November 26, 2025: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Turning Point USA talked expansion with Texas education chief

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath recently met with a top official from Turning Point USA to discuss creating chapters of the conservative youth organization in all of the state’s high schools, days before Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick promised $1 million in campaign funds to help bring the project to life. The meeting between Morath and Turning Point USA Senior Director Josh Thifault took place on Nov. 3 in Austin, according to records obtained by The Texas Tribune. The two gathered in person weeks after Thifault reached out to the agency to ask when the commissioner “would like to speak with me” about the possibility of a partnership to establish Turning Point USA chapters in high schools across Texas, similar to initiatives launched in other states. After their meeting, Thifault followed up with Morath via email to provide additional information about the right-wing group’s existing partnerships with Florida and Oklahoma.

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“Both states have issued stern warnings against anyone attempting to stop students from forming Club America chapters,” Thifault wrote, referring to the official name of the clubs. It is unclear if Morath formally agreed to a partnership with Turning Point USA or on any next steps. Responding to questions from the Tribune about the meeting, including how such a partnership would work and what precedent exists of the commissioner meeting with national politically affiliated organizations, Texas Education Agency spokesperson Jake Kobersky said, “Commissioner Morath meets with a variety of stakeholders interested in public education.” Thifault did not respond to an email, phone call or text message for comment about the meeting. Doug Deason, a conservative activist and donor whom Thifault copied on the emails scheduling the conversation, also did not respond to an email from the Tribune. Since the Sept. 10 killing of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk — the Turning Point USA founder praised by conservatives as a champion of free speech and criticized for comments that many found hateful toward LGBTQ+ Americans, women and people of color — Republicans’ interest in the group has surged.

State investigates Harris County for allegedly registering P.O. boxes as voter addresses

The Texas Secretary of State has initiated an investigation after state Sen. Paul Bettencourt filed a complaint claiming that Harris County allowed voters to register their home addresses as post office boxes in violation of bills he authored in 2023. In a November letter to Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Annette Ramirez, Bettencourt asserted that Harris County failed to remove voters from the county’s rolls who had registered their addresses to local United Parcel Service stores. The alleged oversight, he wrote, could put the county in violation of state laws that aim to boost election integrity. The complaint mentions two UPS locations on Westheimer Road and Waugh Drive that found more than 120 registered voters registered to P.O. boxes there. In a statement on Tuesday, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson said that county election officials are obligated to maintain accurate voting registrations and remove ineligible voters.

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“If we find reason to believe the Harris County Elections Office is failing to protect voter rolls or is not operating in the good faith Texans deserve, we will not hesitate to take the next step toward state oversight,” Nelson said. Another layer of oversight imposed on Harris County could restrict state funding from the registrar. This wouldn’t be the first time that Texas officials have called for stronger state supervision over the county’s election practices. The state office did not return a request for comment. Bettencourt and other Republican state lawmakers in 2023 introduced bills to bolster election integrity, some of which targeted Harris County — the state’s largest Democratic stronghold. One piece of legislation written into law that year aimed to eliminate Harris County’s Elections Administrator position and turn over voter registration control to the tax assessor-collector’s office. State lawmakers also advanced a Senate bill that would grant state oversight under specific circumstances for county elections through a complaint process — allowing Texas to override those same elected officials. Under the legislation, complaints can be filed by an individual who participated in an election, including candidates, county or state chairs of a political party, election judges or heads of certain political committees.

Consumer confidence hits lowest point since April as job worries grow

Consumers soured on the current economy and their prospects for the future, with worries growing over the ability to find a job, according to a Conference Board survey released Tuesday. The board’s Consumer Confidence Index for November slumped to 88.7, a drop of 6.8 points from the prior month for its lowest reading since April. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were looking for a reading of 93.2. In addition, the expectations index tumbled 8.6 points to 63.2, while the present situation index slipped to 126.9, a decline of 4.3 points. “Consumers were notably more pessimistic about business conditions six months from now,” said Dana Peterson, the board’s chief economist. “Mid-2026 expectations for labor market conditions remained decidedly negative, and expectations for increased household incomes shrunk dramatically, after six months of strongly positive readings.”

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A key reading within the report that measures job expectations showed deterioration. The share of workers saying that jobs are “plentiful” slid to 6%, down from 28.6% in October and reflective of the “no hire, no fire” current job climate showing in other data points. Another question asking whether jobs were “hard to get” edged lower to 17.9%, a drop of 0.4 percentage point. Those results come the same day that payrolls processing firm ADP reported that private companies shed an average 13,500 jobs over the past four weeks. Moreover, the Conference Board survey is consistent with other measures showing weakening sentiment among consumers. For instance, the University of Michigan’s sentiment gauge dropped 4.9% in November on a monthly basis and was off 29% from a year ago. The weakening numbers have coincided with public statements from several key Federal Reserve officials who believe further interest rate reductions are warranted. Traders are pricing in a high probability that the Fed lowers its key borrowing rate by another quarter percentage point in December. In the Conference Board survey, Peterson noted weakness across income and political groups.

Shorter days, signs of fatigue: Trump faces realities of aging in office

The day before Halloween, President Trump landed at Joint Base Andrews after spending nearly a week in Japan and South Korea. He was then whisked to the White House, where he passed out candy to trick-or-treaters. Allies crowed over the president’s stamina: “This man has been nonstop for DAYS!” one wrote online. A week later, Mr. Trump appeared to doze off during an event in the Oval Office. With headline-grabbing posts on social media, combative interactions with reporters and speeches full of partisan red meat, Mr. Trump can project round-the-clock energy, virility and physical stamina. Now at the end of his eighth decade, Mr. Trump and the people around him still talk about him as if he is the Energizer Bunny of presidential politics. The reality is more complicated: Mr. Trump, 79, is the oldest person to be elected to the presidency, and he is aging.

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To pre-empt any criticism about his age, he often compares himself to President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who at 82 was the oldest person to hold the office, and whose aides took measures to shield his growing frailty from the public, including by tightly managing his appearances. Mr. Trump has hung a photo of an autopen in a space where Mr. Biden’s portrait would otherwise be, and disparages his predecessor’s physicality often. “He sleeps all the time — during the day, during the night, on the beach,” Mr. Trump said about Mr. Biden last week, adding: “I’m not a sleeper.” Mr. Trump remains almost omnipresent in American life. He appears before the news media and takes questions far more often than Mr. Biden did. Foreign leaders, chief executives, donors and others have regular access to Mr. Trump and see him in action. Still, nearly a year into his second term, Americans see Mr. Trump less than they used to, according to a New York Times analysis of his schedule. Mr. Trump has fewer public events on his schedule and is traveling domestically much less than he did by this point during his first year in office, in 2017, although he is taking more foreign trips.

State Stories

Tesla stands to lose millions in tax rebates if it doesn't meet Travis County requirements

Travis County’s tax rebate deal with Tesla is under review as the automaker has failed to provide sufficient documentation that it is upholding its end of the agreement, Travis County officials said. The deal, which was finalized in 2020, offers Tesla a 70% property tax rebate on a the first $1.1 billion the company invests in the factory and up to 80% if Tesla invests more than $2 billion. The rebate only applies to a portion of property taxes paid to the county. Tesla must also ensure at least half of its gigafactory employees live in Travis County and are paid at least $15 an hour. Tesla agreed to scale its minimum wage over time in accordance with the Consumer Price Index.

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In 2020, the county estimated the deal would result in $14 million in savings for Tesla over the first 10 years of the agreement. So far, Travis County hasn’t paid Tesla any rebates. As first reported by the Austin-American Statesman, the agreement is under a compliance review because Tesla has not provided sufficient documentation to prove it is meeting the requirements. Travis County also has active tax rebate agreements with Apple, Samsung and HID Global, a manufacturer of secure identity products. County spokesperson Hector Nieto said compliance reviews are a normal part of the process, and rebate payments to those companies have usually occurred within the same year the companies submit annual reports. Travis County officials declined to specify which parts of the deal Tesla may be failing to uphold or provide documentation for. In a statement, Nieto said the review includes “verification of multiple data points submitted in the compliance report.” In a statement, Commissioner Margaret Gomez said she will “push on staff” to determine if Tesla is in compliance.

Spring-area homeowners face lengthy recovery after tornado hits their neighborhood

Saw dust, pine needles, even small shards of glass were strewn throughout Driftstone Drive in the Spring area. You could hardly walk 10 feet without stepping over a tree limb. "We don't have a home," said Michelle Amaro, a resident of more than five years. "I can't live here. I'm probably going to be displaced for, like, three to six months, according to the insurance." After two tornadoes touched down northwest of Houston on Monday, hitting several residential areas including the Memorial Northwest neighborhood, Amaro said her roof was torn completely open. Rain later in the evening soaked the inside of her home. Her insurance company provided her with a hotel on Monday night, but the idea of potentially moving out of her home on Driftstone Drive was difficult to grasp. "I'm almost like, just let me stay in here," she said, gesturing toward her home. As if remembering, she added, "My AC unit is ripped out. It's like on the other side of my yard."

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By Tuesday morning, Amaro was one of several residents along Driftstone watching trees be taken apart with chainsaws and ripped from the ground. She, like other nearby residents who spoke with Houston Public Media, said the recovery process has brought the neighborhood together. Just a few houses over, Walter Overcash stood outside his home of 28 years, watching as a massive tree in his front yard was sawed in parts. "We've had hurricanes, that kind of stuff, but never a tornado directly at us," he said. He was home during the storm on Monday, which he said he didn't take quite so seriously at first. "But when you feel the pressure drop in your ears kind of thing? And you hear that go roar? It's like, maybe I should go jump in the closet." Landscaping crews from J and J Custom Tree Service were assisting residents along Driftstone, free of charge. At one point, a J and J crew member approached a Houston Public Media reporter and asked if they were a homeowner in the area needing assistance. No injuries had been reported by local authorities as of Tuesday afternoon, when the National Weather Service confirmed that two tornadoes had ripped through northwest Harris County within a span of 30 minutes on Monday afternoon. The one that hit Driftstone Drive had estimated peak wind speeds of 116 mph, making it an EF-2 rated tornado, while an EF-1 tornado with peak wind speeds of 110 mph hit the Riata Ranch area in Cypress.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign against Muslim group faces challenges under Texas and federal law

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has launched a campaign against the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), declaring the Muslim civil rights organization a foreign terrorist organization. What's unclear is whether that will hold up under a legal challenge from CAIR, either with respect to federal law or even Texas' own statutes. Syed al-Ferdous immigrated to the Houston area from Bangladesh more than 20 years ago. He now attends services at the Maryam Islamic Center in Sugar Land, southwest of Houston, every evening. He said Abbott's calling CAIR a terrorist organization shows a lack of education about Islam. "I think it’s very juvenile to say the least," al-Ferdous said. "It’s very immature, and it just doesn’t hold any water whatsoever."

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Last week, Abbott invoked a 2023 Texas law to brand CAIR a foreign terrorist organization and a transnational criminal organization. He accused CAIR of trying to "forcibly impose Sharia law," and he followed up by ordering the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch criminal investigations of the group. At the same time, Abbott also applied the designation to the foreign-based Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR then filed a lawsuit against Abbott in federal court, and a representative of the organization’s Houston chapter said Friday that it plans to join the lawsuit. "What does a civil rights organization in the United States, incorporated in the United States, run by American citizens, got to do with a foreign entity?" al-Ferdous asked. That's a question Kenneth Williams —who teaches constitutional and civil rights law at Texas Tech University —said cuts directly to the heart of whether Abbott has the authority to go after CAIR. "The statute specifically requires that there be at least, an organization at least partially outside the United States, who engage in criminal activity and threaten the security of this state or its residents," Williams said. "So, if they’re not operating outside the United States, it would seem like this designation is illegal and not authorized under the statute."

Texas loan program for gas power plants making progress after a rocky start

After an inauspicious start, a state incentive program created to encourage the construction of natural gas power plants has begun issuing loans. State lawmakers created the Texas Energy Fund in 2023 and have dedicated roughly $7 billion to the fund. After seeing numerous proposed projects drop out and one allegation of fraud, energy regulators can now point to progress that began this summer. Since June 26, the Public Utility Commission of Texas has authorized about $2.5 billion in loans to six power plant projects that, when completed, will have the capacity to power at least 875,000 homes. They include a $278 million loan to Houston-based Calpine, which will use the government loan to finance a 460-megawatt plant about 85 miles southeast of Dallas in Freestone County. The Legislature created the Texas Energy Fund in response to the February 2021 winter blackouts that killed more than 200 Texans. Many Republican lawmakers blamed renewable energy for the power outages, despite clear evidence fossil-fuel power plants also failed during the record-breaking freeze.

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With that in mind, the fund was created to encourage companies to build power plants that can generate electricity on demand — also known as dispatchable power. In Texas, the vast majority of dispatchable power is fueled by natural gas. Calpine appeared cognizant of the distinction in an Oct. 14 news release from Gov. Greg Abbott’s office. “This 460-megawatt, state-of-the-art facility is designed to start within minutes and will deliver safe, reliable power exactly when Texans need it most,” Caleb Stephenson, Calpine’s executive vice president of commercial operations, stated in the news release. The Public Utility Commission’s approval gave Calpine access to a 20-year, 3% loan to finance up to 60% of the plant’s construction cost. Other companies to take advantage of the loan program include NRG and Competitive Power Ventures. The issuance of the loans comes after the Texas Energy Fund got off to a rocky start. Lawmakers involved in the program’s creation fumed after it was discovered that one of the initial loan applicants chosen for the program may have committed fraud in their application and was selected despite the company’s leader being a federal felon.

Jacob Beck: Texas used to have universities.

(Jacob Beck is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at York University.) Over the past few months, several universities in Texas have done something that threatens their status as universities: They have restricted the topics that may be discussed in the classroom. Professors who dare to address certain taboo topics risk losing their jobs. If a university is a place where students and educators engage in free inquiry in the service of understanding, Texas now has fewer places that meet that definition. Some examples: In September, Texas A&M fired a lecturer when one of her students claimed course material recognized more than two genders. Later that month, Angelo State forbade instructors to so much as discuss transgender identities in class. Then Texas Tech likewise told faculty members they must recognize only male and female sexes in their instruction. On Nov. 13, Texas A&M banned the “advocacy” of topics or ideologies related to race, gender or sexual orientation in the classroom without prior approval from the university president. Supporters of these actions say they are justified because professors are straying from their syllabi. But that’s a dodge.

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If an instructor in Calculus 101 teaches Hamlet, the reaction would not be to ban Shakespeare instruction throughout the university. The dean would simply hold the instructor to account. The Nov. 13 decree only bans advocacy, which might seem harmless. Surely professors should be educators, not advocates! But if the point were to prohibit advocacy, why focus exclusively on gender and race? Why not forbid advocacy of all kinds? The answer is clear. Leaders at these institutions want to ban only certain topics from discussion. To do so, they have issued vague directives that no one knows how to interpret. My first job as a philosophy professor was at Texas Tech. When I taught Beginning Philosophy, I would present arguments for and against the existence of God. If I did that in College Station, would the regents have thought I was “advocating” for theism and atheism? Could I play the “devil’s advocate” and expose weaknesses in my students’ arguments? No one knows. The regents haven’t defined advocacy. The result is what First Amendment scholars call a chilling effect: Certain topics are avoided for fear of reprisal. Already at Texas Tech, classes have been canceled and syllabi amended. Were I still teaching in Texas, I wouldn’t be writing this. It is important to see how radical this new direction in Texas education is. Texas never banned the topics of Naziism or fascism. It never prohibited discussion of child molestation.

Pam Perillo’s sisterhood of the condemned

Pam Perillo greets me at the door of her trailer, the yaps of a chihuahua named Peewee nearly drowning out our niceties. Perillo had just been looking for something to put on TV to soothe her animals—the territorial dog, two cats named Karla Faye and Tucker, plus a kitten she just rescued—while she leaves for a few hours. I’m driving her from her home in Prairie View, a nearly 9,000-person town at the far edge of the Houston metro, into the city for an event where she’s speaking. Perillo, 69, is tiny in height and build, with massive blue-green eyes and numerous facial piercings. Tattoos peek out from the sleeves of her pink business-casual blouse. In the car, she brainstorms what to say; she’s been allotted 10 minutes to talk about herself. “I don’t really know what to talk about,” she says on the August morning as we start our drive. “I think 10 minutes is a long time.” It’s arguably not long enough for her to scratch the surface of her story. And nowhere near as long as the 40 years she spent in prison, half of that on women’s death row. “I guess I could just say I’m a death row survivor,” she muses.

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In 1980, a Harris County jury sentenced a 24-year-old Perillo to prison for capital murder. Along with two others, she’d been arrested for the robbery and murder of two men, Robert Banks and Bob Skeens, in Houston on February 23 of that year. Both Perillo and a man named James “Mike” Briddle received the death penalty, Perillo for Skeens’ murder and Briddle for Banks’. The third person charged, Briddle’s then-wife Linda Fletcher, was ultimately re-indicted for aggravated robbery after prosecutors dropped the capital murder charge against her. She testified against Briddle and Perillo and received five years’ probation. For 20 years, Perillo waited for the state to kill her, twice receiving scheduled dates before eventually getting stays. Then, in 2000, her fate changed. A federal appeals court found major problems with her trial—including a concerning relationship between Perillo’s attorney and her codefendant Fletcher—enough to invalidate the conviction. Rather than re-try Perillo for a 20-year old crime, the State of Texas offered her a deal: life plus 30 years in prison. In 2019, she was released on parole. Perillo doesn’t celebrate the fact that she walked free after expecting to be executed. She doesn’t think she’s really any different from other, less-fortunate women; she was guilty of the crime she committed. She has no explanation for why she was spared, except that “God must still have a lot of work to do.” She can even exhibit a kind of guilt, as though she believes her second chance should have gone to someone else—another of those women she met on death row who became perhaps the first stable community Perillo had ever known.

Addison joins other North Texas cities considering leaving DART

Pressure is increasing on Dallas Area Rapid Transit as a fifth city is now considering an election to withdraw from the agency. The city of Addison has called a special meeting on Dec. 2 to address concerns from the council over funding for the transit agency. If the council votes to call an election, it would join four other cities — Farmers Branch, Highland Park, Irving and Plano — that will ask voters this spring whether or not to leave DART. “Following the decision of four other cities to call DART withdrawal elections, the Addison City Council has decided to call a special meeting to determine the best path forward for our community,” Addison’s director of marketing and tourism Mary Rosenbleeth said in a written statement.

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The city is identified as a “donor” city according to a 2024 report by the consulting firm Ernst & Young that showed the Addison contributed about $16 million while only receiving $9.5 million in services in Fiscal Year 2023. The report does not take into account the recently added Silver Line that began providing service to the city in October. The decision to consider a withdrawal election is a blow to DART’s standing with the city, which earlier this year passed a resolution to support full funding for the agency after North Texas legislators filed a bill to reduce the agency’s funding by at least 25%. When that effort in the legislature failed, the DART board of directors voted to approve a General Mobility Program (GMP) to return 5% of sales tax funds to donor cities, including Addison; DART later stipulated cities would need to cease efforts to leave the agency or reduce its funding in order to receive their share of the GMP. According to a presentation prepared by city staff for the Dec. 2 meeting, Addison's legal team advised the council not to approve the GMP "as written and have made our concerns known to DART.” If Addison residents vote to leave the agency, service would end the day after the election. A spokesperson for DART told KERA in a statement the agency is aware of the Dec. 2 meeting. “DART remains committed to negotiating transparently and in good faith to ensure North Texans have access to transit solutions that work best for them,” the statement said. DART CEO Nadine Lee has previously said that cities withdrawing from the agency would have a detrimental impact on the entire system. “What I tell people is, you pay with your time or your money,” Lee said in a recent interview on WFAA’s Y'allitics podcast. “You’re going to sit in congestion and maybe you’ll have the option to work from home but in 20 years, who knows what’s going to happen?”

Texas title companies allege rival carried out ‘systematic raid’ of workers

Sister companies Alamo Title Co. of San Antonio and Chicago Title of Texas LLC of The Woodlands have alleged in separate lawsuits that a competitor carried out a “systematic raid” of each company’s workforce. WFG National Title Company of Texas LLC is accused of hiring away 30 employees from Alamo Title in June and July and 41 workers from Chicago Title in January. The sister companies also allege that they’ve been directly harmed by WFG soliciting their customers and misappropriating sensitive or confidential business information. Alamo sued in August in state District Court in San Antonio, but WFG on Friday moved the case to the 4th Business Court Division, which handles disputes over $5 million. Chicago filed suit in July in Harris County District Court and, according to a court filing, is seeking $9.6 million in lost revenue.

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WFG has denied the allegations in both cases. It declined to comment on the lawsuits, according to one of its attorneys. It had filed a motion in September to transfer Alamo’s case to Harris County given Chicago’s pending case there and the similarity of the claims. Before the motion could be heard, though, WFG moved the case to Business Court. Alamo and Chicago are subsidiaries of Alamo Title Holding Co., which is owned by Fidelity National Financial Inc. — a publicly traded company based in Jacksonville, Fla., that generated $13.7 billion in revenue last year. WFG is part of Williston Financial Group of Portland, Ore. Title insurance companies protect real estate buyers by searching for problems — such as unpaid property taxes, fraudulent paperwork or unknown heirs claiming ownership — ahead of a sale.

Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones asks City Council to move municipal elections to November

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has asked City Council to move the city’s municipal elections from May to November, a move state lawmakers set the stage for earlier this year. The change would save taxpayers $1 million, improve voter turnout and bring San Antonio in line with what many other local governments in Texas are doing, according to a letter Jones sent to council on Tuesday. Texas lawmakers passed bipartisan legislation earlier this year allowing local governments to move their elections in odd-numbered years to November. But individual city councils still need to vote in order to move their elections by Dec. 31, or they’ll miss out on the opportunity, absent additional legislation.

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Not moving the elections would make San Antonio an outlier among the largest cities in Texas, Jones argued in her letter to council members. Houston and Austin already hold their municipal elections in November, and earlier this month, Dallas City Council voted to join them. The mayor provided additional materials to council, including a commentary from political science professors Melissa Marschall with Rice University and Zoltan Hajnal with University of California in San Diego arguing that the busier November elections lead to better municipal turnout. “Nationwide research also indicates that a move from May to November could double turnout, and numbers for Houston and the other Texas cities that hold November elections are in the same ballpark,” the researchers wrote, adding that holding multiple contests on the same ballot is more efficient, and often saves money for local governments. Jones argued that the move makes sense. “I haven’t heard of a good reason [not to do it],” the mayor said in a phone interview. “I think that’s why you’ve seen so many people do this. The cost saving, which is significant, but also ensuring that our election results could be more representative of the cross-section of our population.”

Ronell Smith: The opening Democrats see in Texas Senate District 9 is a mirage

(Ronell Smith is a former Southlake city councilman.) Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to set Jan. 31 as the date for the Senate District 9 runoff extends the shockwaves from earlier this month when Democrat Taylor Rehmet stunned both parties by finishing with nearly 48% of the vote in that race — about 12 points ahead of Republican Leigh Wambsganss, whom he’ll now face in January. The result, while giving beleaguered Texas Democrats a rare gust of momentum, sent chills through Texas Republicans, who were rightly reminded of what happens when disaffected voters stay home. But in my conversations with political scientists and strategists who study these races, one theme emerged: Rehmet likely reached his ceiling.

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Democrats did overperform this year — both Texas special elections and important races in other states — but two forces explain the pattern, said Sean Theriault, University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Smaller elections produce smaller electorates, he noted, and President Donald Trump’s weak approval rating has galvanized Democratic turnout nationwide. “What we know about the Trump realignment is that his voters are lower-propensity voters — less educated, lower income,” Theriault said. “The combined effect means that races that are +10 Republican districts are now competitive.” I anticipated that with two conservatives in the race, the district that Trump carried by 17 points in 2024 would split evenly between Wambsganss and former Southlake Mayor John Huffman, forcing a runoff. But my suspicions proved more accurate than my hopes. Huffman’s pathway was always narrow. Wambsganss — a well-regarded conservative activist with a statewide profile — entered as the most ideologically aligned candidate for the district’s dominant voting bloc. That left Huffman with one lane to occupy: the less-conservative option. From the outset, I suspected it would ultimately be the losing one. That assessment was echoed by Christopher Wilson, whose firm, Stratus Intelligence, closely tracked the race and conducted four waves of surveys leading up to Election Day. “Wambsganss consistently led Huffman across every survey, with the gap widening over time,” Wilson told me. “She had a decisive edge with very conservative voters, Trump-aligned Republicans, and high-propensity GOP voters. Huffman retained some name ID advantage among older suburban Republicans early on, but never translated that into a ballot lead in any of the data we saw.”

Argyle 20-year-old pleads not guilty to planning Haitian island invasion, attorney says

Three days after news broke about two North Texas men’s stranger-than-fiction plot to subjugate a Haitian island, two former federal prosecutors told NPR on Sunday that their clients plan to plead not guilty. Tanner Thomas, 20, of Argyle and Gavin Weisenburg, 21, of Allen were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to murder, maim or kidnap in a foreign country and production of child sexual abuse images. Both face up to life in prison for the conspiracy charges and 15-30 years in federal prison on the child sexual abuse image charges. Dallas attorney John Helms, who’s representing Thomas, told the Denton Record-Chronicle that his client made his initial appearance in federal court Monday morning in Sherman and entered a plea of not guilty.

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Thomas, who was booked Thursday, was released Monday from the Collin County Jail to U.S. Marshals Service custody, where Helms said he will remain as the case continues. “At this point, I am looking forward to receiving the information and evidence the Government is required to produce to support these charges, and I will be vigorously defending Tanner against these charges,” Helms wrote in a message to the Record-Chronicle on Monday. In a Monday email, Dallas attorney David Finn, a former criminal trial judge who is representing Weisenburg, told the Record-Chronicle that he was limited as to what he could say at this stage and doesn’t plan to try Weisenburg’s case in the press. Weisenburg was booked into the Collin County Jail on June 3 and released on June 8 to another agency. “If anyone’s initial reaction to the Government’s Press Release was ‘this sounds crazy, wild, impossible or beyond belief,’ I would encourage them to hold that thought and hold their horses,” Finn wrote. “In fact, the Press Release highlights and underscores the sheer lunacy of this alleged pirate fantasy.

If the Dallas Stars move to the suburbs, what city deals could help fund a new $1B arena?

As speculation surrounds the Dallas Stars eyeing a move to the site of a Plano shopping mall, there are few details available on the NHL team’s potential new $1 billion arena — or the incentives cities may offer to attract the team in a competitive market. From grants to tax breaks, there are several tools Texas cities can use for economic development. Some go to the ballot, but other incentives can go through without a vote as cities vie for the prestige, potential economic boost and tax revenue that comes with hosting a major sports team and its stadium. After discussions with Frisco, The Colony, Arlington and Fort Worth, the Dallas Stars are considering relocating from the American Airlines Center in Dallas to The Shops at Willow Bend, two people with knowledge of the team’s efforts told The Dallas Morning News this fall, potentially following the lead of many major U.S. sports teams’ exodus to the suburbs.

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Nola Agha, professor at the University of San Francisco, researches the economic impact of teams and stadiums. While a team’s move might not generate much new economic activity at the regional level, a move within North Texas can make things competitive, she said. “When you live in a suburb, and you care about your own tax base … you see this competition between municipalities for shifting that activity,” Agha said. City officials will not comment on the Stars or a potential arena, but Plano has historically used incentives to attract companies like Toyota, Capital One and JPMorgan Chase to anchor regional headquarters in the city. Ted Benavides, former Dallas city manager and a professor of social sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas, said Plano is well-positioned to pursue a deal with the Stars, as cities like Arlington and Frisco have done with major North Texas teams. “They have money,” Benavides said. “They’re very active on the economic development front, so there’s a lot of things they could do.”

Judge approves Elliott affiliate Amber Energy as Citgo buyer with $5.89B deal

An affiliate of Elliott Investment Management LP has officially been approved to buy Houston-based Citgo Petroleum Corp. for $5.89 billion. Judge Leonard P. Stark of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware ruled on Nov. 25 that he had approved Amber Energy Inc.’s unsolicited bid for PDV Holding Inc., the parent company of Citgo. Citgo is being auctioned off to satisfy what Reuters says is roughly $21 billion worth of claims against PDV Holding’s parent, Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly called PDVSA. Amber Energy said the transaction is expected to close in 2026 with Gregory Goff, the CEO of Amber Energy, assuming the role of CEO under the Citgo name.

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Goff previously served as CEO of San Antonio-based Andeavor, which was previously named Tesoro and was later acquired by Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC). Goff also worked at Houston-based ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) for nearly 30 years. He currently serves as CEO of Claire Technologies Inc., a decarbonization company based in Fife, Washington. "We look forward to working with the talented Citgo team to strengthen the business through capital investment and operational excellence," Goff said. "I am confident that together we will help enhance America's energy leadership position." Amber Energy’s journey to be able to acquire Citgo has been a rocky one ever since its earlier $7.29 billion bid was selected as the recommended stalking horse bidder by Special Master Robert Pincus in September 2024. However, this recommendation “did not receive public support from the sale process parties or additional judgment creditors,” according to a court filing earlier this year. In April, the court then approved a $3.7 billion bid by Red Tree — an indirect subsidiary of Contrarian Funds LLC, which is an affiliate of Connecticut-based Contrarian Capital Management LLC — as the new stalking horse bidder.

National Stories

FBI seeks interviews with six Democrats Trump accused of 'seditious behavior'

The FBI is working to schedule interviews with the six Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a video urging members of the military and intelligence community not to comply with illegal orders, according to a person familiar with the efforts. The move, first reported by Fox News, comes days after President Donald Trump accused the Democrats, all of whom served in the military or in intelligence roles, of "seditious behavior." Details of the investigation were not immediately clear. The lawmakers confirmed they had heard from the House or Senate sergeants-at-arms about the FBI effort. In a joint statement, four of the Democrats in the video, all members of the House, accused Trump of “using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass Members of Congress.”

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“No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution," the statement from Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, and Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania said. “We swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. We will not be bullied. We will never give up the ship.” The other two Democrats in the video are senators: Mark Kelly, of Arizona, and Elissa Slotkin, of Michigan. U.S. Capitol Police referred questions to the FBI, where a bureau spokesperson declined to comment. Slotkin said at an event in Michigan on Tuesday afternoon that the lawmakers were contacted by the FBI on Monday evening. "Last night the counterterrorism division at the FBI sent a note to members of, the members of Congress saying they are opening what appears to be an inquiry against the six of us," she said.

After Trump pressure, Indiana lawmakers shift to convene on redistricting

Indiana Republican leaders said Tuesday that the state legislature would reconvene in December to consider redrawing the state’s congressional map, a reversal amid pressure from President Donald Trump. State House Speaker Todd Huston (R) said the chamber’s Republicans will gavel in on Dec. 1 to consider “all legislative business,” including “redrawing the state’s congressional map.” Shortly after his announcement, state Senate president pro tempore Rodric Bray (R) said the Senate will reconvene on Dec. 8 to “make a final decision … on any redistricting proposal sent from the House.” The decision marked a sharp a turnaround from earlier this month, when Bray said there were not enough votes to move forward with redrawing the map, “and the Senate will not reconvene in December.”

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While it was not clear Tuesday whether the Trump-backed push would have the support to succeed, the change in plans was the latest turn in a nationwide fight between Republicans and Democrats to redraw U.S. House maps ahead of next year’s midterm elections. A Trump-backed effort to add seats favoring the GOP in Texas set off the scramble, which has involved court fights, a statewide ballot measure and intense partisan showdowns in many states. Indiana has proved a more challenging target for Trump than some other Republican-led states, with GOP leaders there showing public resistance this year. For months, Trump and other administration officials have pressured lawmakers in the state to produce a new map — a process normally undertaken every 10 years — even hosting Hoosiers at the White House and dispatching Vice President JD Vance to the state to rally support. Trump celebrated the news Tuesday and continued to threaten to primary Republicans in the state who do not get on board with his plan. “I am glad to hear the Indiana House is stepping up to do the right thing, and I hope the Senate finds the Votes,” Trump wrote on social media. “If they do, I will make sure that all of those people supporting me win their Primaries, and go on to Greatness but, if they don’t, I will partner with the incredibly powerful MAGA Grassroots Republicans to elect STRONG Republicans who are ready to do what is needed.”

Trump’s CMS touts $12B savings from Medicare drug price negotiations

The Trump administration on Tuesday announced $12 billion in federal savings from the second year of Medicare drug price negotiations — a total health officials assert roughly doubles what President Joe Biden secured in the inaugural year of his signature drug pricing law. The agreed-upon prices will take effect starting in 2027 for 15 drugs, saving people with Medicare prescription drug coverage an estimated $685 million in out-of-pocket costs. The medications were used by about 5.3 million Medicare beneficiaries last year. They include Pfizer’s breast cancer therapy Ibrance, which was used by 16,000 Medicare Part D beneficiaries in 2024, and Boehringer Ingelheim’s lung fibrosis treatment Ofev, which was used by 24,000 people. The government reached a 50 percent discount on both of those drugs compared to their 2024 list prices.

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Notably, Novo Nordisk’s drugs for diabetes and weight loss were also part of the negotiations, which yielded a negotiated price of $274 for Ozempic and Rybelsus and $385 for Wegovy for a 30-day supply for conditions covered by Medicare — a 71 percent discount from the 2024 list price. Nearly 2.3 million Medicare beneficiaries with prescription drug coverage took those drugs last year. That appears to be a higher number than the price President Donald Trump achieved earlier this month through a most-favored nations deal with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly for their weight-loss drugs, which also impacts Medicare beneficiaries. However, it is unclear how the two programs will interact with each other. “President Trump directed us to stop at nothing to lower health care costs for the American people,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “As we work to Make America Healthy Again, we will use every tool at our disposal to deliver affordable health care to seniors.” The key factor in the second round of price negotiations was the administration’s willingness to walk away from the table if they didn’t reach a deal, said Chris Klomp, deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which handled the talks.

Data centers are embedding themselves in American communities. Who will pay?

Data center developers are offering towns and cities across the country tempting reasons to allow them to set up shop. It’s leaving local officials grappling with a decision: decline what could amount to millions of dollars in revenue, or jump on a building spree that some increasingly see as unsustainable. Tech giants like Meta, Microsoft and Google told investors this fall they expect to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on new data center developments by the end of next year. The tech industry is projected to spend roughly $7 trillion on data centers by 2030. These staggering investments could be transformative for many small towns and rural communities that for decades have struggled with slow economic growth and aging populations. Developing artificial intelligence models requires an enormous amount of computing power, and tech giants are under enormous pressure to keep innovating. However, even the most successful AI ventures like OpenAI are a far way out from turning a profit, and are going into massive amounts of debt to build these data centers. That’s casting doubt over the long-term viability of the market.

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Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, sees both opportunity and risk. “It’s economic development,” Moreno told NOTUS. “They bring construction jobs that are clearly very important; there is also a lot of material that goes into data centers, and those jobs are also localized.” But he added a warning. “Safety is important here,” Moreno said. “You’ve got to be careful. Because it’s possible [that we’re overdeveloping].” “Things sometimes feel a little bubbly,” he added. The data center boom of recent years presents communities with a unique opportunity that few other industrial projects can match. These facilities bring temporary construction jobs to a town and once they’re up and running, usually employ a few hundred highly skilled, highly paid workers. And, above all, these facilities might result in millions of dollars in property taxes. The data center development craze led by tech giants in the U.S. has been welcomed in many circles in Washington as an opportunity to expand the domestic economy. Republicans in particular are enthusiastic about its alignment with President Donald Trump’s goal of bringing back manufacturing to the U.S. and stopping the reliance on the global supply chain.

Unions brace to bargain with new boss Zohran Mamdani

At a party during SOMOS, the annual Puerto Rico getaway for New York’s political class, District Council 37 executive director Henry Garrido proudly introduced Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to a packed outdoor crowd at the Caribe Hilton of jubilant union officials, political insiders and government lobbyists. Just days after Mamdani’s election, the public display of support from the union leader — highlighted with a hug — underscored the emerging alliance between the incoming mayor and the leader of New York City’s largest public-sector union. That bond is about to be tested, or at least leaned on more than ever before, as Mamdani and his still-forming team prepare to craft a new collective-bargaining agreement whose wages and benefits will ripple across every municipal union in New York City.

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As Mamdani prepares to deliver on his mandate to uplift New York’s working class and his affordability agenda, while engendering a renewed faith in what he has referred to “public excellence,” the democratic socialist must also contend with the work of being a boss to the city’s 300,000 civil servants, complete with tough decisions and compromises as the city faces a tough fiscal outlook. For more than a century, New York City labor negotiators have relied on a system known as pattern bargaining. That system, which is not required by law, uses one union to strike a deal on wages, health care, and other benefits that then becomes the baseline for every other municipal union. Which union sets that pattern is a matter of intense attention and maneuvering across the city’s labor landscape. Traditionally, City Hall has pushed for DC 37 or the United Federation of Teachers — the two largest civilian unions — to establish the pattern. There’s also the matter of the contentious new health benefits plan for city workers and some retirees, designed to reduce costs some $1 billion annually as part of a union-management health savings pact in prior bargaining. It is scheduled to go into effect the day Mamdani is sworn in but is the subject of lawsuits seeking to stop the switch.

Trump wants a bigger White House ballroom. His architect disagrees.

President Donald Trump has argued with the architect he handpicked to design a White House ballroom over the size of the project, reflecting a conflict between architectural norms and Trump’s grandiose aesthetic, according to four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal conversations. Trump’s desire to go big with the project has put him at odds with architect James McCrery II, the people said, who has counseled restraint over concerns the planned 90,000-square-foot addition could dwarf the 55,000-square-foot mansion in violation of a general architectural rule: don’t build an addition that overshadows the main building. A White House official acknowledged the two have disagreed but would not say why or elaborate on the tensions, characterizing Trump and McCrery’s conversations about the ballroom as “constructive dialogue.”

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“As with any building, there is a conversation between the principal and the architect,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. “All parties are excited to execute on the president’s vision on what will be the greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office.” McCrery declined an interview request through a representative who declined to answer questions about the architect’s interactions with Trump in recent weeks. Trump’s intense focus on the project and insistence on realizing his vision over the objections of his own hire, historic preservationists and others concerned by a lack of public input in the project reflect his singular belief in himself as a tastemaker and obsessive attention to details. In the first 10 months of his second term, Trump has waged a campaign to remake the White House in his gilded aesthetic and done so unilaterally — using a who’s-going-to-stop-me ethos he honed for decades as a developer. Multiple administration officials have acknowledged that Trump has at times veered into micromanagement of the ballroom project, holding frequent meetings about its design and materials. A model of the ballroom has also become a regular fixture in the Oval Office.

Trump spares turkeys — but not his political opponents — at annual pardoning ceremony

President Donald Trump didn’t bring much holiday cheer Tuesday when bestowing ceremonial pardons on two Thanksgiving turkeys, dispensing more insults than goodwill at the traditional White House ritual. He joked about sending the turkeys to an infamous prison in El Salvador that has been used to house migrants deported from the United States. He said the birds should be named Chuck and Nancy — after Democratic stalwarts Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi — but “I would never pardon those people.” Trump claimed that last year’s turkey pardons, issued by President Joe Biden, were invalid because he used an autopen. “Where’s Hunter?” he said, suggesting that his predecessor’s son could once again face legal jeopardy.

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And all of that was before Trump turned his attention to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat who has resisted the White House’s plans to deploy the National Guard in Chicago. Trump said he had a joke prepared about Pritzker, but “I refuse to talk about the fact that he’s a fat slob. I don’t mention it.” Scattered laughter rippled through the audience, which sat under cloudy skies and an intermittent drizzle on the Rose Garden patio. Trump eventually got around to the business at hand, which was pardoning the turkeys Gobble and Waddle. Both were spared the dinner table, but only one got the spotlight. “Gobble, I just want to tell you this — very important — you are hereby unconditionally pardoned,” Trump said. He reached over to run his hand over the feathers, saying, “Who would want to harm this beautiful bird?” Waddle had previously been spotted in the White House briefing room. “Waddle, want to give us a gobble?” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt asked. The turkey obliged. “Very on message!” Leavitt said. Trump used part of his ceremonial remarks to insist that the price of Thanksgiving meals was dropping under his leadership, although his numbers are misleading. Some research indicates that holiday dinners could cost more this year, a reminder of persistent frustration with inflation. The president plans to fly south to his private Florida resort later Tuesday, a holiday interlude during what has been a turbulent and uncertain chapter of his second term. Trump is struggling to advance a plan to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine after an earlier version faced swift criticism from European allies and even some Republicans. The U.S. military is also poised to target Venezuela with military strikes, part of an anti-drug operation that could ultimately destabilize the country’s leadership.

Copyright November 26, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved