June 2, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

John Cornyn stands by criticism of Ken Paxton as unfit for office

Sen. John Cornyn will support the “Republican ticket” in November, but he said Monday he still believes Attorney General Ken Paxton is a crook who is unfit for office and will put the seat at risk in November. “I stand by everything I said during the whole campaign,” Cornyn told reporters as he returned Monday to the Capitol where he has represented Texas for nearly a quarter century. Cornyn lost to Paxton by a wide margin in last week’s Republican runoff, the end of a year-long primary battle featuring brutal attacks between the two rivals. Cornyn and his allies spent heavily on ads hammering Paxton over alleged personal and professional misconduct.

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Paxton, who has denied wrongdoing, ran a campaign that leveraged his support among the conservative grassroots. He focused on criticizing what he said has been Cornyn’s disloyalty to President Donald Trump, who endorsed Paxton in the final days of the runoff. Paxton faces Democrat James Talarico, a state representative from Austin, in the general election. Paxton is expected in Washington this week to meet with leading Republicans and raise money for what is likely to be an expensive campaign. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Talarico has shown he can galvanize his base and raise massive amounts of money – including $27 million in the first three months of 2026. Raising money could be a challenge for Paxton, who was vastly outspent in the primary. Cornyn has functioned as a kind of gatekeeper to many deep-pocketed Republican donors in Texas. He said Monday he will look to help with races in states such as Maine, Alaska and Michigan.

Democrats fret Graham Platner could cost them — and not just in Maine

Graham Platner’s latest scandal has Democrats questioning whether the once-hyped candidate could end up weighing down their midterm chances. Platner is all but certain to be Democrats’ Senate nominee to face Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)after next week’s primary, with Gov. Janet Mills having suspended her campaign in April. But the litany of potentially damaging stories keeps growing, with new reporting over the weekend that Platner exchanged sexual text messages with other women while he was married. The revelation, which follows scandals related to his offensive old Reddit posts and his tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol, are leading some Democrats to question whether Platner undermines their credibility in going after Republicans on issues of moral character. Even as Democratic senators publicly defend him, strategists worry whether Platner will be able to keep withstanding the ongoing drip of revelations about his controversial past — and about what might come out next.

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“Up until now, the things that have come out, most Mainers have been pretty forgiving — enough to force out a sitting governor in a primary,” said Chuck Rocha, a longtime Democratic strategist who is advising multiple Senate campaigns but is not involved with Platner’s bid. “The thing that bothers me about Graham is every week it seems like it’s something else. … I worry because I have the scars of trying to beat Susan Collins for many cycles.” In Maine, where Democrats are also hoping to hold onto the GOP-friendly 2nd Congressional District and the governor’s mansion, strategists fret that the Senate candidate — who has appeared on the campaign trail with other Democrats this spring — could harm more than he helps come November. “Is he going to be an albatross to run with? Absolutely,” said one Maine Democratic strategist, who, like others in this article, was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “He’s going to lose. All these polls showing him up against Susan Collins — people forget that the voters who decide this race make their decisions in the last two weeks.”

Abbott campaigns against Talarico as he tries to lift Texas GOP ticket

In the days after the primary runoff, Gov. Greg Abbott was urgently working to mend fences among the state’s fractured GOP and sounding the alarm to supporters that they need to take this cycle seriously. He called on Republicans to back the entire party slate — even candidates he had campaigned against in the hotly contested primaries. “This year is unlike any other, and we MUST unite,” Abbott wrote in a fundraising memo. It is the latest example of how the Republican governor has cemented himself the leader of the state party as he has amassed a campaign war chest unlike any seen before. In a campaign cycle that is widely expected to be bruising for Republicans, as voters have soured on President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy and war in Iran, Abbott will likely be relied upon more than ever.

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The governor is already setting the tone for the GOP. Abbott faces state Rep. Gina Hinojosa as he seeks a record fourth term in the governor's mansion. But since March, he has focused his fire on James Talarico, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, and rarely, if ever, mentioned his own opponent. The Republican governor has said Talarico “doesn’t share Texas values,” “needs to learn the definition of ‘humanity’” and suggested the Austin Democrat “could win in Minnesota, but not in Texas.” “Talarico can run for U.S. Senate. But he can't run from his record,” Abbott wrote in a recent post on X. It’s part of a strategy aimed at lifting an entire GOP ticket with at least a couple statewide candidates who Democrats think they have a real shot at beating — including Attorney General Ken Paxton right at the top. By focusing on Talarico, Abbott avoids drawing attention to his lesser-known opponent, while making the case to voters that Democrats on the ticket are too extreme. Talarico “is a piñata that is just such an easy target,” said Dave Carney, Abbott’s political consultant. “He is the leader of their band of misfits and they are just totally out of step.”

Ballroom? Weaponization funds? Battleships? The Trump losses keep piling up

President Donald Trump is suddenly taking losses from his own friends and allies, especially on Capitol Hill. GOP lawmakers are bucking Trump on his White House ballroom, shelving plans to spend $1 billion to secure the new facility and other areas of the presidential compound. The “Trump battleships” are steaming into a wave of skepticism at the House Armed Services Committee as lawmakers prepare to mark up the FY2027 defense authorization bill this week. (All puns intended.) The House may vote this week on a discharge petition for a Ukrainian aid bill that Trump is certain to oppose. Several dozen House Republicans could back the measure anyway. And after Trump — bogged down in negotiations to end the war with Iran — said Israel had agreed to halt its military assault against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared he’d continue IDF operations in the southern part of the country. Trump reportedly yelled at Netanyahu over the offensive.

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Most prominently, Republicans are also in the process of killing Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, a direct rebuke to the president. Trump and Hill Republicans are trapped in a dangerous paradox. Trump’s political endorsement is worth more than ever in GOP primaries, yet his legislative agenda and fixation on personal projects are growing more toxic heading into the fall campaign season. As more Republicans move past their primaries, they’re suddenly finding it advantageous to oppose him. Senate Republicans remain far short of the votes needed to begin floor consideration of their $70 billion reconciliation bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol. GOP leaders will make a decision today about whether it’s possible to pass the bill this week, but that’s looking increasingly unlikely. At least a dozen GOP senators said Monday that the White House’s attempt to quell the uproar over Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund wasn’t enough to win their support for advancing the immigration-centric package — something that should unify them. In a statement, the Justice Department vowed to honor a federal judge’s approval of a temporary restraining order that paused the fund until June 12. But the statement said nothing about how the administration would handle the fund beyond that deadline.

State Stories

Nate Cohn: A blue Texas may be more than a dream for Democrats

Could Texas really turn blue in 2026? While it’s tempting to be skeptical, a blue Texas is increasingly easy to imagine. It’s even easier to imagine after Ken Paxton’s victory over John Cornyn, the incumbent senator, in the Republican primary runoff on Tuesday night. That’s partly because Mr. Paxton, the state attorney general, has distinct political liabilities. He’s faced investigation, indictment, impeachment and a messy public divorce. But there’s another reason Democrats might pull off a statewide win for the first time in three decades: demographics. Texas is one of the most diverse states in the country, and national polls show Democrats surging back in support among young and nonwhite voters — and especially Hispanic voters.

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On paper, these national demographic trends ought to send Texas racing toward the left and into contention. Add in Mr. Paxton’s nomination and you can start to see how Democrats could flip Texas this fall. After a decade of big talk from Democrats about Texas, it’s understandable that people could harbor some doubt about flipping the nation’s largest red state. Judging by presidential election results, Democrats barely made any progress at all: President Trump won Texas by almost 14 percentage points in 2024. But beneath the state’s stable Republican voting record, extraordinary demographic shifts have put Texas Republicans in a much more vulnerable position. To an extent few would have imagined a decade ago, Texas’ status as a reliably Republican state now depends on elevated levels of support among Hispanic voters. In the latest national polls, Mr. Trump’s gains among Hispanic voters have vanished — and the Republican grip on Texas is in danger as a result. The latest New York Times/Siena poll is representative: It shows Democrats ahead by 30 points, 54 percent to 24 percent, among Hispanic registered voters nationwide. That’s better than Joe Biden’s margin in 2020 and getting close to Hillary Clinton’s margin in 2016.

U.S. House Democrats target Texas AG Ken Paxton over ActBlue lawsuit

The top Democrats on three U.S. House committees are going after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, accusing him of ignoring consumer complaints about the Republican organization WinRed's online fundraising tactics, while filing a lawsuit against the site's Democratic counterpart ActBlue. The lawmakers — U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Robert Garcia of California and Joseph Morelle of New York — have demanded his office turn over any documents related to complaints about WinRed's use of a pre-checked box to draw repeated campaign donations from donors without their knowledge. "While you have done nothing to investigate dozens of such complaints from Texans about being defrauded by WinRed, the platform used to process campaign contributions to Republican candidates and political committees, your office has opened an investigation into an unrelated entity, ActBlue, which processes donations to Democratic candidates and causes," the lawmakers said in a letter to Paxton, who on Tuesday became the Texas Republican nominee for U.S. Senate.

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The letter cites a May 12 report by Hearst Newspapers that 27 complaints had been filed with Paxton's office against WinRed, a platform he and other Texas Republicans use to raise campaign funds. Several complainants told Hearst that they had received no acknowledgement from the attorney general's office, despite some saying that the fundraising platform had siphoned much of their life savings from their bank accounts. The letter, signed by Raskin of the House Judiciary Committee, Garcia of the Oversight and Government Reform and Morelle of the House Administration Committee, asks Paxton to turn over complaints and related internal communications by June 8. However, because Democrats are in the minority in the House, they have no formal power to force compliance by Paxton or his office. Paxton's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The letter comes as the Texas race for U.S. Senate shifts into high gear. Talarico, a state representative of Austin, has acknowledged that his remarks might come off as "cringy," and has hammered Paxton over his 2023 impeachment by the Texas House on grounds that he used the attorney general's office to help a campaign donor. Hearst Newspapers found that Paxton's office had received dozens of complaints over recent years about WinRed from Texans, or family members on their behalf, who suspected the pre-checked box had allowed the platform to continue charging them for months, or even years. One donor said $15,000 had been taken from her account without her knowledge; another said nearly $11,000 had been taken from his account before he had noticed the missing funds.

At largest rally yet, James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa up attacks on opponents

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa joined James Talarico on the campaign trail Monday evening in Plano for the only time on his “The People vs. Ken Paxton Tour.” The event touted over 4,000 attendees — the most yet at any of Talarico’s rallies. During her 15 minutes with the microphone, Hinojosa drove home two points: Governor Greg Abbott is corrupt and public schools are overdue for proper government support. Hinojosa was elected to the Texas House in 2016 to represent part of Travis County, though she never meant to run for anything. She was a mom who was angry about her son’s school being shut down.

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“I was compelled to run for the school board to save our neighborhood schools. I ran, I won. We saved our schools in that fight for our public schools,” Hinojosa told the cheering Plano crowd. “That took me to the House, where I’ve been fighting Greg Abbott’s corrupt agenda for our schools and for our state ever since.” Hinojosa will be on the Nov. 3 ballot against Abbott, the 10-year Republican incumbent. She’s running because the promise of Texas she was raised knowing is not the reality Texans are living today. The last time Talarico rallied in the area was February, before he beat Jasmine Crockett for the Democratic bid. A few hundred people were in Dallas’s Longhorn Ballroom under the disco ball that night. The first bill Talarico said he would draft as senator would be an anti-corruption bill to achieve six main goals. The bill would overturn the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commissioner supreme court case that allows corporations and other outside groups to spend an unlimited amount of money on elections. It would also ban super PACs, bar politicians from insider trading, create term limits, overhaul the supreme court and end all gerrymandering. Talarico said the next action would be to “unrig this economy” in order to make the American Dream attainable again. Trickle-down economics is theft, he said. The theory suggests that financial benefits to corporations and the wealthy would ultimately benefit the working class.

Drilling company sought clearance to drill four locations near Oak Cliff apartment complex before explosion

The City of Dallas, with the help of Austin Street Center and multiple other agencies, began moving the former residents of The Clyde Apartments to new temporary housing on Monday while a clearer picture emerged of the events that led to last Thursday's deadly explosion and fire. "I'm still waking up thinking it's not what it is. But it's real," said Aleya Montana, who lost two dogs in the blast and subsequent five-alarm fire that destroyed the two-story structure and killed three residents. Montana is among the families in 19 apartment units temporarily housed at the Comfort Inn & Suites on Inwood Road in Dallas. With the help of Catholic Charities, St. Vincent de Paul, the Red Cross, and Mission Oak Cliff, Austin Street Center is finding new apartments in the same general area of Dallas with 6-months free rent.

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At the site of the explosion on E. 9th in Oak Cliff, Atmos Energy crews are still working to repair the gas line and restore service to the entire block, which remains closed between N. Denver St. and N. Patton Avenue. Most of the apartment debris has been piled into a corner of the lot where the building used to stand. The charred remains of the drilling rig suspected in the deadly explosion sit in a southeast corner. Online records from Texas811 show that "ECS" - Engineering Consulting Services - got clearance to drill soil tests at four specific GPS locations. As previously reported on WFAA, the current owner of the property was in discussions to sell the site for a larger development. The soil testing was being conducted at the request of the prospective buyer. Of the four drill locations identified, evidence of previous drilling can be found in the parking lot of the adjoining "Bonnie" apartments, a round asphalt patch surrounded by red spray paint that clearly denotes "ECS." Texas 811 records also show that at 12:57 pm Thursday that a "nicked" gas line with leaking gas was reported at the GPS location in front of The Clyde Apartments: BARBA Drilling identified as the contractor. The four soil test drill sites are identified by GPS as 1: 32.748976, -96.81924, 2: 32.74852, -96.81914, 3: 32.74911, -96.81973, and site 4: 32.74920, -96.82001. Online records show that "damage to gas line took place" a "nicked" gas line at GPS 32.74852, -96.81914, directly in front of the apartment complex.

Most Texas companies are using AI — and some say it’s decreasing their need for workers

Texas executives say certain business tasks are being replaced by artificial intelligence, and 10% of the companies across the state using AI attribute it to a decreased need for human workers, according to a new survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. The survey results, which were published in late May and came as part of a supplemental feature to the Dallas Fed’s widely watched monthly business outlook surveys, were based on responses from more than 300 executives across the state and offer rare insight into how the new AI reality is unfolding in one of the world’s largest economies. The survey also showed that two-thirds of Texas businesses are using AI to at least some degree, with executives overwhelmingly reporting productivity gains from employees who do.

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“I think the big question in terms of the labor market is, ‘Is AI automating or augmenting workers?’ ” said Emily Kerr, a senior business economist at the Dallas Fed. “ ‘Is it replacing or enhancing workers?’ That’s like the big, open question. And from our survey over the past couple years, as we’ve been asking about this, the answer continues to be both.” The Dallas Fed survey’s release comes at a seemingly pivotal moment for the world-changing technology. Three-and-a-half years since the public release of ChatGPT, AI has remade stock markets, led to broad GDP gains and rearranged aspects of daily life for millions of people around the world. Yet in recent months so much exuberance has given way to what’s been dubbed an “AI backlash,” prompted largely by fears about widespread job losses as some corporate executives cite the technology for manpower reductions. Last month, days after Meta cut 8,000 workers as part of a larger pivot to AI, the pope published a 42,000-word encyclical calling for the technology to be “disarmed.” Big name tech founders have been getting booed at commencement speeches. A flurry of polling has shown Americans are increasingly more AI-pessimistic than optimistic.

Laura Miller: Dallas must go strong mayor

I have seen City Hall inside and out. I have witnessed the best and worst of public service. I have both admired many of the people I wrote about and served with, and I have testified against others in criminal court and the court of public opinion. I have worked with the city’s most selfless business leaders and others who would suck the marrow out of their mother’s bones if it made them another dollar. I have marinated in this dysfunction for 40 years. And I have three conclusions: First, the council-manager form of government doesn’t work anymore. Second, our 14-1 City Council configuration, ordered by a federal judge in 1991 to increase minority representation, no longer works. Third, as a direct result of this, developers have filled the vacuum and are currently running our city. They build wherever they want, whenever they want to, no matter how inappropriate. They do it by flattering the people inside City Hall and by demonizing the ones outside of it. And the current sports arena pursuit is only the most brazen example.

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We need wholesale change. AT&T is leaving downtown Dallas for Plano, and it’s not just the homelessness, lack of police presence, and general unresponsiveness to the company’s needs that sent it fleeing. Buried in the mountain of 5,000 emails released to the public several months ago was one from AT&T CEO John Stankey to the city manager, Tolbert, who was trying to convince him to stay: “My concerns transcend the immediate issues and moment, and extend to the ongoing and cyclical nature of our challenges with effective/sustained governance of the City … ,” he wrote. I will make my case for restructuring Dallas’ government with anecdotes. I have thousands of them, all neatly stacked in boxes containing dated reporter notebooks, scrapbooks, and old newspapers going back to 1983. They’re in my attic, where a pest control man recently removed a mother raccoon and her six babies. Digging through those notebooks, I chose carefully for this article.

Denton sued by Texas over upcoming ‘Big Gay Swim Day’ at city pool

The Texas Office of the Attorney General sued the city of Denton last week, seeking to have a court prevent a “Big Gay Swim” event from being held at a city swimming pool. The lawsuit arose from a statement in the event’s online description, which said the pool would have “gender neutral changing rooms” during the event. However, the organizers removed that statement after the city notified them about the state law. “Prior to any action by the Attorney General, staff proactively took all necessary measures to ensure full compliance with state law in advance of PRIDENTON’s rental of the Civic Center Pool on June 7, including informing the organizers that certain elements of their advertising conflicted with state law and advising them of the requirement to comply,” the city said in a Monday afternoon statement.

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The event’s hosts, Denton-area nonprofits PRIDENTON and OUTreach Denton, released a joint statement Monday. In it, the groups called the lawsuit “frivolous.” They also noted that they removed any mention of restrooms from the event’s promotional material on May 21 after a conversation with city officials. “We removed this language from all posts and advertisements about this year’s events, in compliance with these expectations,” the groups’ statement says. The statement also criticized SB 8 for lacking “guidance regarding its enforcement while assigning severe penalties for perceived violations.” “This legislation gives license to harass and surveil any person who does not present or conform within the narrow limitations of an oppressive gender binary,” it says. “Ken Paxton’s history of protecting predators instead of prioritizing the safety of children is well-documented and does not align with this lawsuit’s alleged motivation.” Inside a child sex abuse case that Paxton’s office offered a plea deal of 1 day in jail The lawsuit could mark the first legal test of SB 8’s standard of “every reasonable step.”

SpaceX wins another $4.16B for Golden Dome satellites

SpaceX has landed another multi-billion deal with the U.S. Space Force — this time it’s $4.16 billion to build a satellite network to spot enemy attacks as part of President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense project. The contract came days after Elon Musk’s space firm got a $2.29 billion contract to build a satellite data network for the military, also for the Golden Dome system. The new deal eclipses that one as the company’s largest military satellite contract to date and comes weeks before the Starbase-based company is set to go public in what could be the largest-ever initial public offering.

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The work in both cases will likely go to SpaceX subsidiary Starlink, which provides satellite internet service around the world and is the company’s biggest moneymaker. Starlink already operates Starshield, a secure network for the U.S. government and military. The newest deal calls for SpaceX to create a system to “sense and track airborne targets from space” by 2028 as part of a program called the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator program. It’s to include “space-based sensors, secure and rapid communication links, and resilient ground processing,” the Space Force said. It’s meant to augment the network of airplanes, drones and radars that are always watching for threats but that are more at risk from new weapons systems. “By focusing these capabilities to the space domain, we are providing the Joint Force with sustained battlespace awareness of contested airspace,” Space Force Col. Ryan Frazier said in a statement.

Bexar County election takeaways: GOP purges moderates, Democratic centrists skate by

A still-raging U.S. Senate primary between Republicans John Cornyn and Ken Paxton fueled big upsets all the way down-ballot in last week’s runoff elections. Meanwhile, Democrats didn’t have a big-ticket race on the ballot and saw a return to normal among their voters, who rejected some of the potentially problematic candidates who advanced from the March primary. Republicans’ U.S. Senate race was rocked by a last-minute Trump endorsement for Paxton, but Cornyn’s 28-point loss was still quite shocking considering that national Republicans broke spending records trying to help him over the line. “I think the margin in that race surprised everyone, including me,” said San Antonio political strategist Kelton Morgan, who got his start working for Arizona Republican John McCain.

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The result was a number of losses for moderates in GOP primaries all the way down the ballot — from Trump-backed Carlos De La Cruz‘s win over state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio) in the 35th Congressional District, to a longtime incumbent knocked out by his far-right challenger in a race to serve on the state’s Railroad Commission. Just three months ago, Democrats were in a similar position. A divisive matchup between U.S. Senate hopefuls James Talarico and Jasmine Crockett rocked that party’s March primary and fueled many surprises and upsets in races down-ballot. But Democrats’ Senate nomination was decided outright in March, yielding a much smaller turnout and more predictable choices in last week’s Democratic primary runoffs. “Democrats had many low-information voters turn out in the first round,” said San Antonio Democratic strategist Bert Santibañez. “Whereas, the Democrats who showed up for a runoff without there being a top-of-ticket highlight, they’re going to be more queued-up on the candidates, so you’re going to see a lot more informed decisions.” On Tuesday, Democrats on the West Side, for example, overwhelmingly chose labor-endorsed Adrian Reyna over a former Bexar County Constable with a long history of scandal in reliably blue Texas House District 125.

Cathy McHorse, Austin child care advocate, dies at 57

Cathy McHorse, an Austin educator whose advocacy helped reshape early childhood policy and laid the groundwork for the passage of a landmark child care funding initiative, died May 23 after suffering a sudden brain bleed. She was 57. For more than 30 years, McHorse worked as a teacher, nonprofit leader and policy advocate, becoming one of Central Texas' most influential voices on early childhood education. Friends, colleagues and elected officials described her as a humble but determined force whose expertise and persistence helped push the needs of young children and working families from the margins of local policy debate toward the center of it. "Cathy was an amazing human being," former Austin City Council member Alison Alter said. "Her brilliance, sweetness and humanity touched people."

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Born May 15, 1969, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, McHorse grew up in Rockville, Maryland. She earned a bachelor's degree from Duke University in 1991 and moved to Austin with Edward McHorse, who she married the following year. She earned a master's degree in early childhood special education from the University of Texas in 1993, a credential that would anchor a career spent arguing that children’s earliest years deserve far more public attention and investment. She began her career teaching special education at Graham Elementary School in Northeast Austin before stepping away from the classroom in 1996 to raise the couple’s three children. From 2007 to 2011, she worked as a math and reading intervention specialist at Highland Park Elementary School where she also served on the PTA. Her work later shifted to advocacy. At United Way for Greater Austin, where she worked from 2017 to 2023, McHorse emerged as one of the region's leading experts on child care and early childhood development.

Houston Rockets: Former coach Rick Adelman dies at 79

Former Houston Rockets coach Rick Adelman died at 79 Monday, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced. A cause of death was not specified. He ranks 10th all time among coaches in wins, with a career regular-season record of 1,042-749. Only four other coaches — Pat Riley, Gregg Popovich, Jerry Sloan and George Karl — coached more games and had a better winning percentage than Adelman, who took the Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA Finals twice and also was head coach in Sacramento, Houston, Minnesota and Golden State. Adelman was drafted by and played two seasons, 1968-70, with the San Diego Rockets. He coached the franchise — since moved to Houston — from 2007 to 2011.

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How the Dallas Mavericks' arena decision changes the fight over City Hall's future

The Dallas Mavericks announced Monday they're heading to North Dallas — leaving Downtown — ending months of speculation and clearing the way for what supporters and critics alike say could finally be an honest conversation about the future of Dallas City Hall. The team confirmed it has entered into an option agreement for 104 acres at the former Valley View Mall site near Preston Road and LBJ Freeway, where it plans to build a new arena and entertainment district. The announcement landed the same day the city published a long-awaited repair study showing what it would cost to keep City Hall standing — somewhere between $531 million and $611 million in construction costs alone, with 20-year occupancy costs climbing to roughly $1.5 billion.

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The two issues had become inseparable in recent months, with some prominent voices pushing to demolish City Hall and hand the downtown site to the Mavericks. District 7 Councilmember Adam Bazaldua said that debate was never clean. "What we were initially given was meant to have a sticker shock, a shock value, and it did it," he said of an earlier repair estimate that drew headlines with figures as high as $1.4 billion. "What it wasn't was an honest discussion." With the Mavericks gone from the conversation, Bazaldua says the building can finally be evaluated on its own terms. "Now we can talk about City Hall just being City Hall," he said. Not everyone agrees repairs are the right call. "Say Yes to Downtown," a consortium of business owners and civic groups, has argued the site represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to re-energize the urban core.

Texas ‘detransition clinic’ to offer surgery, counseling, fertility treatment

The nation’s first “De-Transition Clinic” will provide a multidisciplinary array of medical treatment, including surgery, fertility counseling, psychotherapy and speech pathology to patients who have received gender transition care before the age of 21, according to a previously unreleased settlement agreement with the Texas state attorney general’s office. The agreement between State Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, coordinated with the Justice Department, ended a three-year investigation into the hospital’s treatment of transgender youth. Under the terms of the settlement, announced last month, the hospital will pay $10 million to the state to resolve allegations of improper billing to the state’s Medicaid program, ban five doctors from practicing at the facility and “permanently and irrevocably cease providing ... any sex-rejecting procedures.”

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The 10-page settlement, obtained Monday by The Washington Post through a public records request to the attorney general’s office, details how the detransition clinic must be run. Under the agreement, Texas Children’s, the nation’s largest pediatric hospital, will create its detransition clinic within 90 days of the settlement. Its “multidisciplinary services” — provided at no cost for five years — will include a patient navigator to coordinate care across departments, endocrinology, surgery, primary care, fertility counseling, psychiatry, speech pathology and social work to assist with insurance and legal name changes. Care will be provided to patients who have received gender transition care before age 21, and obstetric-gynecology care for those over age 21. “The detransition clinic will formalize the supportive, multidisciplinary services we already deliver to all patients who need our care,” Texas Children’s said in a Monday statement. “This simply provides structure and a name for the services we currently provide.” The agreement requires that the hospital’s medical staff amend their bylaws within 90 days to require that staff and prospective appointees be evaluated on compliance with the new ban on “sex-rejecting procedures” and that anyone who violates it automatically relinquishes their position, according to the agreement.

National Stories

Scott Pelley accuses CBS News boss of ‘murdering’ ‘60 Minutes’

CBS News faced a fresh wave of turmoil on Monday after Scott Pelley, the “60 Minutes” correspondent, laced into the show’s newly hired executive producer during a staff meeting and accused Bari Weiss, the network’s editor in chief, of “murdering” the longstanding Sunday news program. In an extraordinary exchange, Mr. Pelley, his newscaster’s baritone sometimes shaking in anger, told Nick Bilton, the new executive producer, that he had “slender” qualifications for his new job and questioned the network’s commitment to the future of the program, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The New York Times. The 10 a.m. gathering, held at the program’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters, was intended as a formal introduction to Mr. Bilton, a tech journalist and filmmaker who was appointed last week as part of a major shake-up at “60 Minutes.”

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CBS fired Tanya Simon, the previous executive producer, and her deputy, along with Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, two of the show’s correspondents — an event that Mr. Pelley referred to as “Black Thursday.” Mr. Bilton, who had never worked in traditional broadcast news, opened Monday’s meeting by trying to assuage the anxieties of staff members who believed he might fundamentally change the decades-old DNA of the country’s top-rated news program. “For me, the journalism is the journalism,” Mr. Bilton said, according to the recording. “That is why I am here. That is why we are all here.” He added: “The rumors people are spreading, that I’m going to turn the show into 60 one-minute episodes, that it’s going to be like TikTok, that is not changing. The show is going to stay exactly like it is for now.” He also warned that the broadcast television industry that incubated “60 Minutes” would soon be obsolete. “Broadcast is an ice cube that is melting, OK?” Mr. Bilton said, saying the show had to adapt. “Bari loves this institution,” he added. “She loves ’60 Minutes.’” At that, Mr. Pelley interrupted. “She is murdering ‘60 Minutes,’” the correspondent said. “She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.”

Inside a big primary day

Today is a huge primary day, spanning six states: California, New Jersey, Montana, South Dakota, New Mexico and Iowa. Both parties will land nominees in key House districts. Democrats will settle a contentious Senate battle in Iowa. The large field vying to replace former Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her San Francisco-based seat will winnow down to two. Today will also settle a host of questions. Will a mysterious super PAC successfully meddle in the Democratic primary for Rep. Tom Kean’s (R-N.J.) seat? Can the DCCC get its preferred candidate to take on Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.)?

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Here’s what we’re tracking. California. The California gubernatorial primary is the most important race of the day, with former Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) in a strong position to advance to the general election. Republican Steve Hilton and billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer are battling to finish in the top two. House Democrats are eager to flip the 22nd and 48th districts, but they have bitter primaries in both seats. In the Central Valley, the DCCC is backing state Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains over progressive Randy Villegas, a move that has angered Latino leaders. One of them is likely to join Valadao in the top two. Real Change PAC, a mysterious pop-up group with ties to the GOP, has spent some $650,000 to try to thwart Democrat Rebecca Bennett in the 7th District primary and boost her rivals, Tina Shah and Brian Varela. Bennett is likely still the favorite to take on Kean. Trump endorsed Kean on Monday night despite the GOP lawmaker’s mysterious absence from public view for months. And in the open 12th District, a crowded field is competing to replace Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.). The top contenders are surgeon Adam Hamawy and organizer Sue Altman. State Rep. Josh Turek and state Sen. Zach Wahls are facing off in the Democratic Senate primary for a chance to take on Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) in the general election. Turek has had millions of dollars in outside help and is the favorite here. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) faces a right-wing primary challenge but is expected to survive. And there’s a crowded Iowa GOP gubernatorial primary, but Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) got Trump’s endorsement and is in the driver’s seat.

Federal appeals court rules that Trump’s trans military ban appears discriminatory

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., said Monday that the Trump administration’s transgender military policy appears motivated by "the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group," delivering some of the strongest appellate criticism yet of a cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s campaign against transgender rights. Writing for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge Robert Wilkins concluded that key portions of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's policy likely violate the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection because they appear rooted in hostility toward transgender people rather than legitimate military concerns.

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"The sharp contrast to the Mattis Policy ... appears to be driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group: persons who identify as transgender," wrote Wilkins, an appointee of former President Barack Obama. "As such, at this preliminary stage, I conclude that the Hegseth Policy is both arbitrary and based upon animus." The remarks came in a fractured ruling that partially upheld and partially narrowed an injunction against the policy. The court preserved protections for the named transgender plaintiffs currently serving in the military while allowing enforcement of portions of the policy affecting prospective recruits. But the most striking aspect of the 107-page opinion was Wilkins' repeated focus on what he described as evidence that the administration's policy targets transgender identity itself. The judge opened his opinion by recounting language used by Trump and Hegseth to justify the policy.

This GOP congressman is running unopposed in Tuesday’s primary. He’s been missing from Washington for nearly three months

GOP Rep. Tom Kean is running unopposed in his primary on Tuesday, seeking a third term in one of the nation’s most competitive seats. But voters haven’t seen or heard directly from Kean in months — and it’s still unclear when he might return to work on Capitol Hill. Kean has yet to offer a date for his return to House Speaker Mike Johnson and his team, who have been navigating their reed-thin margins without him since early March, according to three GOP leadership sources. The New Jersey congressman said in late April on social media that he’s dealing with a “personal medical issue,” without specifying what it is, and said he would be back “very soon.” Late last month, he told The New Jersey Globe that he’d be back in the “next couple of weeks.”

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His absence, though, is now increasingly rattling House Republicans. Kean’s colleagues say they are worried about his health — and how the unexplained absence could complicate the GOP’s ability to hold onto a critical swing seat in an already difficult midterm cycle, according to multiple sources. Some Republicans, too, are frustrated by what they see as a massive public relations failure, sources say, with the congressman’s team unable to answer specific questions about his return — and then drawing national scrutiny for the lack of responses. Multiple aides in Kean’s office did not respond to requests for comment from CNN. Kean has spoken privately to Johnson since his last vote on March 5. But if the speaker or others in leadership are aware of Kean’s medical condition, they have not disclosed it to their colleagues or their own staff, sources said. Kean’s absence has mystified many of his House Republican colleagues. Some have been privately raising questions about what happens if Kean is forced to drop out of the race after the primary. Under New Jersey law, a post-primary vacancy would be filled by the state’s GOP county committee leaders. (Kean told the Globe last month that he is planning to run for reelection.)

Anthropic files to go public in blockbuster year for IPOs

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence lab recently valued at nearly $1 trillion, said Monday it has filed confidentially for an initial public offering, setting up a blockbuster year for IPOs. The filing could put the company behind the Claude AI model on a path to go public this fall. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to stage what is likely to be the largest IPO ever next week. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Anthropic’s chief rival, OpenAI, was preparing to submit its own IPO filing imminently. Banks have told both Anthropic and OpenAI that whoever makes it to market first will get to define the new industry and have first dibs on the large pools of cash eager to back new AI companies. If both file initial paperwork with regulators around the same time, either would still have a chance to stage an offering before the other.

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Anthropic said in a blog post that its plans will depend on market conditions and other factors. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a CNBC appearance Monday that he didn’t think there was a race to go public. “We will do it when it makes sense,” he said. The year could end up being the biggest ever for money raised through IPOs if Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX all make their debuts. SpaceX is aiming to raise as much as $80 billion or more in an offering next week. It had a valuation of $1.25 trillion after its combination with Musk’s AI company xAI, and could see its valuation rise further. Anthropic has recently emerged as a front-runner in the AI wars after a period of staggering growth. The company, founded in 2021 by a group of former OpenAI employees including Anthropic’s now-CEO Dario Amodei, was once a scrappy underdog that investors were uncertain could pull ahead of the ChatGPT maker. That changed with the release of hit products like its AI-coding tool Claude Code, which became a viral hit across Silicon Valley and helped position Anthropic as a real competitor to OpenAI.

The Trump Administration is taking a strict approach to Medicaid work requirements

The Trump administration signaled Monday it’s taking a muscular approach to one of its signature and most controversial health initiatives: new work requirements that could force millions of low-income people off Medicaid. The new regulation — anxiously awaited by states who are due to implement the work requirements Jan. 1 — takes a stricter stance on verification and exemptions than state officials and patient advocates had hoped for. Administration officials said they sought to minimize enrollee paperwork and ensure everyone eligible for a work exemption receives it, while closing the door to fraud. “We’re forgiving but we’re not foolish,” Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, said at a press briefing.

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The regulations, while weedy, will affect how many millions of Americans could drop off Medicaid under a raft of new requirements included in President Donald Trump’s tax bill that congressional Republicans passed last year. Starting next year, those on expanded Medicaid — about 20 million people who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty line — will have to work, go to school or volunteer at least 80 hours a week to remain qualified for the program. They can be exempted if they’re pregnant, disabled, medically frail, in substance-abuse treatment or are full-time caregivers for a family member. “If your condition significantly impairs your ability to engage in work … then you are likely not subject to the work requirements,” Dan Brillman, the director of Medicaid, said at the briefing. Patient advocates had been especially concerned about the details around the medical frailty exemption — what qualifies and how people must prove they are medically frail before being allowed to enroll.

Israel and Hezbollah trade new attacks despite Trump promise of de-escalation

The Israeli military launched deadly new strikes in Lebanon on Tuesday after reporting attacks from Hezbollah overnight, despite President Donald Trump saying both sides had agreed to de-escalate after Iran threatened to pull out of peace talks. Trump said Monday night that he had spoken with both sides and that they agreed “all shooting will stop” after Tehran signaled that Israel’s intensifying military operations in Lebanon could derail efforts to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Talks with Tehran were ongoing, Trump said. The Lebanese Embassy in Washington said Hezbollah had accepted the terms of a U.S. proposal for a “mutual cessation of attacks,” which would also block Israel from attacking Beirut. Its threat to do so had sparked panic in the Lebanese capital, after the U.S. ally’s deepest incursion into its neighbor in 26 years.

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But despite the claims of a renewed ceasefire, clashes continued Tuesday morning. Israel continued to launch its own strikes on Lebanon, with the Lebanese Civil Defense agency saying on its Facebook page Tuesday that six people had been killed in an Israeli strike on Monday night in the village of Marwaniyeh in southern Lebanon. It was not clear exactly when that strike was launched. Lebanon’s civil defense said Tuesday that one of its centers, in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, had been subject to “direct targeting as a result of a hostile Israeli airstrike.” It said the building was damaged, along with equipment inside of it. The Lebanese Army later reported that two soldiers had been moderately wounded as a result of being targeted by an Israeli hostile drone in Nabatieh. The Israeli military told NBC News that it had launched at least one strike in Nabatieh, but said it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.

Pentagon bans journalists from press office, designating it a classified space

The Defense Department has designated its press office a classified space and banned journalists from accessing it to meet with the public affairs officers who have traditionally answered their questions. The change in security status, which took effect in recent weeks, was confirmed by four people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the nonpublic matter. While Pentagon reporters are still largely barred from the building, as litigation over the agency’s press rules continues, the change would have an outsize impact on them upon a possible return — restricting access to a space they have for years been able to walk freely.

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People familiar with the change said it was driven in part by a shift that moved Pentagon speechwriters into the public affairs office. The office will be equipped with SIPRNet, the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, so personnel can use the tool without decamping for a separate secured room. “The Pentagon Press Office has been redesignated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility due to speechwriters from the Office of the Secretary of War sharing the facility,” acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said in a statement to The Washington Post. “These speechwriters routinely handle classified material and require SIPRNet access,” he said. “As a result, journalists will no longer be permitted to enter the office space,” he added. “Access to the office of the Assistant to the Secretary of War for Public Affairs and to the Press Secretary remains available by appointment only.” The move comes amid a months-long legal battle over whether journalists should have unescorted access to unclassified spaces in the Pentagon. Members of the media traditionally have been allowed to access public spaces in the Defense Department, talking to sources and attending regular briefings.

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