has apparently been delayed, with a spokeswoman for the commission telling the magazine that it “is not considering the sale of the Boca Chica property at its November meeting.” Texas Parks and Wildlife did not immediately respond to a request for more information on Monday. Gina Hinojosa, Abbott’s Democratic challenger in the midterm election, seized on the potential sale as she continues to campaign against “corporate welfare.” Musk has been central to Hinojosa’s framing of the Nov. 3 contest as a fight between everyday Texans and Abbott’s ultrawealthy donors. Musk has given Abbott’s reelection campaign $500,000. “That is the people's beach — that is the working man’s beach in South Texas,” said Hinojosa, who grew up in Brownsville. “It is such a shame that the people of Texas are being sold out. Even our beaches are being given over to Greg Abbott’s biggest donor, or one of his biggest donors.” Hinojosa on Monday filed a lawsuit to force the governor’s office to turn over a batch of communications between Abbott and Musk that Abbott’s office had previously declined to release to the Texas Newsroom, arguing in part that they are of a private nature, not of public interest and potentially embarrassing.

Dallas Morning News Editorial: Jeff Leach questions origins of suspicious transgender mailers in Texas

State Rep. Jeff Leach, who had called for an investigation into a mailer supposedly from a transgender support group that was sent to students and families across Texas, has followed up with a letter expressing concern about “the potential dissemination of misleading information, and the acquisition and use of thousands — if not millions — of Texans’ personal contact information.” Leach’s letter to Attorney General Ken Paxton, obtained by The Dallas Morning News, demands “a thorough investigation regardless of who is responsible, what their political affiliation may be, or which political interests they seek to advance.” “The investigation must follow the facts wherever they lead, without fear or favor,” Leach wrote.

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Leach, a deeply conservative Collin County Republican, has a reputation for independence in his party. He helped lead the impeachment against Paxton, serving as a House manager of the case. And he stood with an El Paso Democrat, state Rep. Joe Moody, in pushing back against the planned execution of death-row inmate Robert Roberson, whose guilt has been called into doubt. Leach has long been a staunch advocate of conservative cultural causes. He was an early supporter of Senate Bill 12, known as the Texas Parents’ Bill of Rights, which requires that schools obtain parental consent for participation in clubs and counseling. And he was quick to demand an investigation into the mailer that purportedly gives minor students advice on how to transition and even emancipate from their families. But the authenticity of the mailer quickly came into question. The organization it was supposedly from, the Transgender Education Network of Texas or TENT, almost immediately disavowed having anything to do with it. Far-right influencers had already seized on the mailer as evidence of “EVIL,” as Blaze TV and Texas Scorecard commentator Sara Gonzalez wrote to 518,000 X followers. In the days since it hit mailboxes, it has become the talk of conservative parents angry at its message. But as journalists looked into the mailer’s provenance, it became increasingly suspicious. Its origins are unclear.

Some Tarrant County voters turned away after arriving too late to vote early in Fort Worth

Some voters at a Fort Worth polling location left disappointed Tuesday after arriving to cast their ballots after early voting hours had ended. At the Como Community Center, voters said they planned their day around voting, only to discover the polls were no longer open. “I planned my day to get out here and vote early,” said Patrick Schell. Crystal Russell came to the center to vote early and said “the line earlier in the day stretched all the way around the building just about.” The confusion came on the second day of early voting for the Nov. 3 election. According to Tarrant County’s early voting schedule, polling locations are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the first week of early voting, Oct. 19-23. Hours expand to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the second week, Oct. 26-30.

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Schell said he originally thought polling locations were open until 7 p.m. “I thought I saw 7-7. I’m pretty sure I did on one of the websites earlier today,” he said. For others, the challenge was the wait. Chase Johnson and his son, Harvey, voted Monday and waited about 90 minutes to cast their ballots. “People are ready for change, and that’s something that I am certainly ready for, so yeah, it’s a long wait, but I think it was worth it,” Johnson said. The number of early voting locations in Tarrant County is in line with previous years. However, 92 former polling locations will be closed on Election Day, according to information shared during the reporting. Republican commissioners have argued that reducing the number of polling locations will save taxpayers money. Crystal Russell, who tried to vote at the Como Community Center, disagrees with the decision. “I don’t think they should’ve closed any polling places. It’s wrong,” Russell said. Despite the frustration, she said she planned to try again. “I live right down the street. If I have to walk up here with this thing, I will,” she said.

Man shot by ICE in Austin federally indicted

A federal grand jury formally indicted Wilber Rafael Garces Perez with one count of Assaulting, Resisting, Impeding and Obstructing a Federal Officer. The indictment alleges he used his sedan as a deadly weapon during a traffic stop. The indictment follows a criminal complaint filed by the Department of Homeland Security that alleged Garces Perez hit an ICE agent with his vehicle while attempting to flee. He was shot by an ICE agent at the conclusion of a pursuit. The DOJ said Garces Perez faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted. KXAN has reached out to Garces Perez’ attorney for comment and will provide an update if a response is received.

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North Texas water group begins work for 2031 plan

The group responsible for creating the Dallas-Fort Worth region’s 50-year water plan has begun preparing for 2031. The statewide water plan is updated every five years, and the Texas Water Development Board is in the process of approving its final version of the 2027 State Water Plan, which estimated avoiding a water crisis in the state could cost as much as $174 billion. The state plan is a combination of the board’s 16 regional planning groups. Each regional plan includes current water needs and supplies, the projected future need for water, the identification and recommended water management strategies (and the costs and impacts of them) and more.

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All North Texas counties, such as Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Kaufman, Rockwall and Tarrant are in Region C. The Region C group met Monday to take initial steps in the 2031 planning cycle, which will inform the 2032 State Water Plan. The group voted to rehire Freese & Nichols as its technical consultant and authorized the Trinity River Authority to enter into a contract with the firm on behalf of Region C. Tarrant Regional Water District general manager Dan Buhman was reelected chairman. Jenna Covington, North Texas Municipal Water District executive director and general manager, was elected vice chair. The planning begins with data collection and the comparison of population growth and water need projections to water availability and existing supplies. This will determine where surplus and gaps exist. The state water board is expected to release nonmunicipal water demand projections in March followed by population and water demand projections in June or July. The regional groups can suggest revisions to the findings by the end of next year, and the board is scheduled to consider adopting them as final by April 2028. The group also discussed interregional water planning, which is of importance because Region C borders five other regions — B, D, G, H and I — and there is overlap between more than 50 water user groups across the different boundaries. The regions share some sources of water as well. Collaboration can hopefully help avoid interregional conflicts, like the one declared over the proposed 66,000-acre Marvin Nichols Reservoir that would be constructed in Region D. Members of the two regions agreed to delay the project and work together to conduct studies, including a comparison with Toledo Bend Reservoir.

Harris County crushes midterm first-day early voter turnout record

More than 100,000 people cast an in-person ballot during the first day of early voting in Harris County on Monday, shattering the previous record of 63,188 set in 2018. According to the Harris County Elections Department, the county surpassed the 2018 record by 3:30 p.m. on Monday. When polls closed on the first day of early voting, three-and-a-half hours later, the county reported that over 104,600 residents had cast a ballot. This year's Texas Senate race shows some parallels to the 2018 midterm election. In 2018, Democrat Beto O'Rourke ran a tight race against incumbent Senator Ted Cruz. While O'Rourke ultimately lost, it was by a slim margin of just under 215,000 votes.

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O'Rourke's campaign was also credited with boosting down-ballot Democrats, including then-Harris County judge candidate Lina Hidalgo, who flipped the county's highest office from Republican to Democratic control. Now, eight years later, Democratic Senate candidate and State Rep. James Talarico is in an even tighter race against Republican candidate and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Recent polling — including one published Friday by the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs — has shown Talarico and Paxton in a statistical dead heat or Talarico in a slight lead. During the 2018 midterm election, 855,711 people cast a ballot in Harris County across the entire early voting period.

Tarrant sheriff says commissioner’s handling of jail death was ‘irresponsible’

Now that independent investigators found no wrongdoing on the part of the Tarrant County Jail for inmate Mack Greer’s in-custody death, Sheriff Bill Waybourn is calling out Democrat Commissioner Alisa Simmons for spreading false information about the circumstances. Greer, 49, was pronounced dead at 2:42 p.m. on June 17 in John Peter Smith Hospital. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner ruled the death was of complications from a rare brain disease called moyamoya disease. The condition causes the carotid artery inside the skull to narrow or close, depriving the brain of oxygen. Within 24 hours of the death, Simmons held a press conference with the family to demand an outside investigation. Greer’s was the third death in a one-week period.

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Before he died, Simmons said she saw him in the hospital with a “misshapen head” and bruises in multiple places. She told the media the day after he died that “he suffered fatal head injuries,” which Waybourn said was incorrect. In an interview with the Star-Telegram Tuesday, Waybourn said the sheriff’s office and the commissioner’s office had had “absolutely zero contact.” Waybourn said Simmons “was so irresponsible” for having a press conference announcing unverified information. Simmons did not respond to an interview request from the Star-Telegram, but explained at a press conference later on Tuesday to Waybourn’s statement that she’d lied by saying families whose loved ones die in the jail reach out to her because the sheriff’s office is so unresponsive. “I work with them to try and get them the answers that they need about their loved one’s death,” Simmons said. “That really is the job of the sheriff’s office, where that person lost their lives. That’s really the job of the county hospital and MHMR, who had the responsibility of taking care of them medically and behaviorally while they were in custody.”

Robert Ahdieh closes Fort Worth chapter following Texas A&M campus launch

Robert Ahdieh is heading home to New York City to serve as president of Pace University, but after eight years in Fort Worth, he also feels like he’s leaving home. In 2018, Ahdieh moved to Fort Worth to be dean of Texas A&M Law without a pair of boots, or even jeans, in his closet. In just a few short months, he’ll pack up enough boots to fill a room in his new New York City apartment and leave Fort Worth after spearheading one of its most transformational projects in recent memory — a multi-building Texas A&M campus that could generate billions annually in economic impact. “It would be hard to imagine a profile that could be more easily dismissed than mine. This New Yorker, which is a little suspicious in Texas, Iranian, which is a little suspicious, child of immigrants, a little suspicious, so you put those pieces together, it would have been so easy for the community to have said, ‘okay, this crazy weirdo who’s come to town, he’s got all these lunatic ideas, let’s just look away’,” Ahdieh, who leads the Texas A&M Fort Worth campus, said.

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“To the contrary, it wasn’t that at all. I can’t think of a moment in my eight plus years here when I ever felt like ‘the other.'” Ahdieh is leaving Fort Worth for the same reason he came here: an opportunity not just to build something, but put it on a path that continues long after he's gone. With the future of A&M Fort Worth’s campus secure, Ahdieh began engaging in conversations with Pace University around five months ago. “What motivates me is the opportunity to help an institution get to a place that it might not otherwise get to. It’s not that my work [in Fort Worth] is done, but that it’s as natural a moment as any for someone else to step in and take up those roles, take up those responsibilities and move the place forward,” Ahdieh said. “What I see in Pace University is a similar opportunity. This is an institution that has so many of the key ingredients necessary to be impactful and consequential and distinctive in all sorts of significant ways.” Ahdieh will assume the title of Pace University’s ninth president on Jan. 1. Before then, he’ll be soaking up every last bite at Belenty’s Love Mexican Vegan Restaurant — he takes all his visitors there — and 61 Osteria, for which he’ll take the occasional flight back.

Texas is lobbying for the new U.S. Space Academy. Taxpayers could foot a $100 million bill

Texas space leaders, with bipartisan backing, are campaigning to bring the Trump Administration's new Space Academy to the Lone Star State. If that happens, Texas taxpayers could pay for as much as $100 million of it. In a September meeting of the Texas Space Commission (TSC), a state-level entity that awards contracts and grants to invest in Texas' space industry, the board hypothesized putting up a nine-figure sum as an incentive for Texas to be selected. Three members of the TSC board — Nancy Currie-Gregg, Heather Wilson, and Evan Loomis — are also part of the state-appointed team tasked with drafting Texas' proposal for the Space Academy.

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"I think it might be important for the Space Commission board to make very clear that we intend to support this in a significant way," Wilson, who’s also the president of the University of Texas at El Paso, said during the meeting. "And whether it's $100 million, or whatever set aside ... I think it sends a pretty clear message that Texas is in, and I don't think that's a bad thing." The bidding process for the Space Academy has been largely kept under wraps. A spokesperson for the team drafting Texas’ proposal said it was "premature" to arrange interviews with members of the team until the proposal is finalized. Representatives from the TSC did not immediately return a request for comment. Though the conversation amongst TSC board members was non-binding, it does give insight into the push for Texas to host the Space Academy and that taxpayers may be on the hook for a portion of it. The $100 million figure could also be changed, though TSC board members have only suggested that figure. "Is $100 million what we as a group believe actually gets it done?" Sassie Duggleby, another board member, said during the meeting. "Like, is that a big enough stake in the sand to say that we want this?"

Gina Hinojosa’s mother said she faced ‘voter suppression’ at Bexar County Elections Department poll site

Crisanta Guerra Lozano was excited to cast a ballot for her daughter, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, on the first day of early voting. However, when Lozano showed up to vote at Bexar County Elections Department headquarters, election workers couldn’t locate her in the system, she said in a video detailing her experience, which was provided to the Current. Lozano, a San Antonio resident and a legal aid attorney, went to the polling site around 10:30 a.m. Monday. In her video, she describes the bureaucratic nightmare that came next. “I was told that I was not on the list, which surprised me,” Lozano said in her video statement, which was recorded by Democratic activist Kathy Vale. Lozano said the surprise came in part because county officials assured her ahead of time that she was cleared to vote.

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The attorney had checked online two weeks before the Oct. 5 voter registration deadline and saw that she was no longer registered to vote, though she had lived at the same address for seven years. “I have voted at every single election. I’ve never had a problem,” Lozano said on the video while holding a handmade “Vote for my daughter Gina Hinojosa for Governor” sign. After the online system showed her as unregistered, Lozano went to the Bexar County Elections Department in person and presented her drivers license to re-register. “They took my license and said, ‘You’re fine. There should be no problem,'” Lozano said. However, when Lozano showed up for early voting Monday, the election worker couldn’t find her on the rolls, she said. The worker then sent her to an office in another part of the building. However, a different person in the office assured her that she was registered and provided her with her voter ID number, adding, “You shouldn’t have any problem,'” Lozano said. At that point, Lozano was sent back to the polling room, where she told the election worker that the office was able to locate her in the system and provided her ID number.

Ed Emmett: My fellow Texas Republicans: Go vote. But vote wisely.

(Ed Emmett is the former Harris County Judge.) I admit that I am an angry Republican. After spending my adult life helping to build the Republican Party in Texas and Harris County, working alongside candidates, officeholders and armies of volunteers, I am disgusted by the self-inflicted damage being done to my party. This damage is not only hurting our candidates during this election cycle, but is undermining our next generation of voters. This damage is being done by candidates for major offices who refuse to address the issues of importance to voters and don't even have the courage to engage in debate with opponents. This sort of candidate is an embarrassment. Making outrageous claims over and over doesn't help the Republican cause.

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Super PACs formed by a few billionaires to support certain Republican candidates are spending millions of dollars for negative ads that aim to scare ordinary parents over transgender issues — parents who know their own children and wonder why these billionaires are so focused on issues that don't affect them. Talk shows and social media influencers have become propaganda outlets for bizarre theories and, at times, pure hatred, relying on sources who are truly evil. President Trump seems to be living in his own world, claiming prices are down when they are clearly up, appeasing Putin in a war that he said he would end the first day of his second term, and seeming unable to end the war with Iran that he started. His childish name-calling might appeal to the people at his rallies, but the rest of the public is disgusted. Anyone who dares criticize him is attacked mercilessly, so Republican leaders are silent. As a result, voters view all Republicans as aligned with him. All these things make me angry. I am angry not because of any direct impact on me. I am angry because I know there are many solid Republican candidates for state, county and local offices who are extremely qualified and should be elected or, in some cases, re-elected. These candidates uphold conservative philosophies and ideals, and they’re seeking legislative seats, judgeships and county offices but don't have the money to get their own messages out. Their fortunes are tied to people and forces over which they have no control. Republicans need to turn out for their sake. Hopefully, independents and Democrats will take the time to get to know the candidates as individuals and make an informed decision in each race. A recent television ad featuring State Senator Angela Paxton, who is divorcing Ken Paxton "on Biblical grounds," tells Republicans who are reluctant to support her soon-to-be-ex-husband that they need to turn out and vote for the entire Republican team. I disagree. I, too, urge Republicans who aren't enthusiastic about the top of the ticket to turn out and vote anyway and make sure to vote all the way down the ballot. The solid candidates in down-ballot races need your support more than ever this year. However, for the sake of the Republican Party, let me encourage you to do your research and vote your conscience and principles. Otherwise, we’ll be defined by scandalous characters who seem to have no conscience or principles. Voting for our party’s good candidates will make future elections easier for those dedicated, honorable Republicans who want to serve in public office.

Texas land commissioner treads carefully as Trump border wall advances on state property

Border wall construction in the Big Bend region puts Republican Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham in a bind: back President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda or respond to growing bipartisan opposition to the wall. The Texas General Land Office manages 13 million acres across the state, much of it in far West Texas. Among its holdings are parcels along the Rio Grande that form the international boundary. On GLO-managed land in the Big Bend, the Trump administration plans to build a border wall in Presidio and Hudspeth counties and vehicle barriers in Brewster County. On Oct. 2, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone blocked border wall construction in the Big Bend sector with a temporary injunction. But the federal government isn’t giving up on its plans to wall off much of the Big Bend. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys have asked the judge to suspend the order and plan to take the case to the Supreme Court.

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Meanwhile, the federal government can continue work to secure right of way and access for border wall construction. GLO land lies squarely in its path. Buckingham is up for reelection in November for a second four-year term, facing Democratic nominee Benjamin Flores. Buckingham has said she supports a “virtual wall” in West Texas and has sent cease-and-desist letters to federal contractors who cleared state-managed land in the Big Bend for construction without authorization. But the GLO has been in communication with U.S. Customs and Border Protection about building border infrastructure on state land, according to a letter the agency sent in response to a public information request from Inside Climate News. The GLO did not respond to requests for comment. “We stand by our assessment and remain confident in our legal authorities to secure the border while preserving the unique landscape of the Big Bend region,” CBP spokesperson Jessica Turner said. “We are working with the Department of Justice on next steps.” Buckingham, who grew up on a ranch near the Texas coast, served in the Texas Senate before running for land commissioner in 2022. Once elected, she quickly established herself as a champion of hardline border security.

4 Dallas petition drives voters should know about

More than 19 million people (a record) are registered to vote in Texas, which isn’t surprising given how many high-profile races are on the ballot. And early voting totals are so far indicative of busy voting centers: Yesterday, the line to vote at Oak Lawn Library around 2:30 p.m. snaked around the block, and there were steady lines at many other polling places, too. On day one in Dallas County, 76,079 cast ballots, up from a little more than 59,000 in 2018. By 11 a.m. Tuesday, 15,259 had cast ballots. But when you pull up to your polling place, you could be asked to weigh in on something that isn’t even on the November ballot, because four different petition efforts are trying to collect enough signatures from registered voters to put their causes on a May ballot. While people with clipboards will also approach you at various events, the grocery store, and other places people gather, one of the best ways to collect petition signatures is to ask people before or after they vote. (They can’t approach you everywhere, though. Texas law requires petition gatherers to remain outside the 100-foot electioneering boundary at polling places.)

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An effort is underway to recall Dallas City Council members Gay Donnell Willis and Chad West. Organizers of those efforts—the Neighborhoods First PAC and the Dallas Civic Accountability PAC—will need to collect roughly 9,600 and 6,900 signatures, respectively, to put those items on a May ballot. They have 60 days to do so. The Save Dallas City Hall Coalition is also collecting signatures to place a charter amendment on the ballot that would codify the city’s base of operations as the current City Hall at 1500 Marilla. If the group collects at least 20,000 signatures and the City Secretary’s office verifies that the signers are registered voters living in Dallas, the measure could appear on a May ballot. If it passes, it would take another charter amendment election to move City Hall. And then there is the “stronger mayor” effort, led by three former Dallas mayors: Ron Kirk, Tom Leppert, and Mike Rawlings. It is collecting signatures to put two charter amendments on the May ballot that, if they pass, would increase the mayor’s authority. The measures would not create a fully-fledged strong mayor, but one would increase the mayor’s responsibilities to include hiring and firing the city manager and city attorney.

Dallas County triples security over voter, election safety concerns

As voters set a new all-time record for turnout, election safety worries have prompted Dallas County officials to triple security and install bulletproof glass. Elections administration manager Deatrice Kirk told county commissioners Tuesday that plans are underway to install 2-inch glass in the Dallas County Records administration building. “We will have level 4 security glass put on the front of the building,” she said. “And then we’re going to work to do the side of the building, so eventually everything will be covered. So that will be able to stop a bullet to get us away at that point. That is a part of our budget this year.” The Records Building in downtown Dallas is an early voting location and houses county leader offices.

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County administrators say they won’t know the final cost until after the midterm election, but expect the total to be more than what was budgeted for security during the 2024 election cycle. Kirk said the elections department has also increased law enforcement protection. “We have tripled our security for the early voting locations,” she said. “We’re using the marshals, though we have some other entities that are assisting us in different cities.” She said the county marshals will remain on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week on Election Day, Nov. 3, through Nov. 15. “We will have presence in and outside of the building,” she said. “We also have [Dallas]PD that will be assisting us along with the constables. So we have heightened all the security.” Dallas County fire marshals provide security for public, government buildings. Kirk shared the information after Albert Alexander of Dallas voiced concerns during public comment.

National Stories

Justice Kagan says Supreme Court has damaged democracy with recent rulings

With pivotal midterm elections two weeks away, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said Tuesday the high court’s recent decisions on voting and campaign finance have damaged the nation’s democracy. The liberal justice sharply criticized the conservative majority’s rulings this year limiting the Voting Rights Act and loosening campaign finance restrictions during a wide-ranging discussion at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. She also faulted a 2019 decision removing the court from oversight of partisan gerrymandering. She spoke to law students during the opening weeks of a new Supreme Court term in which the justices will make consequential rulings on assault rifles, climate change and religious rights. The court could be called upon to issue decisions related to the Nov. 3 elections.

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“In all these areas, the court has kind of blinded itself to the very deleterious effects of their rulings on how the political system works,” Kagan said of its rulings on voting. “It has created a democracy that does not work as well as it should.” Kagan said the 2019 decision finding that federal courts should not have a role in policing partisan gerrymandering touched off a “race to the bottom” by both political parties to carve up districts and “depriv[e] masses of citizens” of the right to equality in voting. That decision is “driving people away from the center toward the wings, toward the extremes,” Kagan said. “Making what I think is, unfortunately, a too polarized country even more so.” Over the summer, the court also curbed limits on coordination between political parties and candidates in campaign finance spending. “The people of America look around at this political system and think all this money chasing all these political candidates is a nightmare and they are right,” Kagan said.

Calling Putin a ‘humanitarian,’ Witkoff thanks him for releasing an American

Praising President Vladimir V. Putin as a “humanitarian,” the Trump administration envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday thanked the Russian leader in St. Petersburg for releasing an American man held for over four years on what the State Department called fabricated charges. The release came after President Trump made a direct appeal to Mr. Putin to let the 74-year-old teacher, Stephen James Hubbard, return to the United States. Russia had accused Mr. Hubbard of being a Ukrainian mercenary. “You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian,” Mr. Witkoff told Mr. Putin. “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that.” The Russian leader, who started a war of aggression against Ukraine that has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, is wanted as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court.

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Mr. Witkoff’s remarks came at the start of talks in St. Petersburg, where Mr. Witkoff had come to discuss new variants of a proposed plan to end the war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Mr. Hubbard was released unilaterally by Russia, rather than in a prisoner swap, at a moment when Mr. Putin has scored a succession of victories in winning Mr. Trump over to Russia’s side in the conflict. In the past two weeks, Mr. Trump has announced that the United States will buy Russian diesel fuel and suspend the imposition of sanctions under the Lindsey Graham Act, named for the pro-Ukrainian senator who died this year. Mr. Trump also called on Ukraine to replace President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr. Putin’s nemesis. Turning over Mr. Hubbard, who was tortured, sometimes starved and placed in the general prison population in a country where he did not speak the language, came at little cost to Mr. Putin. But the move buys him good will with Mr. Trump, who is arguing that he alone has the relationship with Mr. Putin needed to get him to end the war. Mr. Trump telegraphed that he had sought Mr. Hubbard’s release, talking to reporters about it on Tuesday, when the former teacher was still in captivity. But Mr. Trump didn’t mention that Mr. Hubbard was being held because Mr. Putin’s government had sought to take American prisoners for leverage.

Attack ad featuring Democrat's estranged mother turns Ohio governor’s race even uglier

A controversial ad featuring the estranged mother of the Democratic candidate for governor, Amy Acton, is making its rounds on social media. It claims Acton is lying when she talks about her childhood, when she was sexually abused and homeless, sometimes living in a tent. Though the ad was leaked without information showing who paid for it, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign confirmed to the Statehouse News Bureau that it's their ad, and they’ve launched a $4 million statewide digital buy because it tested well with "persuadable" voters. In the ad, Acton's estranged mother Donna Arthur said none of Acton's claims that she grew up in an abusive environment and that her family was sometimes homeless are true. “She is a liar. She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true," Arthur said in the video.

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But Acton and her brother Phillip Stearns fired back. Stearns said in a statement put out by her campaign that his sister is telling the truth. “It’s not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at twelve years old from our birth mother's husband into a political talking point,” said Stearns in the statement. “After he (Acton's mother's husband) was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died. This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core – a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants.” "We had all sorts of neglect, abuse and hunger," Stearns said in an Oct. 8 Instagram video reposted on Acton's website after the video was leaked. "We spent almost all of every day in an unfinished basement with a couple of 60-watt bare lightbulbs down there." Acton mentioned her family had lived in a tent in one of her ads. Stearns said of that experience: "For one thing - it was cold."

More oil is now coming out of the Persian Gulf than before the Iran war

Persian Gulf oil exports have surpassed prewar levels, as an improvised shipping system under U.S. protection is helping tankers move oil through one of Iran’s fiercest waves of attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. Middle East oil flows, including shipments through Hormuz and alternative routes across the region, averaged more than 24 million barrels a day in the week through Oct. 18, surpassing prewar levels of 23.3 million, according to ship tracker Kpler. Preliminary figures show Hormuz oil flows, including offshore transfers in the Gulf of Oman, came to around 14 million barrels a day on average for the same period, or 82% of prewar levels. Oil prices remain high, and benchmark Brent crude has risen in recent days to around $108 a barrel Tuesday.

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Traders are concerned the improvement in Hormuz might not be sustainable, particularly if fighting breaks out again. Thinning global inventories leave little margin for error. The operation is also expensive, costs that ultimately flow through to consumers at the pump. Still, the resilience of oil flows marks a shift in the battle over the world’s most important energy chokepoint. Iran can still make shipments dangerous and expensive. But its ability to deter transits has faded, weakening Tehran’s leverage with the U.S. “The big picture is that the system for shipping through a dangerous Strait of Hormuz is now well-established and the risk appetite of those involved in exporting oil has risen,” said Hamad Hussain, a senior commodities economist at Capital Economics. Pipelines across Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are also moving oil along different routes. In September, about 40% of the non-Iranian crude shipped out of the Gulf bypassed the strait, compared with 17% before the war, Kpler estimated. The success contrasts with the chokehold on Iran, whose own oil exports have been bottled up by a U.S. maritime blockade. The risk is Iran could try to re-establish its influence by striking harder and potentially drawing the U.S. into another confrontation before the U.S. midterm elections in two weeks.

‘It really would open the door’: Lawyers see Maduro betting case as test for future prosecutions

The first criminal case centered on prediction-market bets is proceeding toward trial — and white-collar lawyers say it could result in an uptick of prosecutions involving an industry that’s enjoying explosive growth. Prosecutors say U.S. Army soldier Gannon Van Dyke used confidential information about the capture of then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to bet on the rendition through Polymarket. Van Dyke allegedly placed $33,034 in bets, for a total payout of more than $400,000, according to prosecutors. Van Dyke’s lawyers are asking a federal judge to toss the indictment by arguing that a prediction-market bet isn’t a “swap,” and therefore can’t be prosecuted under the Commodity Exchange Act, the federal law that regulates commodity futures, options and swaps. A swap is a financial agreement where parties seek to exchange payments by speculating on real-world outcomes.

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If U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett agrees with Van Dyke’s lawyers on that interpretation, it might dissuade prosecutors from bringing similar cases. If, however, Garnett allows the charges to stand, lawyers who are following prediction-market developments say they expect it will unleash prosecutors to pursue additional cases. “Depending on how this case turns out, I think you’re going to see more of them,” said Louis Pellegrino, a former federal prosecutor with the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office who is now a partner at Dentons LLP. “It’s an interesting test case because it’s truly high stakes,” said Pellegrino, who served as a captain in the Army following law school. “There are intelligence issues. There are real-world concerns for troops on the ground and that sort of thing,” he said. “The stakes are a lot higher than something like what dress somebody would wear to the Oscars.” At oral arguments earlier this month over Van Dyke’s motion to dismiss the indictment, Garnett, a Biden appointee, appeared likely to let the case move forward.

Democrats jump into Mississippi Senate race

Senate Democrats’ top super PAC announced Tuesday it is launching an ad campaign in the Mississippi Senate race as Democrats seek inroads in Republican-leaning states to try to flip the Senate majority. Senate Majority PAC announced a $1.2 million ad campaign in the state through Election Day, beginning with a 30-second spot that boosts prosecutor Scott Colom as a Democrat who will “fight corruption in both parties” and casts GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith as a “do-nothing” incumbent. “Senate Majority PAC has been watching this race closely, and it is clear Colom is running a competitive race that has put Hyde-Smith on her heels,” Lauren French, the super PAC’s spokesperson, said in a statement, adding that the group will be advertising on TV and digital platforms.

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Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has been shifting its focus to deep-red states as President Donald Trump’s approval ratings sink. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win control of the Senate, which means flipping multiple states Trump won handily in 2024. Mississippi is the reddest state the group has jumped into so far — Trump won it by 23 percentage points two years ago. A Democrat has not won a Senate race in Mississippi since 1982. Senate Majority PAC is also spending in Kansas, which Trump won by 16 points, and other states Trump won by double digits in 2024, including Alaska, Texas and Iowa. Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, have long touted Colom as a strong candidate. Colom, a district attorney, told NBC News when he launched his campaign last year that Hyde-Smith’s vote to support Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax and spending law, which cut Medicaid funds, spurred him to run. Colom and Hyde-Smith have history from before this year’s Senate race. Hyde-Smith blocked Colom’s nomination for a federal judgeship during the Biden administration. Colom said when he launched his campaign that he had forgiven her. Hyde-Smith, who has Trump’s endorsement, is running for her second full term after she was appointed to the Senate in 2018. She won a full term in 2020 by 10 points.

Pentagon grants DHS permission to test heat ray weapon for potential use at border

The Pentagon has given the Department of Homeland Security permission to test a military-grade heat ray and develop tactics to potentially use it in operations at the southern US border, according to a memo signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month and obtained by CNN. The heat ray, officially known as the Active Denial System, is a nonlethal weapon that shoots an invisible beam of electromagnetic waves that can reach a little more than half a mile away, according to the US military. The energy beam causes a burning sensation when it comes into contact with the human skin — which Pentagon officials have previously compared to feeling a blast of heat when opening a hot oven. Military officials have said the resulting “tingling effect” lasts between 10 and 15 minutes but also generates “an instinctive and irresistible urge to run from the effect.”

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Deploying the heat ray at the US border would be an unprecedented step, even for the Trump administration, which has made border security and clamping down on immigration a top priority. The DHS request did not specify where or how the weapon would be tested and how it might eventually be used, but over the years, there have been internal discussions about potentially using it for crowd dispersal along the US-Mexico border, according to current and former Customs and Border Protection officials. US officials had also considered deploying the system during moments of domestic unrest, including at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term when protests erupted over the murder of George Floyd, according to a former US official familiar with those discussions. The memo authorizes the “temporary loan” of one ADS system for seven months, starting in September, and states that it “shall not be operated by DoW (Department of War) personnel,” appearing to absolve the Pentagon of any responsibility for how the directed-energy system may ultimately be deployed.

Copyright October 21, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved