April 15, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

The Iran war created a global natural gas shortage — a windfall for U.S. companies

Troubles in the Strait of Hormuz continue, with the U.S. now imposing a naval blockade on Iranian ports. More than six weeks after the war began, one key part of the global energy supply remains locked in the strait—liquefied natural gas, or LNG. LNG is mainly used for electricity and heating, and about a fifth of the global LNG supply is produced by state-owned QatarEnergy. Even if the strait opens, it's unclear when Qatar's LNG could reach buyers in Asia and Europe. Early in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, attacks hit QatarEnergy's LNG facilities. Energy experts tell NPR it could take several months to repair them. A return to full production capacity could take years. QatarEnergy did not respond to NPR's request for comment.

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With Qatar largely out of the picture, there's a global shortage of natural gas. That leaves an opening for the world's largest LNG exporter, the U.S. Last month, the heads of U.S. LNG companies gathered for a reception at CERAWeek by S&P Global, an annual industry conference in Houston. Mood lights made everyone look blue. But no one looked like they were feeling blue. With drinks flowing and a jazz band playing, the mood was celebratory. "We have a shortage of natural gas," U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright told the crowd. "Where is that natural gas gonna come from? It's gonna come from continued ramps, continued investments to grow United States LNG exports." In recent weeks, LNG company executives have framed the U.S. as a reliable supplier in an unstable world. In a panel discussion at CERAWeek, Anatol Feygin, chief commercial officer of U.S. LNG giant Cheniere Energy, called the sudden shortage of LNG from the Strait of Hormuz a "guillotine issue."

Europe is accelerating a NATO fallback plan in case Trump pulls out

A fallback plan to ensure Europe can defend itself using NATO’s existing military structures if the U.S. departs is gaining traction after getting buy-in from Germany, a long-term opponent of a go-it-alone approach. The officials working on the plans, which some officials are referring to as “European NATO,” are seeking to get more Europeans into the alliance’s command-and-control roles and supplement U.S. military assets with their own. The plans—advancing informally through side discussions and over dinner meetings in and around the North Atlantic Treaty Organization—aren’t intended to rival the current alliance, participants said. European officials are aiming to preserve deterrence against Russia, operational continuity and nuclear credibility even if Washington withdraws forces from Europe or refuses to come to its defense, as President Trump has threatened.

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The plans, first conceived last year, underscore the depth of European anxiety over U.S. reliability. They accelerated after Trump threatened to seize Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark, and are now gaining fresh urgency amid the standoff over Europe’s refusal to back America’s war in Iran. Crucially, a political reversal in Berlin is boosting momentum. For decades, Germany resisted French-led calls for greater European sovereignty in its defense, preferring to keep America as the ultimate guarantor of European security. That is now changing under German Chancellor Friedrich Merz because of concerns about the U.S.’s dependability as an ally during the Trump presidency and beyond, according to people familiar with his thinking. The challenge is enormous. NATO’s entire structure is built around American leadership at almost every level, from logistics and intelligence to the alliance’s top military command. Europeans are now trying to shoulder more of those responsibilities, which Trump has long demanded. The alliance will be “more European-led,” its Secretary-General Mark Rutte said recently. The difference now is that Europeans are taking steps under their own initiative, due to Trump’s growing hostility, rather than as a result of U.S. goading. In recent days, Trump branded European allies as “cowards” and called NATO a paper tiger, adding, in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin: “Putin knows that too.”

Houston Councilman Pollard says Whitmire 'caved' as $110M ICE showdown looms

As tensions escalate between Houston leaders and the state, one city council member is taking direct aim at the mayor—accusing him of folding under pressure in a blistering public rebuke. Council Member Edward Pollard issued a scathing letter on social media, ripping both state officials and Mayor John Whitmire as fallout grows over a controversial immigration ordinance. Pollard first blasted state leaders for threatening to strip Houston of critical funding, calling the move reckless and politically motivated. "Every Houstonian should be outraged with them putting politics during an election year over people," he wrote, adding that the state is "ironically creating the very risk they claim to oppose. But his harshest criticism was reserved for Whitmire.

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The criticism stems from what Pollard described as direct retaliation by the state after the mayor and the Houston City Council approved a revised "Prop A" immigration ordinance. Whitmire has maintained the policy simply reinforces a longstanding stance: "Houston enforces state and local laws—not federal law—and we are not ICE." However, Governor Greg Abbott and other state leaders see it differently. In a letter from the governor's Public Safety Office, officials threatened to withdraw $110 million in public safety grants because it violates an agreement between the City of Houston and the state. This is funding that supports police, firefighters, and critical safety infrastructure, going far beyond a routine budget issue. "That's not leadership, it's hypocrisy and political bullying," Pollard said. "Worse, it appears to be working." Whitmire, in his own public response, called the potential loss of funding "a crisis situation," warning it could impact public safety operations, homeland security efforts, and preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But Pollard seized on that response as evidence that the mayor is buckling.

Kristin Tips out as head of embattled Texas funeral commission

Kristin Tips, the longtime presiding officer of the embattled Texas Funeral Service Commission, is no longer on the board. “Governor Abbott appreciates Kristin Tips’ service,” Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary, said in an email Tuesday. “An announcement on a replacement will be made at a later date.” He did not respond to questions immediately about whether she was terminated or resigned, nor did he say when she left the board. Tips, who has run San Antonio’s prestigious Mission Park Funeral Chapels, Cemeteries & Crematories with her husband, Dick Tips, was appointed to the board by the governor in 2017 and made the presiding officer in May 2024. Tips did not respond to a request for comment.

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The funeral commission is a small agency tasked with regulating the business of death care, mandated to protect consumers against abuses like price gouging and unlicensed funeral directors and to license and inspect funeral providers and crematories. The agency also oversees the donation of body parts for research or educational purposes. The governor appoints the commissioners, who in turn can hire and fire an executive director to run day-to-day operations. The agency publicly imploded in the summer of 2025, when the commissioners unanimously voted to fire their executive director of less than a year, Scott Bingaman. Before he was fired, Bingaman accused Tips of using agency resources to further her own interests. Shortly after his termination, he sued the commissioners. Tips, he claimed in the filings, had “crossed ethical and legal lines” and “state resources for her own personal interests and lobbying efforts”; he also claimed he’d raised concerns about her to Abbott’s office. The commissioners denied the allegations he made and, in their own filings, alleged “Bingaman misappropriated funds, undermined the statutory functions of the Commission, and violated public trust.” The lawsuit is ongoing.

State Stories

Jim Davis says UT had no Trump university compact to sign

When the Trump administration last October offered the University of Texas funding benefits in exchange for adhering to conservative priorities, the UT community anxiously awaited the university's choice. UT Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife said the system was honored and excited to work with the administration. But some students protested and angry alumni pulled funding. Both worried the deal could threaten UT’s academic excellence and independence from politicians. As the deadline to sign that compact passed, UT was the only one of the initial eight universities that received the letter to not publicly respond. Last week, UT President Jim Davis commented for the first time publicly on the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. He told The Daily Texan, the university’s student newspaper, that there was never anything for him to sign.

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But Davis’ claim directly contradicts the Trump administration’s initial letter, which was obtained by the American-Statesman. It also is at odds with how seven other university leaders responded, saying publicly that their institutions would not sign onto the agreement. It’s not clear if the Trump administration’s desire to have schools sign onto the offer changed since the October message. “In the very first week, I gave them some feedback on things that function in a public university in the state of Texas, things that don’t, ways to think about what their goals were, of what they’re trying to solve,” Davis said. “And then nothing much happened since then. “There’s no place for me to put my orange pen on the bottom line. There wasn’t in October, there wasn’t in November, and there’s not now,” he added.

Founding CEO Chris Cobler resigns after 5 years of leading Fort Worth Report

Chris Cobler, the Fort Worth Report’s founding CEO, resigned Monday after five years of leading the nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. During his tenure, Cobler oversaw and guided the Report’s growth and fundraising. His resignation as CEO, publisher and editor was effective immediately. He cited the need to be with his family as they support his mother through a serious illness. “I firmly believe the Fort Worth Report and the Arlington Report are on the cusp of fully connecting all of Tarrant County through trusted local news and information,” Cobler wrote in his resignation letter. “We will become a civic institution for decades to come.”

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Wes Turner, board co-chairman, will serve as interim CEO while a national search identifies the organization’s next leader. Turner is the former longtime executive of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He was part of a group of Fort Worthians concerned about the declining state of local news in the city. The coalition of business and civic leaders eventually created the Report. Turner will focus on business operations, while Managing Editor Babs Rodriguez will lead the award-winning newsroom. In a statement, the Report’s board of directors thanked Cobler for his five successful years of growing the organization. “Since launching the organization in 2021, Chris built a thriving, community-centered newsroom that has grown to more than 30 staff and fellows and expanded into Arlington,” the board wrote in a statement. Becoming CEO marked Cobler’s return to North Texas where he previously worked at the Denton Record-Chronicle. He called working at the Report a dream come true as the nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization showed a path for the future of local journalism, Cobler wrote in a 2021 note.

Jim Ross, Steve Cavender in the spotlight for Arlington mayoral race.

Housing, gay rights, taxes and the personal finances of candidates are among some of the big issues that have emerged in the race for Arlington mayor. Early voting starts April 20 and Election Day on May 2. Incumbent Jim Ross, 65, took office in 2021 and has overseen planning for the World Cup, relocation of several national corporate headquarters to the city and led the council through three tax rate decreases and two increases. Steve Cavender, the 77-year-old president of the River Legacy Foundation, is seeking to unseat Ross. Cavender has worked for 35 years in real estate development and has never run for or held public office before.

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Shaun Mallory, the owner of Daesy’s Tropic Sno on Little Road, is running for mayor because he says voters need a more direct say in how the city is run. Mallory has never run for office before. Hunter Crow, the fourth mayoral hopeful, is the Tarrant County Democratic Party Precinct 2425 Chair. He has made eight unsuccessful bids for office, including for Arlington school board, Texas Railroad Commission and Texas State Board of Education. Ross and Cavender have taken center stage in much of the discussion about the mayoral election. Cavender has outspent Ross with $78,863 spent as of April 2, according to a campaign finance report filed that day. Ross, as of April 2, spent $7,339. More than $58,000 of Cavender’s expenses have been paid to Mayes Media Group, the firm of his campaign manager Brian Mayes. Ross’ largest expenditure was for yard signs, paying $2,459.85 to Digital Corporate Companies in Arlington. Much of the campaign has played out on social media.

Church-state separation is a ‘lie,’ says Trump's Religious Liberty Commission Chair Dan Patrick

The leader of President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission said that church and state separation is a falsehood at the group’s final meeting, drawing criticism from an advocacy group that supports it. At a Monday (April 13) hearing at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican and the chair of the commission, asked, “Would it not be a good recommendation that every school, every university, every business, has to have that one sheet on the bulletin board about protecting people’s religious liberty, and that the separation of church and state is the biggest lie that’s been told in America since our founding?”

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His question was posed to Helen Alvaré, a law professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, as Patrick compared the notion of such a bulletin board announcement to the federal notices from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that are posted in classrooms and other buildings that aim to promote safety and prevent hazards. Alvaré, a onetime top staffer for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops representing the bishops’ anti-abortion stance and a witness at the hearing, agreed with Patrick’s suggestion. “It would be an appropriate time to put up some information about these sorts of rights,” she said. “You’re responding to the signs of the times where this has been misunderstood, and like any other thing, where people are unclear about their rights, this might be a way to clarify them.” Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, rejected Patrick’s stance.

Walk for Peace monks recognized by Tarrant commissioners amid O’Hare abstention

Throughout a four-month “Walk for Peace” that captivated the nation, 19 Buddhist monks met with elected officials and county sheriffs across the country. Two months after returning to their east Fort Worth temple the monks caught the attention of their own county officials. Four members of the Tarrant County Commissioners Court honored the monks Tuesday with a ceremonial resolution to celebrate their pilgrimage. The court’s presiding member, Judge Tim O’Hare, abstained from the vote. Sheriff Bill Waybourn, the county’s top law enforcement official, hasn’t met the monks. Commissioner Alisa Simmons put forth the resolution to commend the monks and their equally famous pup Aloka, describing their pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., as a reflection of “the highest ideals of unity, humility and harmony among diverse communities.”

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“The peace walk has brought honor and distinction to Tarrant County through the message of understanding and goodwill,” Simmons said. Asked why she felt it was important to recognize the monks, Simmons said it was “intentional.” “It was about setting a different standard for how we treat people. And more importantly, how we lead,” she said in a statement. Walking for peace is generally not seen as a controversial act, said Rev. Michael Yandell, the director of Soul Repair Center and Doctor of Ministry Program at Brite Divinity School. Although he was clear he didn’t know O’Hare’s motivation, Yandell said, the decision not to recognize the monks is “a question of power.” “Anytime there’s a situation in which somebody’s kind of comfortably in a position of power is asked to do something that might, in any way be construed as ‘Wait a minute, that’s not particularly patriotic or that’s not particularly Christian’ in this really simplified way — they’re likely not going to risk doing that thing, even though, on his face, it doesn’t appear risky at all,” Yandell said. O’Hare, who did not return a request for comment, is currently seeking his second term as county judge in the November election. He is being challenged by Simmons.

Austin breaks ground on $1.5B wastewater plant expansion

City officials marked the groundbreaking of the expansion of Austin's largest wastewater plant at an April 14 ceremony. “This is needed generational investment to expand and modernize the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, and it fulfills our responsibility as a city to provide basic but critical services for today, tomorrow and the next 50 years," Mayor Kirk Watson said. The more than $1 billion expansion will boost the plant's wastewater treatment capacity by 33%, from 75 million gallons daily to 100 MGD by the early 2030s. Hundreds of millions of dollars more are also being spent to improve and modernize other parts of the facility, which will remain operational throughout several years of construction.

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“This project will be complete in advance of when flows are expected to exceed the plant’s rated capacity in 2032," Austin Water Director Shay Ralls Roalson said. "By expanding the treatment capacity to 100 MGD, we will not only be meeting increasing needs, we will also be able to implement treatment upgrades to meet more stringent regulatory limits on effluent water quality." On top of the plant's first major capacity upgrade in decades, improvements also include: Upgrading water treatment processes with biological nutrient removal, which Roalson said will significantly cut the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen discharged from the plant into the Colorado River and improve that waterway's health; Converting water disinfection to an ultraviolet process, eliminating the use of chlorine gas and improving safety; Implementing advanced odor control, such as biofilters and activated carbon filters, which Roalson said will help the plant remain a "good neighbor" in East Austin; Preserving trees and undeveloped areas of the plant property by tunneling a new pipeline to the Colorado River; Rolling out a new treatment process for peak water flows in heavy rain or flood conditions, and building a new flood wall around the property to protect facilities in extreme weather. “This project will modernize every part of the existing plant," Roalson said.

Texas Tech law student disciplined for “celebrating” Kirk’s death sues

Ellen Fisher, a third-year law student at the Texas Tech University School of Law, is suing the university after its honor council recommended she be reprimanded for allegedly “celebrating” the death of conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk. Should the honor code sanction become final, Fisher would be required to report it to the Texas Board of Bar Examiners, and it could cause “incalculable” damage to her career, according to the complaint, filed April 9. The suit showcases another example of a university punishing students and employees for disparaging or even discussing Kirk—an advocate of free speech—after he was killed. Several faculty and staff members lost their jobs over comments they made about Kirk during class or on social media. Six months after Kirk died, institutions are still litigating how students and employees should be permitted to speak about him and if their speech is protected by the First Amendment.

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Fisher, founder of the Texas Tech NAACP chapter, claims she was unfairly punished for talking about Kirk’s death because she is Black, and she is calling for compensatory and punitive damages, an injunction to block the honor code sanction, and a jury trial. “Of all the students who discussed Kirk’s shooting in [class], none are Black except Fisher. None were brought before the School of Law Honor Council except Fisher,” the complaint states. While Fisher was being investigated by the honor council, someone wrote the N-word on Fisher’s car window while it was parked at Texas Tech. When she reported it to the school, “Fisher was told it was irrelevant,” according to the complaint. Terri Morgeson, a clinical instructor and director of the School of Law Family Law Clinic, reported Fisher to the honor council after overhearing her discuss Kirk’s death with other classmates in a way she deemed “unprofessional,” the complaint states.

The Ticket's George Dunham, a toilet and a battle for the soul of rural Texas

George Dunham traded the suburbs for the sleepy town of Bartonville nearly 20 years ago. “We moved here for the quiet,” says the Ticket radio host, one-third of the sports station’s top-rated morning show The Musers. Bartonville — population 1,700 — is an upscale rural haven about an hour northwest of Dallas, wedged between the booming suburbs of Argyle and Flower Mound in Denton County. On the drive home from his early-hours gig, Dunham passes rolling pastures and sometimes sees a guy fishing off a pier, and he likes to stop for breakfast at the Bartonville Store, a restaurant and music venue in a charming white wooden structure whose history stretches back to the arrival of the town, when the Barton family opened a farming store on a dusty trail in 1882.

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“I hate to sound hokey, but this is our Cheers,” says Dunham of the Bartonville Store, whose interior is strung with Edison bulbs and lined with raw cedar fence planks that give the place a down-home feel. Although Dunham is best known as a radio host, he’s also a musician who appreciates a place that could have stepped out of a country song. “We don’t live in Dallas, where there are cool spots all around town. This is our cool spot.” The Bartonville Store is the kind of lovingly restored gem you might see on a travel show about roadside honky-tonks. Country stars Pat Green and Cody Jinks have played the venue, and weekends get hopping with blues and boot-scootin’. “I see it as a place like Luckenbach and Gruene Hall,” says Pat Green, name-checking two of the shiniest stars in the belt buckle of Texas dance halls. “There are places that take you back, where the furniture takes you back, where you play and the sound slaps the back wall and hits you in the face. That’s what it’s like being there. I love the Bartonville Store.” There is a problem, though. A few of them, but let’s start with the toilet. The Bartonville Store is on a septic system, and unlike about 80 other businesses in town, it’s been unable to hook up to a sewer line, even though one runs onto the property. The place can only stay open five days a week to keep the system from overloading, which has left it struggling financially, and let’s not get started on the smell.

Austin's undeveloped parks: The city is sitting on hundreds of acres

When Diana McCue thinks about Jamestown Neighborhood Park, she imagines what it could be. Trees. Open space. A playground. A community art wall. A place for sports, neighborhood gatherings and playtime with her two small children. It’s a vision that could still happen. Since the city bought the land in 2021, the new park has been designed, the permitting process is underway and the Austin Parks Foundation is financially supporting it. But exactly when the North Austin park will open remains an unanswered question. Best guess right now: 2028.

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“My hope, selfishly, is that my kids will get to enjoy it,” said McCue, a Jamestown resident who has been active in the planning process. “I feel like I’m having to let go of that dream.” McCue’s wait reflects a broader reality across Austin. The city is sitting on more than $41 million in taxpayer-funded, undeveloped parkland. Nearly 300 acres across about 50 neighborhoods and pocket parks remain dormant. Some are moving through planning. Others have no clear timeline for when, or if, they will be built. The land remains vacant even as the city falls short of its own goals for all Austinites to be within a 5-to-10 minute walk of a park. Right now, just 70 percent of residents are. In 2025, the Trust for Public Land ranked Austin’s park system 54th out of the country’s 100 most populated cities. Changing that is slow. Even under ideal conditions, building a park takes years, said Ricardo Soliz, park planning division manager for Austin Parks and Recreation Department. From planning to opening, the process takes an average of three years.

Baylor Scott & White's insurance arm is dropping Medicaid, marketplace plans

The Baylor Scott & White Health Plan — the health insurance arm of Baylor Scott & White — announced Tuesday that it plans to stop carrying Texas Medicaid plans and individual marketplace plans later this year. “This change reflects the state’s Medicaid procurement decision and Individual Marketplace complexities,” the announcement said. The change only impacts people who have health care coverage plans through the Baylor Scott & White Health Plan. It does not impact patients of Baylor Scott & White medical providers who have health care coverage through a different insurer. The health plan, according to a Tuesday evening announcement, intends to exit the Texas Medicaid Managed Care Program at the end of August, which is the end of the current plan year. If that goes through as scheduled, then the Baylor Scott & White Health Plan will no longer offer Medicaid coverage. People enrolled in one of those Medicaid plans will need to change carriers.

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About 3.5% of Texas’ Medicaid enrollees — or 125,000 people — have coverage through the Baylor Scott & White Health Plan, according to the Tuesday announcement. At the end of the year, the health plan will also discontinue individual marketplace plans, which are the health coverage plans that people can purchase for themselves and their families under the Affordable Care Act. Current enrollees would need to select a coverage option through a different carrier. About 2.6% of Texans on marketplace plans — or 100,000 people — are covered through the Baylor Scott & White Health Plan, according to the announcement. Baylor Scott & White’s health system — the hospitals, doctor’s offices and other health care facilities — will still accept patients’ other Medicaid and marketplace health plans. Patients who have other Medicaid or marketplace plans, but see medical providers at Baylor Scott & White facilities, will not be impacted by this change. The changes will mean some job losses at the Baylor Scott & White Health Plan, according to the announcement. A spokesperson for Baylor Scott & White said there are 321 jobs impacted across the state, including 65 in North Texas. The health plan will reach out to impacted enrollees, the announcement said, after regulatory approval of the change.

Magnolia mayor arrested, charged with felony assault of pregnant woman following Texas Rangers investigation

Magnolia Mayor Matthew Dantzer has now been arrested amid an ongoing investigation led by Texas Rangers. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to KPRC 2’s Corley Peel that Dantzer was taken into custody on a Tarrant County warrant for felony assault of a pregnant person. He is currently being held in the Montgomery County Jail. The investigation began after a complaint was filed by Magnolia City Secretary Christian Gable. In the complaint, Gable alleged that while she was pregnant, Dantzer sexually harassed her and grabbed her by the throat during a work conference in Fort Worth in October 2025. KPRC 2 News has also obtained a federal complaint filed by the city’s former human resources director. In that filing, the former employee claims she was pushed out of her position after reporting the alleged incident involving Gable.

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The lawsuit accuses the city of First Amendment retaliation, failure of city-wide policies, and violations of the Texas Whistleblower Act. Dantzer has denied the allegations. In a statement released in March through his attorney, the mayor said he denies all claims and is asking for privacy and patience as the investigation continues. KPRC 2’s Corley Peel previously reached out to Dantzer by phone. Dantzer told Corley, “I’m not a Texas Ranger, you’ll have to talk to them or Leonard Schneider,” before ending the call. KPRC 2 News reporter Corley Peel was at Tuesday night’s Magnolia City Council meeting, where the mayor pro tem, Jack Huitt, called for Dantzer’s resignation. The city secretary’s family expressed relief about his arrest. “Honestly, it’s a step in the right direction,” said Bryan Emery, Gable’s fiancé. During the council meeting, Huitt acknowledged Dantzer’s arrest but said the city could not formally discuss the arrest because it was not on the agenda, but he made his personal position clear. “I have previously spoken to the mayor to resign on several occasions and I will do so again when I’m able to speak to him,” Huitt said.

National Stories

Trump threatens to fire Powell if he does not resign from Fed

President Trump vowed to fire Jerome H. Powell if he opted to stay on at the Federal Reserve after his term as chair ends, doubling down on a criminal investigation into the central bank that is threatening to delay the confirmation of Mr. Powell’s successor. Mr. Powell’s tenure as chair officially ends on May 15, but both the law and past precedent suggest that he can serve on a temporary basis until Mr. Trump’s pick to replace him, Kevin M. Warsh, is confirmed by the Senate. Mr. Powell’s term as a Fed governor also runs well beyond that date, allowing him to stay on at the central bank until 2028. The process to confirm Mr. Warsh has been complicated by the Justice Department’s investigation into Mr. Powell and his handling of costly renovations at the Fed’s headquarters in Washington.

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Mr. Trump said in a Fox Business interview that aired on Wednesday that the investigation was not just about the $2.5 billion project but also about Mr. Powell’s “incompetence.” Mr. Powell has blasted the investigation as a pretext to pressure the Fed to lower borrowing costs, which has long been Mr. Trump’s goal when it comes to the Fed. Mr. Trump’s decision to pick another fight with Mr. Powell at a moment when the fate of his choice for chair is already in limbo runs counter to recent signals sent by top administration officials and senior Republicans. Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, said on Tuesday that “we want Kevin Warsh in as soon as possible.” Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina and chair of the Banking Committee, told Fox Business earlier that day that he believed the investigation would conclude within weeks, though he conceded that he had no evidence of that.

Forest Service shake-up will boost states’ role — but even supporters have concerns

A sweeping reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service signals that the agency is planning to lean heavily on states to help manage millions of acres of federal land, foresters across the West say. State officials and timber industry leaders say they’ve been given scant details about the plan, which will move the agency’s headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, restructure its regional management, and close scores of research stations in dozens of states. While they wait for the dust to settle, they’re preparing for the Forest Service — with its workforce slashed by the Trump administration — to ask more of its partners under the new model.

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“The Forest Service itself is unable to uphold its mission and cannot alone manage the many challenges on these landscapes,” said Nick Smith, public affairs director with the American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry group. “The transition from regional offices to more state-level offices is a recognition that partnerships are the future for the Forest Service.” But many forestry veterans fear the shake-up will cause more attrition in an agency that’s already shrunk because of Trump’s cuts to the federal workforce. Some see a clear sign that moving the headquarters to Utah — a state whose leaders are often hostile to federal land ownership — is designed to undermine the Forest Service’s management of its lands. The closure of 57 research stations, some agency partners fear, will threaten critical science that states and other forest managers rely on to learn about wildfire behavior, timber production and a host of other issues. Some observers noted that the agency is required to seek congressional approval to relocate offices, which could trigger legal challenges to the plan if lawmakers do not weigh in. Meanwhile, some foresters feel the uncertainty swirling over the agency will cause chaos as the West heads into a dangerous fire season amid record temperatures and drought.The plan announced on March 31 will relocate Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz and his headquarters staff to Salt Lake City. The agency will close its nine regional offices, each of which oversee national forests across multiple states.

A divided America processes a war with Iran

Krystal Zimmerman, an Army veteran who fought in Iraq, is worried about America’s latest war in the Middle East. She supported attacking Iran’s nuclear sites, but as the conflict lurches from bombings and threats of annihilation to a shaky truce with no clear exit, she worries that President Trump has now stumbled into his own forever war. “It’s a waste of resources, a waste of money, and we come off as bullies,” Ms. Zimmerman, 40, said after she wrapped up a recent appointment at a Veterans Affairs clinic in Colorado Springs, where she receives treatment for the depression and sleeplessness that followed her home from Baghdad. Many Americans are expressing anger, frustration, even bewilderment as the war on Iran grinds into its seventh week. Over the weekend, peace talks fizzled, and Mr. Trump reverted to bombast and conflicting statements as he ordered a blockade of Iranian ports to counter Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

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Public-opinion surveys show that roughly six in 10 Americans oppose the U.S.-led war against Iran, a striking shift from the solid public support that accompanied the United States’ invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s, or the Persian Gulf war in the 1990s. Some say they are simply baffled by a war that they feel the president did not prepare them for and that still has not been clearly explained. “I don’t think Trump is making wise decisions,” Emmelia Lorenzen, 19, said as she and a friend sipped coffees in Fayetteville, N.C., home to the sprawling Fort Bragg Army base, which serves as headquarters to both Army Special Operations and the Third Special Forces Group. But it has been a muted opposition, unfurling in conversations at cafes and veterans’ halls, and prompting smaller demonstrations instead of the huge protests that accompanied the Vietnam War or the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. “I’m incredulous that more people aren’t in the streets but, yeah, it’s kind of hard to be surprised or even shocked by anything he does now,” Mike Keefe, 64, said of the president as he stood with a diminished cluster of protesters outside an immigration detention center in Portland, Ore.

Oklahoma lawmakers add data center restrictions to groundwater metering measure

Lawmakers advanced a bill that would reshape how Oklahoma tracks the water it pulls out of the ground. After a change during the legislative process, the measure would also add requirements for data centers seeking to use Oklahoma groundwater. Senate Bill 259 would require Oklahoma groundwater users to meter the water they pull from wells. The law would allow eight years before metering requirements are enforced, and only apply to people with permits from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) to use groundwater for commercial purposes, not people with household wells.

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Under current state law, permit holders are required to report how much water they use and keep it under a set limit. But they aren’t required to document their reporting. According to the bill authors, many people use less but report the full limit, in fear their cap will be lowered. “They're given a permit by the OWRB to use so much water,” said Rep. Carl Newton, R-Cherokee, who co-authored the bill. “All I'm asking is that we measure that much water, so we know exactly how much they're using.” This measure would require specific, documented reporting. But it would explicitly bar the OWRB from lowering someone’s permitted water use because they weren’t using the full amount. It would also allow a five-year flex period, during which people could use up to 150% of their allowed amount one year, as long as their average use over a five-year period was below the limit. Although metering wouldn’t be mandatory yet, the five-year flex policy would go into effect in 2027 for people who voluntarily meter their water. Newton and Sen. Brent Howard, R-Altus, are behind this bill. They sponsored a similar measure in 2024, which made it through the legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Kevin Stitt. But this measure goes a step further to address a concern that wasn’t on most people’s minds just two years ago: water use by large data centers.

Vance’s K Street army is growing

Three top aides to Vice President JD Vance have decamped to high-priced and well-connected lobbying shops in the past two months, building out his Washington apparatus of policy and fundraising connections that could help fuel a potential 2028 campaign. Sean Cooksey, the vice president’s former chief legal and policy adviser, left for BGR Group. Jim Durrett, former deputy chief of staff for operations, went to Invariant. Wesam Hassanein, former special adviser on the Middle East, went to Continental Strategy. Cooksey worked for Vance since the start of the second term. Durett and Hassanein joined his office last May. The moves widen Vance’s connections in the lobbying and fundraising worlds that are typically needed in a presidential run.

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Should he decide to run for president in 2028, the network of former Vance aides who still feel loyal to the vice president could provide fundraising expertise and policy chops that can expand by working with clients and relationships with the private sector. “The vice president’s outside network is small, but they are experienced and fiercely loyal,” said a person close to Vance’s team, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive topics. “Whatever he does, you can expect Vance alumni to jump into action to support him.” Vance is a relative newcomer to Washington, having arrived a little more than three years ago as a freshman Ohio senator with little inside-the-beltway political network. Strong presidential candidates typically have circles of people from their D.C. internal government staff, home-state connections and a D.C. political network. “Your D.C. political network [is] movers and shakers, people who can introduce you to Super PACs, people who can get you in front of the financiers and the titans of business,” said GOP lobbyist Stewart Verdery, founder and partner of Monument Advocacy. “The Vice President has already made that jump. He doesn’t need some of that stuff, but the fact that some of his aides are moving into private sector positions just moves them from one circle on the chart to the other.”

Vance warns the pope should 'be careful' when talking about theology

Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that Pope Leo XIV should “be careful” when he talks about theology, rebuking the pontiff over his criticisms of U.S. foreign policy. Vance argued that the pope, who has said Jesus “is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs,” was failing to take into account conflicts such as World War II. “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps and liberated those, those innocent people, you know, those who had survived the Holocaust? I certainly think the answer is yes,” he said at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Georgia.

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Vance, who is Catholic and met with the pope in May, said that he likes it when the pope weighs in on issues such as abortion, immigration or “matters of war and peace” but that he sometimes disagrees with him. “Now we can, of course, have disagreements about whether this or that conflict is just, but I think in the way that it’s important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology,” Vance said. “But I think one of the issues here is that if you’re going to opine on matters of theology, you’ve got to be careful. You’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth, and that’s one of the things that I try to do, and it’s certainly something I would expect from the clergy, whether they’re Catholic or Protestant,” he added.

Copyright April 15, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved