February 1, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Democrat Taylor Rehmet defeats Leigh Wambsganss in Texas Senate runoff

Democrat Taylor Rehmet on Saturday flipped a solidly red district that President Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024. The union leader from Fort Worth defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss of Southlake in a special election runoff for the vacant state Senate District 9 seat that stretches across northern and western Tarrant County. Rehmet won 57.2% of the vote to Wambsganss’s 42.8%, according to unofficial results. “Tonight, this win goes to everyday working people,” Rehmet, an aircraft technician at Lockheed Martin, told supporters at Nickel City in Fort Worth. Rehmet fills the seat left by Kelly Hancock, a Republican who is now serving as acting comptroller. Hancock had held the seat since 2012 and won by 20 percentage points in 2022. The term expires in January 2027.

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Wambsganss, a conservative activist who works for Patriot Mobile, which describes itself as a Christian, conservative cell phone company, had the backing Trump. The president shared his support for the North Texas Republican multiple times in the lead up to the race, as Texas Republicans warned of a possible Democratic victory. Rehmet and Wambsganss will meet again for the seat in November, when they bid for a full, four-year term. It was 12:15 a.m. when Wambsganss acknowledged the “nearly final” results. She called Saturday’s outcome a “wakeup call” for Republicans in Tarrant County, Texas and nationally. “The Democrats were energized,” Wambsganss said. “Too many Republicans stayed home.” Wambsganss said she’d spoken with Rehmet on the phone and congratulated him on the night’s showings but said the November general election dynamics are fundamentally different. “I believe the voters of Senate District 9 and Tarrant County Republicans will answer the call in November,” she said. Earlier in the night, at 10:30 p.m., Wambsganss took to the stage of her election night watch party to announce the festivities were over, but she did not concede.

Fresh off a victory, Menefee must now face Al Green in March primary

With Saturday’s runoff decided, Texas’ 18th Congressional District will regain representation in Washington — though only briefly before the next campaign begins. Former Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, 37, defeated former Houston City Council Member Amanda Edwards, 44, by a 2-to-1 margin, becoming the 12th person to hold the historically Democratic seat. Menefee’s victory ends a yearlong vacancy in the district, but offers little time to govern. He will be sworn in as he launches another campaign in a newly redrawn district with a crowded primary field.

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Menefee said he expects to spend only limited time in Washington in the immediate weeks ahead, balancing congressional duties with the demands of another campaign. “Two days at most,” he said. “The next election is in three weeks. I can’t miss the opportunity to meet constituents and voters, but at the same time I can’t miss votes.” Winning the runoff gains the advantages of incumbency — greater visibility, easier access to donors and the ability to point to work done in Congress. But it also brings constraints. House margins are slim, attendance is closely watched, and time spent in Washington is time not spent campaigning on the ground. As the district prepares for yet another election, the challenge for Menefee will be balancing the immediate demands of governing with the realities of a campaign that never stopped.

They said they weren’t close to Epstein. New documents show otherwise.

They said they didn’t really know Jeffrey Epstein that well. They were disgusted by him right off the bat. They were just drawn to his intellect or love of science or business acumen. They didn’t know about his abuse of women and girls. They deeply regretted associating with him. In the years since Mr. Epstein’s 2019 arrest and death by suicide in a Manhattan jail, some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people have hastened to distance themselves from the disgraced man with whom they once did business, dined in lavish settings or flew on private jets. But a slow drip of document releases and other revelations over the last several months — culminating in Friday’s release of nearly three million pages of Epstein-related records — has underscored the depth, intensity and persistence of his connections to the global elite, contradicting or undermining years of careful denials.

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So far, at least, the new documents have not fundamentally altered the public understanding of Mr. Epstein or his crimes. Instead, they are replete with chummy exchanges, warm invitations and financial entanglements. Together, the documents show how Mr. Epstein’s connections with people in Hollywood, Wall Street, Washington and fashion thrived even after he became a convicted sex offender in 2008. In some cases, the documents shed greater light on Epstein associates whose connections to him were already known. Others revealed relationships that had remained hidden for years. Elon Musk, among the world’s richest men, once not only denied visiting Mr. Epstein’s island, but framed his decision as an act of principle. In a social media post last September, Mr. Musk wrote that Mr. Epstein “tried to get me to go to his island and I REFUSED.” But the documents released on Friday suggested that Mr. Musk was at one point eager to visit. “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?” Mr. Musk emailed Mr. Epstein in November 2012. Mr. Musk wrote Saturday in a social media post: “I had very little correspondence with Epstein and declined repeated invitations to go to his island or fly on his ‘Lolita Express,’ but was well aware that some email correspondence with him could be misinterpreted and used by detractors to smear my name.” On a podcast last year, Howard Lutnick, the secretary of commerce, described being so revolted by a mid-2000s visit to Mr. Epstein’s Manhattan mansion that he decided to “never be in a room with that disgusting person ever again.”

Judge ordered 5-year-old released, but data shows ICE is detaining more kids

The 5-year-old boy, in a blue knit bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack, was returning from preschool when immigration officers detained him late last month in Minneapolis. A few days later, officers there took custody of a 2-year-old girl after breaking her family’s car window. Liam Conejo Ramos and Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis, along with their fathers, were flown to a family immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, an hour south of San Antonio, where detainees face long lines for basic supplies and inadequate medical care, according to people who have been housed there. They are among an escalating number of children swept up in the Trump administration’s enforcement dragnet, which has drawn mounting public outrage over its aggressive tactics and increasingly indiscriminate ramifications. The U.S. government does not provide direct information about children in immigration custody. But federal data on family detention, and independent analyses of child detentions, suggest immigration authorities are increasingly ensnaring the youngest and most vulnerable lives in President Donald Trump’s effort to deport massive numbers of undocumented immigrants.

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“There are other options, regardless of what you believe about immigrants, but you do not have to put children in detention,” said Dianne Garcia, a pastor at a San Antonio church that serves an immigrant population. She said authorities are trying to instill fear in families so they choose to leave the country voluntarily. On Saturday, a federal judge agreed that Liam should not be in federal custody. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ordered him and his father released and lambasted the Trump administration’s “ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.” The numbers are rising quickly. Over the past four months, the average number of people, including children and adults, held each month in family detention has nearly tripled, from 425 in October to 1,304 in January, according to Department of Homeland Security data. An independent analysis by the Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization, concluded that at least 3,800 minors under 18, including 20 infants, weredetained in 2025. And ProPublica found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year sent approximately 600 children arrested inside the country to federal shelters built to house minors detained at the border. That is more than the entire number of children detained in federal shelters during the four years of the Biden administration.

‘WTF’: Pro-gun groups warn vulnerable GOP seats on the line after Pretti response

Second Amendment advocates are warning that Republicans shouldn’t count on them to show up in November, after President Donald Trump insisted that demonstrator Alex Pretti “should not have been carrying a gun.” The White House labels itself the “most pro-Second Amendment administration in history.” But Trump’s comments about Pretti, who was legally carrying a licensed firearm when he was killed by federal agents last week, have some gun rights advocates threatening to sit out the midterms. “I’ve spent 72 hours on the phone trying to unfuck this thing. Trump has got to correct his statements now,” said one Second Amendment advocate, granted anonymity to speak about private conservations. The person said Second Amendment advocates are “furious.” “And they will not come out and vote. He can’t correct it three months before the election.”

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The response to Pretti’s killing isn’t the first time Second Amendment advocates have felt abandoned by Trump. The powerful lobbying and advocacy groups, that for decades reliably struck fear into the hearts of Republicans, have clashed multiple times with Trump during his first year back in power. And their ire comes at a delicate moment for the GOP. While Democrats are unlikely to pick up support from gun-rights groups, the repeated criticisms from organizations such as the National Association for Gun Rights suggest that the Trump administration may be alienating a core constituency it needs to turn out as it seeks to retain its slim majority in the House and Senate. It doesn’t take much to swing an election, said Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights. “All you have to do is lose four, five, six percent of their base who left it blank, who didn’t write a check, who didn’t walk districts, you lose,” he said. “Especially marginal districts — and the House is not a good situation right now.” And it wasn’t only the president who angered gun-rights advocates. Others in the administration made similar remarks about Pretti, denouncing the idea of carrying a gun into a charged environment such as a protest. FBI Director Kash Patel said “you cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want,” and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said she didn’t “know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.”

State Stories

Bud Kennedy: Democrat’s surprise win in MAGA stronghold: What it means for Texas Democrats

A Lockheed Martin union leader’s Democratic Texas Senate victory Saturday in a MAGA-mad North Texas Republican district means nothing. And it means everything. Fort Worth Democrat Taylor Rehmet probably won’t ever cast a vote in Austin. The Senate doesn’t meet again until Jan. 12, 2027, after Rehmet and Southlake Republican Leigh Wambsganss have a more intense November rematch, this time with a U.S. Senate race and Gov. Greg Abbott bringing in GOP votes and money. But no matter the election outcome Saturday, Texas Democrats won. They shocked the entire national Republican Party and forced state Republicans to rally feverishly in the final days — with pleas by President Donald Trump and odious video host Steve Bannon — over a Texas Senate district where Trump won by 17 points in 2024.

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Mind you, this is in a part of Tarrant County where no Democrat has won a state Senate seat since 1978. If Republicans can blow a safe district this badly, then Democrats can win almost anywhere in Texas. But Republicans’ problems in the Fort Worth and north Tarrant County Senate seat did not begin and end with the daily White House cliffhanger. Wambsganss, a faith-and-values religious activist, has her own problems that continue to make her a risky Republican nominee. She has a showcase profile, but also a history of dividing Republican voters and picking unnecessary intraparty fights. A different Republican, Fort Worth pastor and state Rep. Nate Schatzline, originally announced he would run for the seat. When he was pushed aside — supposedly by Senate kingmaker Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — the party traded a candidate with unified Republican support in north Fort Worth for a candidate who had already alienated north Fort Worth voters.

Collin County Democrat-backed candidates win special elections in Frisco and Plano

Residents in Plano and Frisco have elected two new city council members in a special election. Shun Thomas was elected to Plano City Council Place 7 with about 60.4% of the vote as of Saturday evening according to unofficial election results. Julie Holmer gave up the seat to run in the Collin County commissioner precinct 4 race as a Democrat. Thomas, an educational specialist at Children's Health Plano, defeated Colleen Aguilar-Epstein. Plano is one of several North Texas cities that has an election scheduled in May on the potential withdrawal from the Dallas Area Rapid Transit System. Plano leaders have long said the city pays too much into DART for the services it receives and has been leading the charge to cut DART's funding since a 2024 report that said the city contributed $109 million to the agency, while only $44 million was spent within the city. Thomas told KERA in a previous interview the city could’ve collaborated more effectively with DART to find a better solution. “There's so many things that we would need to fix with our relationship with DART and how we collaborate with DART,” she said.

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Thomas said she’ll support whatever the voters choose but would prefer to continue working with DART to improve services. In Frisco, Ann Anderson appears to have defeated Mark Piland in the Frisco City Council Place 1 race with about 51% of the vote as of Saturday evening according to unofficial election results. John Keating stepped down from the seat to run for mayor. Piland, who retired as Frisco’s fire chief in 2023, ran for the Place 1 seat in 2024 and lost to Keating. He also ran for mayor in 2023. The Dallas Morning News obtained public records in 2023 that found Piland was investigated for misconduct. The story alleges that Piland had staff alter a mayday report to make the department look better, according to an external investigation. Piland had ordered the report after a firefighter was injured in an apartment fire. Ann Anderson, a member of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce executive board, is the chair of Frisco’s Art and Culture Advisory Board. The next elections in Collin County are the Democratic and Republican primaries. Early voting is scheduled to start February 17.

ICE plans ‘mega’ migrant detention center near Dallas

The warehouse has stood vacant for months, a hulking shell of concrete, its doors closed and parking lot empty. Now, it’s on track to become the nation’s largest migrant detention center. Tucked just east of Interstate 45 in Hutchins, population about 8,000, the building could house as many as 9,500 people as part of President Donald Trump’s push to dramatically increase deportations of undocumented migrants. Hutchins Mayor Mario Vasquez said the city had little warning about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s plan to use the warehouse as a holding center before deportation. Vasquez said he’s firmly opposed. “No benefit to it whatsoever,” he said. ICE officials say converting large warehouses into detention centers near major hubs will allow the agency to handle rising arrests more efficiently and avoid shuttling detainees around the country in search of space.

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The competing views in Hutchins, less than 10 miles south of downtown Dallas, reflects rising tension across Texas as ICE moves forward with a major four-part expansion. An internal agency document reviewed by The Dallas Morning News identifies, for the first time, the address of the Hutchins warehouse and names three other new centers statewide that together would add at least 20,000 beds. The four facilities would significantly increase ICE’s detention footprint in a state where Republican leaders largely have backed the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Establishing more detention facilities will expedite” the federal government’s “work to remove criminal illegals and make our communities safer,” said U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Terrell. “We wouldn’t need to expand detention space if Joe Biden and Democrats didn’t leave our border open for four years.” Critics say the scale of the plan could strain local infrastructure, spread fear among immigrant families and raise health and safety concerns about conditions inside large detention centers. “We should not be housing human beings in a warehouse meant for packages,” said the Rev. Eric Folkerth, a senior pastor at Kessler Park United Methodist Church. He and other members of the Clergy League for Emergency Action and Response rallied last week at the church, warning the massive facility would dehumanize migrants and strain local resources.

Texas governor calls for investigation into student-led protests against ICE

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Friday he is directing the Texas Education Commissioner to investigate student-led protests against recent immigration enforcement actions. The student walkouts happening across the state come less than a week after federal agents were seen on video fatally shooting Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Students at multiple Central Texas schools, including several Austin Independent School District campuses, organized walkouts during school hours on Thursday and Friday. Videos of the demonstrations at Rouse High School in Leander and Austin ISD’s McCallum, Crockett, Akins and LASA campuses have been circulating online.

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A group of Rouse High School students and parents hold a rally against ICE operations on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (KXAN ...A group of Rouse High School students and parents hold a rally against ICE operations on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (KXAN Photo/Frank Martinez) In response to one X post, saying, “Austin ISD let kids out of school, with a police escort to, protest ICE at the Capitol” – Abbott responded, “AISD gets taxpayer dollars to teach the subjects required by the state, not to help students skip school to protest.” AISD shared in letters to parents and on social media that the walkouts were not sponsored or endorsed by the school. In the message, the district said it would not stop students from participating and had officers present to assist with security. The district also said any students who missed class or were late would be counted as absent or tardy. “Our students are exercising their right under the First Amendment, and their parents have been notified. No absence will be excused,” the district wrote on X. The 1969 landmark Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District took on the question of whether schools could prohibit students from protesting during school hours. The case looked at a group of students who were suspended when they wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. The 1969 decision upheld 7-2 that students retain their First Amendment rights in public schools and found that schools could not censor student speech unless it “materially disrupts” the educational process. “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gates,” Justice Abraham Fortas wrote in the court’s majority opinion. Justice Hugo Black wrote in his dissent, “taxpayers send children to school on the premise that, at their age, they need to learn, not teach.”

Williamson County GOP bans candidate from party events after abruptly confronting opponent

A candidate running for Congress who abruptly confronted one of her political opponents at a Williamson County GOP gala has been banned from future events by the county party. Valentina Gomez is running against incumbent U.S. Representative John Carter in the upcoming Republican primary for Texas’ 31st Congressional District. That district represents various counties north of Austin, such as parts of Williamson, Burnet, and Bell counties. Video Gomez shared on social media shows her walking up to Carter and pressing him with questions during the Golden Age Gala in the ballroom at Kalahari Resorts in Round Rock on Jan. 24. Gomez was also joined by her brother during this incident. “Why are you letting Texas become like Minnesota?” Gomez asked at one point in the video. “Where were you when our soldiers were getting kicked out of the military for refusing the COVID vaccine?”

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Carter’s security team stepped in shortly after and removed Carter from the situation. KXAN reached out to Carter’s office on this incident, and they declined to comment. The Williamson County GOP put a statement on the incident and said the video “fails to show the entire interaction, which included a physical altercation instigated by [Gomez].” The videos posted by Gomez are snippets of the entire interaction. KXAN asked Gomez’s team to provide the entire raw video they captured of the incident for more clarity on the situation, and they said the videos posted on social media are “all we have.” Troy Evanovich was about to speak with Carter when Gomez approached. Evanovich said the behavior he saw from Gomez was not appropriate, and the mood of the ballroom drastically shifted following the incident. “What she said or the way things occurred is not how she portrayed it on her Instagram—it was quite the opposite,” Evanovich said. “She threw her purse down and got involved with the bodyguard getting in with her brother physically assaulting [Carter’s] bodyguard—or security detail—as well.”

San Antonio Express-News Editorial: Tony Box gets our recommendation in Democratic primary for attorney general

With Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton choosing to run for the U.S. Senate, the race to replace him as the state’s top lawyer is wide open — perhaps wide enough for a Democrat to prevail for the first time since 1994. We believe the best candidate in a three-person Democratic primary is Dallas lawyer Tony Box. Box is the only Democratic candidate who has been a prosecutor and investigator, having been an assistant U.S. attorney in Missouri and a special agent in the FBI. He’s also been an officer in the Army, where he commanded tank platoons; a lawyer in the Army’s Judge Advocate General Corps, deploying to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom; and a civilian Defense Department employee in Afghanistan, where he helped that country’s government establish anti-corruption and accountability systems.

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All of those assignments are consistent with a promise he made to himself as a teenager — to be of service to others — as he fought to survive being shot in the liver while defending a woman who was being robbed. Box’s considerable résumé speaks to a record of integrity that is a far cry from the incumbent and to a candidate we believe will put Texans and the law above politics. Box faces two opponents in the Democratic Party primary who also impressed us as qualified and dedicated to justice for all. Nathan Johnson, the state senator from Dallas, has been an effective legislator after defeating then-incumbent Don Huffines, flipping a red district. He said he would focus on prosecuting corruption and protecting individual rights, among other goals. Joe Jaworski, who lost in a primary runoff for attorney general in 2022, has practiced law for more than three decades and was mayor of Galveston at a critical time following Hurricane Ike in 2008. A grandson of Leon Jaworski, the special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal and war crimes prosecutor, the younger Jaworski has strong and principled positions on protecting voting rights, reproductive freedom and applying laws equally to everyone. But Box is equally committed to fairness, and his diverse legal public service, including prosecutorial and investigative experience, gives him an edge.

Tarrant County voters at SD 9 polls voice frustration with political extremism

Voters at three of Tarrant County’s busiest election sites were drawn to the polls for the same reason: They’re sick of the extremism. People across the county were casting their ballots on Saturday in a special election runoff to fill a North Texas Senate seat. Voters were picking between Democrat Taylor Rehmet, a veteran, aircraft mechanic and union leader, and Republican Leigh Wambsganss, a Republican activist who worked for phone company Grapevine-based Patriot Mobile, which calls itself a Christian conservative cell phone company. Both candidates said every vote will make a difference and pushed for a strong turnout with door-knocking and phone banking. Voters at the polls on Election Day hoped their ballot would help swing the district blue or keep it red, even if only for a year.

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Pablo Tapia said he came out to vote because he knew the race would be tight. Rehmet’s union and military background appealed to the Keller resident, who sees Rehmet as being center politically. “We are really polarized right now, he said. “The real issues are really not on the table.” He pointed to receiving a fair, livable wage as an example. “I feel like he’s trying just to take the noise out of … what I would consider the issues that are not real,” Tapia said. Jeff Mueller, a GOP precinct chair who lives in Fort Worth, sees Wambsganss as a middle of the road Republican — “Maybe a little right.” “Conservative values. Medium of the road, moderate, little of everything,” he said. “We have too extreme on the left, and we have too extreme on the right.”

A&M cuts Women’s and Gender Studies program

Texas A&M announced the end of the Women’s and Gender Studies program and the cancellation of six courses on Friday, Jan. 30 . The cancellations come as a result of revisions to Texas A&M’s University System Policies 08.01 and 12.01 that went into effect Nov. 13, 2025, prohibiting the instruction of “race and gender ideology” as defined by the revisions. The statement added that the end of the WGST program is due to “limited student interest in the program based on enrollment over the past several years.” However, in a statement to The New York Times, interim President Tommy Williams added that “the difficulty of bringing the program in compliance with the new system policies” also contributed to the decision.

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The course review affirms that students pursuing a WGST major or minor will be able to complete their programs, and an email sent to the student body by English professor Laura Mandell, Ph.D., confirmed that “curriculum will continue to be taught for up to six months as a part of this teach out.” Only students currently enrolled in the program will be able enroll in WGST courses as it is phased out. The Spring 2026 course review examined approximately 5,400 courses to ensure compliance with the revised System policies. In addition to the WGST announcement, the review found that six courses were in violation of the policies and cancelled for the spring semester. In an interview with The New York Times, Williams claimed that the review and modification of course syllabi has “restored rigor into some areas where maybe we had had some drift.” He added that “this strengthens academic integrity, it protects our academic standards and, I think, most importantly, it builds trust in higher education.”

Texas Democratic lawmakers demand reform of ICE at protest

Numerous high-profile Texas democratic politicians spoke at an anti-ICE rally in east Austin on Saturday. This rally is apart nationwide movement protesting recent actions of ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the deaths of Renee Good, Alex Pretti and others. The rally took place at Pan American Neighborhood Park from about 3-4:30 p.m. KXAN saw the entire park packed with protesters.

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Speakers at the rally were consisted of: James Talarico, a Texas State Representative, Joaquin Castro, a U.S. Congressman, Greg Casar, a U.S. Congressman and Gina Hinojosa, a Texas State Representative. “It is time to tear down this secret police force, and replace it with an agency that is actually going to promote public safety,” Talarico said to the crowd. “We must prosecute agents who have abused their power.” Talarico, among the other lawmakers, pointed to recent highly publicized incidents, such as a 5-year-old boy and his father who are in custody at a federal detention center in Texas after they were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis. “It is our job to rally through the fear, to march through the darkness, to march through the silence, until we get to the end of this thing,” said Casar.

UT fraternity, sorority fight for Texas Dream Act: ‘It falls to us’

A University of Texas student dreamed of being a doctor since she was a little girl. She wanted to connect with people, and as a doctor, treat the whole person, not just the condition. “It sounds cliche, but that’s what I’ve been my whole life. Just a number, just something to be accounted for, but not really a person,” she said. “I didn’t want that to be the situation when I treated patients.” Attending UT, the student excelled in neuroscience and pre-med classes while interning at a faculty lab. She studied for hours in the library with friends, taking breaks to laugh and talk about boys. She was two semesters away from graduation when she learned she might not get her chance to walk the stage.

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On June 4, a friend texted her an article, reporting that a North Texas judge had struck down the state’s 25-year-old Dream Act. Over the last quarter-century, the law gave in-state tuition to Texas high school graduates without legal immigration status if they promised to pursue citizenship. The judge blocked the law just six hours after the United States Department of Justice sued Texas. The state declined to fight. As the Trump administration cracked down on illegal immigration, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton celebrated the quick decision, arguing the law was unconstitutional because it gave special benefits to non-U.S. citizens — even though the act prescribed more stringent residency standards than for other students. NBC News reported that the DOJ coordinated with Texas to kill the act, citing a recording of a Justice Department official. The legal battle changed everything for the student, who used the Dream Act to make higher education affordable in her first three years at UT. The student, who the American-Statesman is not naming to protect her identity, does not have legal immigration status. After the judge’s decision, she saw her Fall 2025 tuition skyrocket from $5,883 to $22,485. She paid what she could, meeting the initial deposit. But after two weeks of classes, she was $17,000 short. She had to withdraw, only recovering some of the initial payment.

Goliad Massacre site transferred from Catholic Church to state

The site of the Goliad massacre during the Texas Revolution has been transferred from the Catholic Diocese of Victoria into the care of the Texas Historical Commission (THC). The exact massacre site — at the Presidio la Bahia— has been owned and operated by the Diocese of Victoria since 1982. It has been owned by the Catholic Church as a whole since 1855. The THC assumed operational management of the presidio in 2022. The acquisition ensures long-term preservation and sets the stage for a world-class visitor experience ahead of Texas’ Bicentennial in 2036, according to state officials.

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“The Texas Historical Commission’s commitment to this site ensures that the resources here are preserved for the generations that will follow us,” THC Vice Chairman Garrett Donnelly said Wednesday. “It guarantees that the lessons of Goliad, including the courage, sacrifice, and resilience embodied here, will continue to be taught through real encounters that make history tangible.” Texas Army Colonel William Fannin and more than 400 of his men were massacred on orders from Mexican Commander Santa Anna after they surrendered following the Battle of Coleto. The men were executed by the Mexican Army at the presidio at Goliad on Palm Sunday 1836. Fannin's men had first been ordered by Texas Army Commander Sam Houston to reinforce the Alamo, and then, when it fell, to retreat to Victoria. That's when they were caught up in their last battle. The presidio, a National Historic Landmark, was established in 1749 during the Spanish colonial period.

Texans' support of flag football 'opens doors' for female athletes

The Houston Texans hosted their third annual Girls Flag College Showcase on Saturday, an event designed to help female high school athletes earn a chance to play flag football at the next level. The showcase was started in 2024 and was the first of its kind in Texas. On Saturday, more than 250 high school girls flag football players competed in drills and games in front of coaches from over 35 colleges, including Division I schools. "It absolutely means everything to me,” NFL Global Flag Ambassador Ashlea Klam said of the event. “Watching all of these girls out here ... being able to just see them with the Texans logo across their chest and saying, 'Yes, the Texans support girls flag football,' it is everything to me. It's a huge reason why girls flag football is being pushed the way it is.”

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Klam, former Texans player Cecil Shorts III and Hannah McNair were on site for the event and spoke with athletes and coaches. McNair, who launched the team’s girls flag football program in 2023 as the vice president of the Houston Texans Foundation, was delighted to produce a platform that could alter the lives of young female athletes for the better. “It's generational change,” McNair said. “It provides scholarships to these athletes who may not otherwise have an opportunity to go to college, and the opportunity to play in college as a high-level athlete. It just opens doors.” Athletes from around the globe attended the event in hopes of catching the eye of some evaluators. A team of girls from Mexico traveled up to participate in the showcase's morning session. And Hayden Elyzabeth Kaahanui-Cera, a quarterback in the Class of 2027, flew in from Hawaii to show off her skills in the afternoon. “For me, it’s important (to be here) because this is the pavement to my future,” Kaahanui-Cera said. “This is the pathway, this is the journey that I want to be on. And with this, I’m able to just push and become better at what I’m doing.”

National Stories

The unprecedented challenge of prosecuting federal agents for killing Renee Good, Alex Pretti

When Antonio Romanucci, the attorney representing the family of Renee Good, was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court he wanted to purchase something to commemorate the honor. In the court souvenir shop, he noticed porcelain turtles for sale. “Why the turtle?” he asked a clerk. The clerk responded, “The wheels of justice turn slowly.” Romanucci keeps the turtle on his desk, directly in front of him, for all of his clients to see. The Twin Cities have erupted this month in the wake of federal agents killing Good and Alex Pretti. Activists and protesters clamor outside federal buildings and Gov. Tim Walz’s office demanding arrests and criminal charges against the federal officers.

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Meanwhile, lawyers are looking at the long game and considering the likelihood of a courtroom scenario that has no modern precedent in state history: criminal charges being filed by the state, without the cooperation of the federal government, against federal officers for use of deadly force. If charges are brought, the cases would first focus on arguments over federal vs. state court jurisdiction and whether federal officers have immunity from state prosecution. That’s before any potential trial involving the federal officers who shot and killed two 37-year-old Minnesotans on the streets of south Minneapolis. The legal process could take years to play out. Defense attorney Eric Nelson, who represented former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in his criminal trial for the murder of George Floyd, said anytime a law enforcement officer is charged for killing a citizen, the case occupies a rarified space in society. “They captivate the community,” Nelson said. “They’re political. They’re sociological ... and they are very, very complicated.”

What a swing House district in Colorado shows about Republicans' immigration fallout in the midterms

Like many Donald Trump voters, Miranda Niedermeier is not opposed to immigration enforcement. She was heartened by initial moves from the Republican president in his second term that she saw as targeting immigrants who were in the United States illegally and had committed crimes. But Niedermeier, 35, has steadily become disillusioned with Trump. Never more so than in recent weeks, when federal immigration officers killed two U.S. citizens during Trump’scrackdownin Minneapolis. “In the beginning, they were getting criminals, but now they’re tearing people out of immigration proceedings, looking for the tiniest traffic infraction” to deport someone, said Niedermeier. She said she is horrified because the administration’s approach is not Christian. “It shouldn’t be life and death,” she said. “We’re not a Third World country. What the hell is going on?”

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Trump’s immigration drive in Minnesota, and the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, has resonated across the farms, oil and gas rigs, and shopping centers of Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, a swing seat stretching northeast from Denver. The monthlong turmoil in Minnesota has reinforced the political views of some in the U.S. House district while making others reconsider their own. “He should cool it on immigration,” said Edgar Cautle, a 30-year-old Mexican American oil field worker who said he is a Trump fan but is increasingly distressed by images of immigration agents detaining children and splitting families apart. “It’s making people not like him.” If such sentiments hold until the fall, that could imperil House Republicans who won their seats by narrow margins and could jeopardize the GOP’s full control of political power in Washington. Even a small shift is significant in the 8th District, where Republican Gabe Evans was elected to Congress in 2024 by 2,449 votes out of more than 333,000 cast. His seat is one of the Democrats’ top targets as they push to retake the House in November. Evans is a former police officer whose mother is Mexican American. He has urged the administration to focus on deporting criminals rather than people in the country illegally who are otherwise obeying the law — as Evans puts it, “gangbangers, not grandmas.” In an interview, Evans said he is worried about the assertion by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that it can search homes with just an administrative warrant rather than one signed by a judge. He said he looks forward to questioning Department of Homeland Security officials during an upcoming House hearing.

Bovino is said to have mocked prosecutor’s Jewish faith on call with lawyers

A day before six career federal prosecutors resigned in protest over the Justice Department’s handling of the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, lawyers in the office had a conversation with Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol field leader, that left them deeply unsettled. According to several people with knowledge of the telephone conversation, which took place on Jan. 12, Mr. Bovino made derisive remarks about the faith of the U.S. attorney in Minnesota, Daniel N. Rosen. Mr. Rosen is an Orthodox Jew and observes Shabbat, a period of rest between Friday and Saturday nights that often includes refraining from using electronic devices. Mr. Bovino, who has been the face of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, used the term “chosen people” in a mocking way, according to the people with knowledge of the call. He also asked, sarcastically, whether Mr. Rosen understood that Orthodox Jewish criminals don’t take weekends off, the people said.

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Mr. Bovino had requested the meeting with Mr. Rosen to press the Minnesota office to work more aggressively to seek criminal charges against people Mr. Bovino believed were unlawfully impeding the work of his immigration agents. Mr. Rosen delegated the call to a deputy. During the call, with a handful of prosecutors listening in, Mr. Bovino complained that Mr. Rosen had been unreachable for portions of the weekend because of Shabbat. Mr. Bovino’s remarks followed his complaints about having difficulty reaching Mr. Rosen. Mr. Bovino’s comments raised judgment concerns, but also a potential legal dilemma for government lawyers. Based on a 1972 Supreme Court decision in a case known as Giglio, prosecutors have an obligation to disclose certain information to the defense that could call into question the integrity and character of a law enforcement officer who is involved in an arrest and called as a witness in a trial. Mr. Bovino did not respond to requests for comment.

The humiliation of Kristi Noem

When a conspicuous presidential project goes awry—in this case, federal immigration agents killing two protesters in Minnesota—someone typically loses their job. And for much of this week, Kristi Noem’s deportation from the Trump administration seemed imminent. Public confidence in the president’s handling of immigration has been plummeting. And as the secretary of Homeland Security—and the ostentatious face of President Trump’s high-profile ICE and Customs and Border Protection dragnets—Noem has seemed the logical sacrifice. Washington loves a good Cabinet deathwatch, just as Trump loves a good public expulsion. Or at least he used to. By this point in his first term, his “You’re fired” bit had migrated seamlessly from TV to politics: His White House had already bled out a national security adviser (Michael Flynn), press secretary (Sean Spicer), chief of staff (Reince Priebus), chief strategist (Steve Bannon), and secretary of Health and Human Services (Tom Price). But in what can perhaps be called a minor upset, Noem was still in her role by week’s end. Instead, she had been left to twist very publicly in the wind.

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In a sense, this marks a subtle shift in Trump’s humiliation methods. Rather than firing officials outright—in a quick and relatively straightforward directive, or a tweet—he now seems to prefer sowing public doubt and maximizing attention upon the ultimate decider of someone’s fate: that person, of course, being himself. For those wearing the putative target on their back, this can surely be agonizing. But Trump seems to rather enjoy this dance. He gets to be puppet master for the whole spectacle—dropping hints, leaving everybody guessing and at his mercy—and all without the hassle of having to find a replacement. At certain points in his second term, various Cabinet secretaries have allegedly been on the outs but then managed to survive. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s name has circulated, especially since Trump sent her a direct message in September—and then accidentally posted it on Truth Social—urging her to be more aggressive in targeting his political enemies. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth survived a near miss last year after a group of high-level national-security officials erroneously added The Atlantic’s editor in chief to a private Signal group chat, where Hegseth shared military attack plans. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz was replaced over the episode but still wound up remaining in Trump’s Cabinet as ambassador to the United Nations. The lack of high-level turnover in this White House says plenty about the nature of this Trump administration compared with the first.

Trump says feds won’t intervene during protests in Democratic-led cities unless asked to do so

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he has instructed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem not to intervene in protests occurring in cities led by Democrats unless local authorities ask for federal help amid mounting criticism of his administration’s immigration crackdown. On his social media site, Trump posted that ‘’under no circumstances are we going to participate in various poorly run Democrat Cities with regard to their Protests and/or Riots unless, and until, they ask us for help.’’ He provided no further details on how his order would affect operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and DHS personnel, or other federal agencies, but added: ‘’We will, however, guard, and very powerfully so, any and all Federal Buildings that are being attacked by these highly paid Lunatics, Agitators, and Insurrectionists.’’

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Trump said that in addition to his instructions to Noem he had directed ‘’ICE and/or Border Patrol to be very forceful in this protection of Federal Government Property.’’ Later Saturday night, Trump said to reporters as he flew to Florida for the weekend that he felt Democratic cities are ‘’always complaining.’’ ‘’If they want help, they have to ask for it. Because if we go in, all they do is complain,’’ Trump said. He predicted that those cities would need help, but said if the leaders of those cities seek it from the federal government, , ‘’They have to say, ‘Please.’’’ The Trump administration has already deployed the National Guard, or federal law enforcement officials, in a number of Democratic areas, including Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, Oregon. But Saturday’s order comes as opposition to such tactics has grown, particularly in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region. Trump said Saturday night that protesters who ‘’do anything bad’’ to immigration officers and other federal law enforcement, ‘’will have to suffer" and ‘’will get taken care of in at least an equal way.’’

Democrats to shake up primary map, as 12 states vie to be among the first

A powerful Democratic committee that will determine which states hold the party’s first nominating contests in the 2028 presidential race voted Saturday to advance 12 states that had applied to be in the early group. Iowa had traditionally held the first caucuses, and New Hampshire has long relished its status as the first-in-the-nation primary. But in 2024, Joe Biden’s allies pressed the Democratic Party to move up South Carolina’s primary ahead of New Hampshire to highlight his strength among Black voters. Democrats in Iowa are also still recovering from a botched 2020 process when results weren’t available for days. After steep losses in the 2024 general election, party leaders have said they are ready to completely rethink the early-state lineup. On Saturday, Democrats advanced the 12 states that applied to hold the first nominating contests: Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

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Over the course of this year, the members of the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee will winnow that list to four states — one from each geographic region. The committee is also expected to choose one additional state to hold its contest in the early window. The states that want to be in the early lineup were required to prove their fairness, rigor and efficiency, said Rules and Bylaws Committee Co-Chair Minyon Moore. The intent is to craft “a calendar that produces the strongest possible Democratic nominee for president,” she said Saturday. Party representatives from the 12 states will be invited at a future date to present their arguments to members of the Rules and Bylaws Committee. The early states in the nominating cycle are more likely to have their voters’ issues heard by the candidates vying for the presidential nomination as well as the financial investment that campaigning brings. The shake-up of the map also exemplifies the broader debate among Democrats over how to come back from the political wilderness by winning back young voters, Black and Hispanic men, and other critical blocs who gravitated toward Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Many Democratic strategists and state party officials have told The Washington Post in several dozen interviews in recent months that they believe party’s longtime viability could hinge on the list of early states helping to ensure that 2028 candidates appeal to the key racial and socioeconomic groups Democrats will need to win the general election. States like New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada are all vying to hold the first nominating contest. Party officials from states like Georgia and Michigan have made it clear that they will be satisfied being anywhere in the early rotation.

Copyright February 02, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved