March 18, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

No Trump endorsement for Cornyn or Paxton in Texas Senate race as deadline passes

President Trump let a key filing deadline pass on Tuesday without endorsing a candidate in Texas’ Senate race, locking in a high-stakes Republican runoff between the incumbent, John Cornyn, and the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton. Mr. Trump could still offer an endorsement at any time, but his decision not to before the deadline for candidates to formally drop out of the race means both Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Paxton will be on the next ballot even if one of them withdraws at a later date. It also means both will continue to duke it out in what has already been a highly personal, historically expensive Senate race. Who the president endorses, and when he makes that announcement, may now depend on the fate of the SAVE America Act, the sweeping voter ID bill being considered by the Senate. Mr. Trump is not expected to make a call in the race before debate on the bill is over.

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The runoff election is May 26. The deadline for Republican candidates to remove their names from the runoff ballot was Tuesday at 5 p.m. Central time. As of Tuesday evening, both Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Paxton remained on the ballot, their campaigns said. After neither secured a majority in the primary election on March 3, Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Paxton vied for the president’s approval. The day after the primary election, the president pledged to endorse in the race “soon.” News reports surfaced that he was likely to throw his support to Mr. Cornyn, but so far nothing has swayed Mr. Trump to back either man officially. Mr. Trump spent Tuesday railing against NATO allies and calling for the passage of the SAVE America Act on social media. At the White House, he participated in St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. He did not weigh in publicly on the Senate race.

Corpus Christi cuts timeline to disaster as Abbott issues emergency orders

City officials in Corpus Christi on Tuesday released modeling that showed emergency cuts to water demand could be required as soon as May as reservoir levels continue to decline. That means the region’s complex of refineries and chemical plants could face disruptions of their water supply sooner than previously predicted. At a regularly scheduled City Council meeting at City Hall, Nick Winkelmann, Corpus Christi Water’s chief operating officer, presented five scenarios depicting varying success rates for the city’s emergency water projects. They showed a “Level 1 Water Emergency” beginning in May, in October or not at all. Previous city modeling had forecast the emergency, which requires a 25 percent reduction in all water use, in November, equivalent to about 30 million gallons per day (MGD) of water. Officials did not offer any clarity on how water curtailment might be implemented in the region.

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“We are this close to a potential curtailment and we have not all sat down as a team to look at it. That’s a problem,” Council Member Kaylynn Paxson told the meeting. Instead, the council on Tuesday approved hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for a last-ditch emergency groundwater import project from the Evangeline Aquifer that still doesn’t have permits. “It’s the only thing right now that will keep us out of a Level 1 Water Emergency,” Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni told the council. “We’re taking a calculated risk and continuing the design and we’re going to start building the project in about five weeks without the drilling permits.” In a best-case scenario, the project will start producing 4 MGD in November, Zanoni said. In the worst case, the city could invest in building the project, only for its permits to be litigated in state administrative court for two more years. “I think we have to plan for the worst-case scenario,” said Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo. “We pray to God that this comes through, but if it doesn’t, we’ve got to be able to know what’s going to come.” The council also approved plans to schedule a March 31 workshop to discuss what a Level 1 Water Emergency would entail.

Brendan Carr’s ‘equal time’ curveball crashes the midterms

The midterm elections that could upend the final years of Donald Trump’s presidency face a new complication — his Federal Communications Commission chair. Brendan Carr’s attempt to resurrect enforcement of the FCC’s nearly century-old “equal time” rule has already set off a chain reaction that kept Stephen Colbert’s interview with Texas Democrat James Talarico off the air in February. But the rule’s impact on elections could be even more sweeping, media law experts and campaign veterans of both parties told POLITICO, after Carr warned of potential penalties for television stations that fail to be even-handed in offering airtime to political candidates. One result, some fear, could be the virtual banishing of candidate interviews from broadcast TV talk shows.

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Democrats said they expect their candidates to take the immediate brunt if the FCC’s pressure causes TV programs to avoid interviews that could cause trouble. Some Republicans, meanwhile, worry that a future Democratic-led FCC will turn the same rules against one of the GOP’s longtime media bastions: conservative talk radio. For Democrats, concerns about Carr’s tactics are heightened by his openly combative pro-Trump persona, history of launching investigations of liberal-leaning programs and repeated threats to pull the licenses of outlets he accuses of “distorting” the news — a threat he revived over the weekend while reposting Trump’s complaints about news coverage of the war in Iran. Carr’s efforts have gotten praise from Trump, who wrote Sunday night that he was “thrilled” to see his FCC chair “looking at the licenses of some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic ‘News’ Organizations.” While Carr’s remarks on war coverage were driving headlines last weekend, his efforts to reimpose enforcement of the commission’s equal time rules threaten to have a more tangible effect on the interviews that millions of viewers see during the midterm campaign.

New NRCC report: The Latino vote could crush Republicans, and a House win goes through Texas.

House Republicans are very aware that the same Latino voters who propelled the GOP to the majority in 2024 could desert them this fall. Swing districts with large Latino populations in Texas, Florida, Arizona and California will determine control of the House. Republicans made serious inroads last cycle with these voters, especially among Hispanic men. GOP candidates were buoyed by cost-of-living concerns and the appeal of President Donald Trump on the ballot. But the Latino voting bloc swings widely between the two parties, and the 2024 election feels like a lifetime ago. Trump is implementing mass deportations targeting many Hispanic communities, prices remain stubbornly high and the job market is showing weakness.

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Now, some in the GOP are growing nervous that these same voters could revert back to Democrats — or just stay home. Recent elections have given Democrats hope, too. In November, Democratic candidates won the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections, two states with significant Latino populations. “Our Hispanic voters didn’t show up,” NRCC Chair Richard Hudson acknowledged in an interview during the House GOP retreat last week. Speaker Mike Johnson was even more blunt: “We got a little hiccup with some of the Hispanic, Latino voters because some of the immigration enforcement was viewed to be overzealous.” Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) has been loudly sounding the alarm that Trump’s deportation regime is unpopular among her majority-Latino Miami-area seat. Plus, Democrats flipped the Miami mayor’s seat for the first time since 1997. More recently, robust turnout from Latinos in the Texas Senate Democratic primary and a special election upset excited Democrats. Those Texas results even led House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to brag that Republicans went too far and ended up drawing a “dummymander” in the Lone Star State. Republicans take notice. At a House GOP Conference meeting on Tuesday, Hudson presented polling with a concerning message — Hispanic voters weren’t aware of the One Big Beautiful Bill, Republicans’ most important legislative achievement.

State Stories

Federal judge extends school voucher application window for Texas families

Texas parents have an additional two weeks to apply for the state’s new school voucher program after a federal judge in Houston extended the application deadline on Tuesday just hours before the window was set to close. The extension comes after no Islamic schools in Texas were approved for the program while thousands of others schools have been. U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett called that fact “troubling” before issuing a temporary restraining order to extend the window. The new deadline to apply for the state voucher program is March 31. Several Islamic schools in Texas are suing Comptroller Kelly Hancock, claiming the state blocked Islamic schools from the $1 billion private school voucher program because of their religion.

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Eric Hudson, an attorney for those suing the state, said Tuesday that the goal of his clients was to ensure the appliction window did not block parents from the Texas Education Freedom Accounts as a lottery system decides which families receive a school voucher. Texas lawmakers started the voucher program last year to assist families in paying for private and religious education. Households can receive up to $2,000 for a homeschooled student, $10,500 for private school, and $30,000 for students who have a disability. More than 200,000 Texas families have applied for the vouchers, as of Tuesday. The lottery system will decide how to spread the funds, but will prioritize families who classify as low income. Earlier this year, the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Texas chapter sent a letter to the Comptroller and called on the community to urge Attorney General Ken Paxton to end the exclusion of Muslim families in the school voucher program. On Tuesday, CAIR-Texas issued a statement welcoming Bennett’s decision to extend the deadline by two weeks, saying there is serious concern about the exlusion of Islamic schools. “We welcome the court’s decision to extend the application deadline and recognize the serious concerns raised about the exlusion of Islamic schools from Texas’ voucher program,” the statement reads. “All families, regardless of their faith, deserve equal access to educational opportunities supported by public programs.”

Groups reckon with sex abuse allegations against labor icon César Chávez

The family of the late César Chávez, a farmworker organizer who became a national civil rights icon, is at the center of a mounting crisis involving allegations that he engaged in sexual relationships with women and at least one minor, according to statements and interviews with a former United Farm Workers insider and a historian who has written about the movement. The fallout has already led to the cancellation of public marches across the country and raised new questions about his public record. On Tuesday, two organizations connected to his legacy — the César Chávez Foundation and the United Farm Workers — both released statements acknowledging allegations involving women and minors.

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The César Chávez Foundation said it has become aware of “disturbing allegations” that Chávez engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with women and minors during his time leading the United Farm Workers. “We are deeply shocked and saddened by what we are hearing,” the foundation said in the statement. In a separate statement, the United Farm Workers said it had learned of “deeply troubling allegations” involving its co-founder, including claims of abuse of women and minors. The union said it has no firsthand knowledge of the allegations but called them “serious enough” to take “urgent steps” to learn more and to create a confidential, independent channel for potential victims to come forward. “Allegations that very young women or girls may have been victimized are crushing,” the statement said.

U.S. House hopeful Brandon Herrera backs out of San Antonio radio show at last minute

Brandon Herrera, a Republican running for a San Antonio U.S. House district, pulled out of a live interview on Texas Public Radio on Monday, leaving host David Martin Davies high and dry. In a clip tweeted out moments before the Davies’ radio show The Source was set to begin, the host informed listeners that Herrera’s campaign manager said the candidate was unavailable due to a scheduling conflict. The last-minute cancelation comes just three days after media outlets including MeidasTouch News and Courier Texas reported on an old clip of Herrera, a YouTube gun influencer known to fans as the “AK Guy,” promoting a Confederate heritage group. “His campaign manager said something came up and they had to drop out,” Davies said in his online announcement about the cancelation. “We will try to reschedule and see if they will work with us on that.”

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Herrera’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to the Current’s request for comment about the withdrawal. In the resurfaced promotional clip that began circling over the weekend, a young Herrera talks up the Confederate heritage group Fayetteville Arsenal Camp 168, a chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a hereditary group set up to honor Confederate soldiers and preserve Confederate memorials. “Once a year, we actually have what we call our ‘Annual Yankee Shoot,’ where we go out back with black powder rifles — some that were actually in the war — and we go out and shoot up posters of our favorite Yankees,” Herrera, who’s wearing a white polo shirt emblazoned with an emblem of the Confederate battle flag, says in the decades-old clip. Democrat Katy Padilla Stout, an attorney and former school teacher running against Herrera to represent Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, slammed her rival on social media over the video. She and Herrera are vying to represent a district that includes a western part of San Antonio and a long stretch of the Texas-Mexico border. “Honoring those who fought to preserve slavery is just another example of why Brandon Herrera has no business in the U.S. Congress,” Stout tweeted. “These are not the values of the people of TX23.”

Prosecutors rest their money laundering case against Fort Bend County Judge KP George

After more than three days of presenting their case, prosecutors rested their felony money laundering case against Fort Bend County Judge KP George. On Monday, special prosecutor Brian Wice told ABC13 that prosecutors planned to call one more witness. That person was District Attorney Fraud Examiner Betty Chi. When Chi finished testifying, prosecutors said they had one more witness to call on Tuesday before resting their case, but didn't reveal who it was. On Tuesday morning, they told the judge they planned to call an officer to translate a video. Before jurors were brought into the courtroom, prosecutors said George posted a video to social media where he spoke in Malayalam, his native language from India. In the video, prosecutors told Judge Maggie Jaramillo that George talked about campaign money he loaned himself.

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Prosecutors said the amount he said in the video was $46,500. That's important, they said, because they argue that George stole $46,500 from his campaign in 2019. Prosecutors said they couldn't find a court reporter in the Richmond area to translate the video. They found an officer, who they said spoke Malayalam and could translate the video to the jury. Defense attorneys immediately asked the judge to block the witness. George's team told the judge that they weren't aware of this video or the witness until Tuesday. "It's a complete surprise," defense attorney David Medina shouted. "It's a complete ambush." Jaramillo grew frustrated with both sides, told them to stop fighting, and left the courtroom. When Jaramillo returned, she said the witness couldn't be called, and if prosecutors could find a court translator, they could be called as a rebuttal witness. With that, prosecutors rested their case.

Judge grants indigency motion for Arredondo in Uvalde case

A judge has granted a motion of indigency for former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police chief Pete Arredondo in his criminal case tied to the Robb Elementary School shooting. The order allows Arredondo to use public funds to support his legal defense. Court records show his monthly income exceeds expenses by a few hundred dollars, meeting local indigency guidelines. Arredondo faces 10 counts of abandoning or endangering a child in connection with the May 2022 shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead. He has denied wrongdoing. More than 300 officers from multiple agencies responded to the scene, but waited more than an hour before confronting the gunman. The response has been widely scrutinized in investigations and public reports.

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Arredondo is now the only officer still facing criminal charges related to the law enforcement response. Former Uvalde police officer Adrian Gonzales, who was also charged, was acquitted by a Nueces County jury in January. The indigency order was issued by presiding Judge Sid Harle. In a separate order, Harle has paused Arredondo’s case while a federal legal dispute plays out over whether U.S. Border Patrol agents who responded to the shooting can be required to testify. That dispute centers on questions of federal authority and whether those agents can be compelled to appear in a state criminal case. No trial date has been set.

Crews remain on the scene Tuesday morning after massive fire in Downtown Gatesville

Dozens of fire crews battled a major fire on the west side of the Square in downtown Gatesville on Monday night, according to the Gatesville Police Department. As of Tuesday evening, U.S. Highway 84 was reopened and traffic returned to normal. Three minor injuries have been reported in firefighters due to smoke inhalation, according to Gatesville City Manager Brad Hunt.

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Hunt confirmed officials received the call at 6:50 p.m. on Monday. The Gatesville Volunteer Fire Department responded immediately and called for additional assistance after the fire broke out at the Freedom Bail Bonds building, Hunt said. “They’ve done an amazing job to keep people safe,” Hunt said. Gatesville Police Chief Jeff Clark said U.S. Route 84, also known as Main Street, would be closed through downtown and had been expected to remain closed overnight Monday and potentially into the following day due to the instability of buildings along the route. Clark said the road would reopen once the buildings are safe enough for traffic to pass through. Traffic was being diverted at Lutterloh on the east side and Levita Road on the west side, according to the Gatesville Police Department. Drivers and residents were urged to avoid the downtown area. Four businesses have allegedly been affected: Gatesville Messenger, Freedom Bail Bonds, Davidson Chiropractic and Leaird’s Furniture. The structures involved are believed to date to around 1900.

Gov. Abbott launches Texas Jobs Council to address skilled worker shortage

Texas is launching a new effort to strengthen the state's workforce pipeline and prepare workers to fill highly skilled jobs. Governor Greg Abbott announced the launch of the Texas Jobs Council at an event at the Governor's mansion on Monday afternoon. Abbott was joined by Plumbers Local Union 68 Business Manager Wayne Lord, Texas Association of Business Interim President Megan Mauro and other business and labor leaders. “For us to fulfill our destiny, for us to maintain our dominance,” Abbott said. “Business and labor are working together to meet the high demand for high-skilled labor positions like electricians, pipefitters, welders, plumbers, truckers, and a whole lot more.”

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Earlier this month, Abbott celebrated Texas winning Site Selection magazine's Governor's Cup as the nation’s top-performing state in attracting jobs, businesses, and expansion projects for the 14th year in a row. According to the Governor’s Office, Texas attracted more than 1,400 business location and expansion projects in 2025, representing more than $75 billion in capital investment and creating more than 42,000 new jobs. “Texas right now is the hottest state in America for business and labor opportunity, as we're ranked number one for the most new jobs, whether it be over the past year or since COVID or since I was elected Governor,” Abbott said. “We're ranked number one for business expansion and capital investment. The number one business climate, number one for things like exports, technology and semiconductor.” Abbott spoke about the need to fill trade jobs and how meeting the growing need has become a growing challenge statewide. Texas has a shortage of workers in construction, manufacturing and other skilled trades.

Inside the new college sports business model at SMU

In 2022, SMU football traveled to College Park, Maryland, to take on the Maryland Terrapins. With just under seven minutes left in the third quarter, SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai hit Moochie Dixon in the end zone with a back shoulder fade to put the Mustangs up 27–20. Maryland Athletic Director Damon Evans and his deputy AD Brian Ullmann started feeling the nerves. Ultimately, the Terrapins rattled off 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win. But the game left a lasting imprint in Evans’ memory. “We won’t play those guys anymore,” Evans remembers saying at the time. “Those are the games you schedule because you expect to win them. That’s why you buy those games.” Fast forward two years and SMU joined the ACC. A year after that, both Evans and Ullmann left College Park to take the same positions at SMU. “This school just moved up from the group of five and has had immediate success,” Evans says. “We proved that we belong and I think it’s only going to get better.”

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“This whole portal process, NIL, and revenue sharing era is really about making sure you have the right structure and the right strategy in place to move forward. I think we have a good structure, but I wouldn’t say it’s finalized. This landscape is evolving so quickly that we have to evolve with it—adapt, adjust, and make sure we have the right resources in place. “Brian heads a lot of our NIL operations. He works closely with our third-party NIL partners and manages that side of things. From where I sit, it’s a hectic time. Everyone has to be working in concert. There has to be constant communication with each team’s staff—meeting with them, understanding their needs, and making sure we’re aligned," Evans said. “What we’ve seen over the past two years is really the emergence of an entirely new business unit within college athletics—something that didn’t exist before," Ullman said. "It involves each team’s staff, the people handling recruiting, our business office, compliance, revenue sharing, and the revenue-generation teams that report to me. We’ve essentially had to stand up a unit that sits at the intersection of all of that.

'All of a sudden it's a $4,000 bill': Magnolia homeowners hit with skyrocketing gas bills; gas company explains why

Residents in a Montgomery County neighborhood say their natural gas bills have surged to unusually high levels this winter, leaving many frustrated and searching for answers. One Magnolia family reported being billed nearly $4,700 in February -- a charge they say is about 15 times higher than what they typically pay. “Last month, we received our bill, and it was for $4,669.48, and that is when I said absolutely not,” said Abbe Roberts, a homeowner who contacted KHOU 11 for help. Roberts said her household usually pays between $90 and $300 per month. She believes the spike was caused by a faulty meter that has since been replaced, but said the bill has not yet been adjusted. “Something didn’t alert them in their system,” she said. “All of a sudden, it’s a $4,000 bill. Maybe we should look into that. Nothing.”

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Other residents in the area report similar increases. One family said their bill rose from about $50 in November to $618 this month. Another homeowner, Linda Schmidt, said her typical $40 bill climbed to $180. “We’re just seeking answers,” Schmidt said. “What’s going on? Why is our bill so outrageous?” The neighborhood is served by Pines Gas, which residents say is their only provider. In a statement, the company attributed the higher bills to a winter storm in late January that drove up natural gas prices. The company said those costs were reflected in February and March billing cycles and are expected to return to normal. Residents say that the explanation does not fully account for the size of the increases. Several have filed complaints with the Railroad Commission of Texas, which oversees natural gas utilities in the state. “They just want to ignore it and hope that we go away,” Roberts said. “That’s not what’s happening.” As bills remain unresolved, some residents say they are weighing difficult decisions. “I’m even thinking, am I going to have to move?” Schmidt said.

The Michelin effect in Dallas and Fort Worth

For two years, the Michelin Guide’s presence in North Texas has been a conversational lightning rod. Are Dallas’ restaurants fairly represented? How many of our favorite places to eat were snubbed, and why? Since 2026 is the final year in Texas’ contract with Michelin, the decision to renew or cancel the Guide is approaching, and an even more important question looms. Is the region getting its money’s worth? That last question will be answered by the tourism agencies for Dallas and Fort Worth, which help pay for Michelin’s presence here. The initial contract was $450,000 per year from the state of Texas and $90,000 per year from each of five participating cities. No word yet on what renewal would cost. But folks here say they are very satisfied with the return on their investment.

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The Michelin Guide’s presence in Texas is subsidized by tourism boards representing the state and its five biggest cities: Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Guide inspectors evaluate restaurants and, less famously, hotels in all those cities. At some point in 2026, representatives for Michelin will meet with all six Texas stakeholders to discuss renewal terms. It will be a big, boisterous meeting. “Every city has had a little bit different experience with it,” says Mark Thompson, Visit Dallas’ senior vice president of tourism and operations. But, he adds, it will also be a happy meeting. “From the beginning, we’ve known that this was going to be an evolution. We’re exactly where we thought we’d be.” Visit Dallas tracks numerous indicators that suggest Michelin is a boon for the city, regardless of how many (or how few) starred restaurants Dallas has. Agents who book business and convention travel, especially international business travel, are much more interested in Dallas because they know they can send clients to Michelin-recognized dinners and lodgings. Numbers are also up in focus groups that measure perceptions of Dallas as a leisure destination.

Microsoft is pouring $52M into tiny Texas Hill Country town

On March 9, Microsoft registered two new filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) to build additional data center sites on County Road 381 in Rio Medina, TX 78253. The company will spend $26 million on each new site. Though all TDLR filing details are subject to change, construction on the Microsoft SAT93 and Microsoft SAT94 data sites will begin within one month of each other between March and April of 2027, respectively.

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Data centers are popping up all over Texas, especially around the Hill Country and San Antonio areas. A recent report analyzing the North American industry sector's growth in 2025 claims that data center projects, like Microsoft's in Medina County, are preparing the Lone Star State to outpace its competitors. In fact, the report suggests that Texas is on track to become the world’s largest data center market by 2030. The report from JLL, a leading global commercial real estate and investment management company, states that the growth is "driven by hyperscale and AI demand" and that Texas, though outside of traditional markets, is building more data centers. More For YouLayoffs feared as TX tech giant secures $2.1B for restructuringThe company is ramping up spending on artificial intelligence tools and data center infrastructure.Start of SXSW has TX hospitality workers feeling like 'The Bear'Some folks forgot the annual festival was even happening.Possible massive Meta layoffs could slam Texas tech workersThis wouldn't be the first time Meta layoffs hit Texas.Texans wait 3 hours in line to shop at new $62M CostcoHundreds of eager residents lined up early Wednesday morning to shop.New details revealed on $300B refinery planned for Texas coastAs the Strait of Hormuz shuts down amid war in Iran, President Trump announces America's first new oil refinery in decades.

Meteorologist Elliot Wilson no longer employed at KSAT-TV after assault charge

San Antonio’s KSAT-TV has parted ways with a staff meteorologist charged with assault, according to details the station’s website. Elliot Wilson — whom KSAT describes in a news story about his arrest as a “former” meteorologist at the station — was picked up Thursday after Bexar County Sheriff’s deputies said he was involved in an altercation with a woman. Deputies responded to a call from a home Thursday, where the woman told deputies that Wilson struck her when he was driving her to a medical appointment, KSAT reports, citing information from the sheriff’s office. The two were reportedly in a vehicle on Loop 410 when they got into an argument.

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The woman was taken to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with a broken nose, according the station. Deputies arrested Wilson the same day, KSAT reports. He now faces a charge of assault — bodily injury to a family member, according to the story, again citing the sheriff’s office. The case remains under investigation. In its report, KSAT didn’t specify whether Wilson quit or was fired. However, the story was updated Saturday to reflect that he’s no longer employed there. Wilson joined KSAT late last year. He worked as a meteorologist in Texas and Oklahoma TV markets, including Waco, before landing in San Antonio, according to a story the station did on his arrival.

National Stories

Joe Kent, a top counterterrorism official for the Trump Administration, resigns, citing Iran War

One of the United States’ top counterterrorism officials resigned on Tuesday, citing his opposition to the war in Iran and what he said was Israel’s influence over the Trump administration’s policies, a sign of emerging divisions in the Republican coalition. The official, Joe Kent, is the first senior member of the administration to quit over the war. The seemingly open-ended nature of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran has created strong divisions among Mr. Trump’s supporters. An anti-interventionist wing of the coalition, which supported President Trump because of his criticism of long overseas conflicts, has quickly become uneasy with the war, which has lasted 18 days with no immediate sign of ending.

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“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Mr. Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, wrote in a letter to Mr. Trump. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” Mr. Kent’s resignation came as a surprise. The top ranks of Mr. Trump’s administration have been remarkably stable, and no senior leader has quit while laying out a sharp policy difference with the president. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Kent’s stance earned a sharp rebuke from Mr. Trump. “I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. “It’s a good thing that he’s out because he said Iran was not a threat.” Mr. Kent’s resignation and Mr. Trump’s comments put Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence and Mr. Kent’s boss, in an awkward position. She backed the president, but with a carefully worded statement posted on social media that did not mention Mr. Kent or directly rebuff his comments.

Some small US airports may have to shut due to TSA absences, official says

Some small U.S. airports may have to shut due to a shortage of ?security screeners if a government funding impasse continues, a senior Trump administration ?official said on Tuesday.The Department of Homeland Security said overall absences among Transportation Security Administration airport security officers was 10.2% on Monday, close to the 10.1% who failed to show up for ?duty on Sunday. But the absenteeism rate was much higher at some major ?airports on Monday including 30% at New York's JFK, 37% ?at Atlanta, 35% at Houston Hobby and 39% at New Orleans, DHS ?said.

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50,000 TSA officers have been forced to work without pay for the ?last month due to the budget standoff."As the weeks continue, if this continues, it's not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports - particularly smaller ?ones if callout rates go up," Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl ?told Fox News's "Fox and Friends."Large airports may be able to continue security operations by closing ?all ?but a few checkpoints, but small airports with a single checkpoint could be unable to staff it with absenteeism at the same rates. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday said airports "are reaching a breaking point." Typically, under 2% of TSA workers ?call in sick ?or do not ?report to work, DHS said. DHS said 366 TSA officers have quit their jobs.Last fall, a 43-day government shutdown led to ?widespread flight disruptions, and the FAA ordered a 10% flight cut ?at major ?airports. Airlines, which expect a record-breaking spring travel season, have criticized the impasse, and airline CEOs complained on Sunday that air travel was again a "political football."DHS funding lapsed on February ?13 after ?Congress failed to reach a deal on immigration ?enforcement reforms demanded by Democrats. Senators from both parties failed Thursday in competing efforts to fund the ?TSA.

GOP tempers flare over how to pass SAVE America Act

Tempers are starting to boil within the Senate Republican Conference as disagreements arise over how to handle President Trump’s No. 1 legislative priority, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, which Trump wants to push through the Senate despite staunch Democratic opposition. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a leading proponent of the bill, angered some colleagues this week by suggesting on social media that Republican senators who don’t want to force Democrats to wage a “talking filibuster” to oppose the legislation should be ousted from the Senate. “If your senators don’t support using the talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, you might need to replace them,” Lee posted on the social platform X. That ticked off some Republican senators, according to Senate GOP sources.

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One Republican senator said the response to Lee’s post was “not very favorable.” The squabble reflects rising tensions over how to handle the bill amid intense pressure from Trump to add language to ban no-excuse mail-in voting and to ram it through the chamber even though no Democrats support it. The Senate voted 51-48 to advance the measure, despite the opposition of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), the only Republican to vote “no.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who said last week he would vote against proceeding with the bill because he didn’t see a viable endgame for passing the legislation, missed Tuesday’s vote because of a travel delay. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voted to begin debate on the legislation even though he has told GOP colleagues privately that he doesn’t support the measure. He voted to start the debate as a courtesy to the Senate GOP leadership. Republicans mainly agree on the core elements of the House-passed bill, such as the requirements that people registering to vote need to show documented proof of citizenship to register and that people need to show proper identification to vote.

U.S.P.S. Postmaster says service will be ‘out of cash’ in under a year

David Steiner, the postmaster general, said at a hearing in Washington on Tuesday that the U.S. Postal Service would be “out of cash in less than 12 months” unless Congress allows it to borrow more and charge more for postage. While lawmakers from both parties vowed to resolve the Postal Service’s budgetary bind, they appeared to be at odds with Mr. Steiner about how best to do so. “In about a year from now, the Postal Service would be unable to deliver the mail if we continue the status quo,” Mr. Steiner told lawmakers at the hearing before the Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations, which oversees the independent service. In fiscal years 2024 and 2025, the agency incurred net losses of $9.5 billion and $9 billion. From Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2025 — the first quarter of fiscal year 2026 — it lost nearly $1.3 billion.

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Mr. Steiner, a former FedEx board member who took over as head of the Postal Service last year, asked lawmakers to loosen regulations so the agency could charge more for postage, and for the ability to borrow more money. After successive years with net losses, the Postal Service, which is meant to be self-sufficient, is up against a federally mandated borrowing limit. “One easy action, increasing our borrowing authority, buys us time,” he said. “Time that we can use to best determine what the Postal Service should do to best serve the American public.” Several of the lawmakers, meanwhile, focused their questions on waste and inefficiencies, asserting that the service bore responsibility for turning around its financial situation. “I am very concerned with the caliber of service that we are getting and with the fact that the post office continues to come to us for more money,” said Representative Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina.

Jason Bordoff and Spencer Dale: Making the U.S. more resilient to oil price shocks

(By Jason Bordoff, a columnist at Foreign Policy and the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and Spencer Dale, a visiting professor in practice at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a nonresident fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.) The oil shock triggered by the crisis in the Persian Gulf has pushed crude above $100 per barrel, reviving familiar fears of economic turmoil in the United States driven by surging gasoline and diesel prices. Political leaders have long lamented high oil prices, yet President Donald Trump celebrated the price spike last week, arguing that the “United States is the largest oil producer in the world, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.” His embrace of higher oil prices marks a sharp departure from his past pledges to lower costs at the pump. Trump has long decried high oil prices, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright has argued that elevated prices may benefit a few oil companies but not the “99 percent of Americans” who consume these energy products.

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To neutralize the macroeconomic impact of higher oil prices—not to mention the burden on the “99 percent” of Americans that Wright referenced—there needs to be a mechanism to redistribute income from oil producers to consumers, mitigating any reduction in near-term spending. Most major oil-producing countries have such systems, which is why they welcome price spikes. In Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, for example, the national oil company is state-owned, and most profits accrue directly to the government. In Russia, the fiscal framework links taxation directly to oil prices: As prices rise, so does the marginal tax rate. No comparable mechanism exists in the United States. As a result, even though the country is now a major net oil exporter, it is less able to withstand the short-term recessionary effects of price spikes than many of its fellow petrostates. Policymakers therefore continue to focus on lowering oil prices in response to shocks—for example, by releasing barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or easing sanctions on major producers such as Russia. Some countries have attempted to address this issue through windfall profits taxes, transferring extraordinary crisis-driven gains from oil companies back to households. Yet such taxes have proved to be difficult to design and implement effectively. They take time to enact, limiting their usefulness in addressing immediate economic shocks, and often remain in place long after the immediate crisis has passed, as the United Kingdom’s recent experience illustrates. Poorly designed levies create fiscal uncertainty and risk discouraging production precisely when additional supply is needed. A better approach would make the U.S. economy more structurally resilient to oil price shocks, not just today but also in the future. The most effective way to do this involves hardwiring policy mechanisms to redistribute “excess” gains—as well as losses—borne by oil producers to oil consumers.

Judge questions Trump aides’ ‘brazen’ claims on White House ballroom

A federal judge on Tuesday grilled Trump administration lawyers on the legal justification for the president’s $400 million White House ballroom plan, accusing the Justice Department of “shifting” arguments as historic preservationists urged him to halt the controversial project. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon said he hoped to issue a ruling by the end of March. The White House has said that it plans to begin aboveground construction of the ballroom in April. The project is a top priority of President Donald Trump. Leon repeatedly questioned the administration’s insistence that the president does not need congressional approval for the project. The White House has countered that Congress set aside several million dollars for alteration and maintenance of the president’s residence — a characterization that Leon said was “brazen,” given the scope of the planned 90,000-square-foot project.

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“I’m struggling to see this as an ‘alteration,’” Leon said later. The judge also grew frustrated after a Justice Department lawyer defended the project — which involved demolishing the White House’s East Wing last year — by citing past projects at national parks, with Leon saying there was no comparison. The White House “is a special place,” he said. “This is an iconic symbol of this nation.” The judge added that Trump was a “steward” of the White House, not its owner. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit charged by Congress with preserving historic buildings, has argued that Trump exceeded his authority by demolishing the East Wing and soliciting private donations to build a ballroom in its place. They have asked Leon to issue a temporary injunction and pause the project until the administration receives congressional approval. The Justice Department has defended the project as within the president’s authority, citing construction efforts overseen by past presidents, such as a pool built by President Gerald Ford. They also have said that any pause to the ballroom project could pose a threat to national security, although they have declined to publicly specify the risks. A presidential emergency bunker has been located for decades under the former East Wing site.

Juliana Stratton ppsets Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi to win Illinois Senate primary

Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton is projected to be the Democratic nominee for Senate in Illinois after defeating Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly, among others, on Tuesday night. Stratton prevailed in a rare open primary in the state after Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, announced his retirement following nearly 30 years in the upper chamber. A Republican hasn’t won statewide in Illinois in 12 years, priming Stratton to take the spot after November’s general election. “We did it. We showed what’s possible when you listen to the people and give the people what they want,” Stratton told supporters after her victory. “What’s possible when you stay true to your values, fight for what you believe in, and never take anything for granted.” Stratton also pledged to support all Illinoisans — including those who did not vote for her — in Washington.

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“I’d like to thank each and every Illinoisan who showed up to participate in this election and refused to be silenced no matter who you cast your ballot for,” she continued. “Tonight’s message is clear. We’re ready to take our democracy back into our own hands.” Stratton’s victory was a major upset, demonstrating that endorsements and statewide name ID could overpower Krishnamoorthi’s massive war chest. He raised $30 million for his bid (including $20 million transferred from his U.S. House account). Krishnamoorthi had emerged early as the frontrunner, opening with early polling advantages and airing television ads months before his competitors. “Now we must come together as Democrats and as Americans to make sure that we return to the principles that made us a beacon of freedom and opportunity for the world,” Krishnamoorthi said after conceding the race to Stratton on Tuesday. “I will have almost a year remaining in the best job I’ve ever had representing the good people of Illinois’ 8th Congressional District, and I pledge to you tonight that I will continue to do that job to the best of my ability to fight for the kind of country we all still believe in,” he continued.

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