November 10, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Supreme Court says border wall construction can continue in west Texas

In September, Texas landowners filed a separate lawsuit over the federal government's border barrier plans in the Big Bend area, claiming their constitutional rights are being violated. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to continue with its plans to construct hundreds of miles of border barrier and security infrastructure in west Texas, while a court hearing over the effort moves forward. The federal government’s plans have stirred bipartisan backlash for its inclusion of Big Bend National Park, a beloved stretch of public land known for its sweeping canyons and unspoiled desert landscape. In a five-page decision issued Monday, the high court wrote that the federal judge who ruled on the order didn’t have the authority to weigh in.

click here for more

“The injunction thus impedes the Government from advancing its ‘compelling interests’ in border security and integrity,” reads the unsigned decision. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter in the decision. The court wrote that federal law allows the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to waive environmental protections and conservation laws, which they called a “clear preference for expeditious border construction over the very harms respondents assert.” In an emergency application to the high court in late October, the federal government urged the justices to intervene and allow the work to begin again, saying that a gap in “border defenses” in the Big Bend region “would act as “a dangerous magnet for cartels and other bad actors.” A federal judge in El Paso issued the temporary injunction that halted the construction of 30-foot-tall steel barriers, patrol roads, surveillance systems and other border infrastructure. The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group, brought forward the lawsuit, along with an area nonprofit working to preserve a historic church near the U.S.-Mexico border and a landowner who stands to lose his border property.

Gooden likely misused taxpayer dollars, spent extravagantly on travel, congressional watchdog says

Congressional investigators found “substantial reason to believe” Texas Republican Rep. Lance Gooden used taxpayer dollars for personal luxury travel and may have misreported his campaign spending. The nonpartisan Office of Congressional Conduct’s findings, made public Monday in a report, identified a pattern of “extravagant expenditures” by Gooden that appear to be outside his official duties. The report also highlights that Gooden sought more in reimbursements — $140,000 in 2025 alone — than any other House member. Gooden is the latest in a line of House members facing ethics allegations this year, with several forced to resign. Midterm polling showed voters citing corruption in Washington as a key reason for souring on the Republican party, although Democratic lawmakers have also faced allegations.

click here for more

The OCC report was referred to the House Ethics Committee, which is the entity that can discipline members. The Ethics Committee’s investigation remains ongoing. Gooden in a statement called the report “bogus,” criticized the OCC and called for the House Administration Committee to investigate the office. “There’s a reason the Senate doesn’t have an OCC—because of insane, bogus referrals like this one,” Gooden said in a statement. “The Ethics Committee will expose this witch hunt, and I’m calling on House Administration to launch an oversight investigation into the OCC’s target selection and record of failed inquiries.” The OCC declined comment. Gooden also provided a response to OCC from his lawyers. The OCC said in its report that Gooden and several members of his team did not cooperate with the inquiry.

Hegseth to hold rare news conference as impeachment vote looms

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plans to hold a news conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday morning to address a looming impeachment vote over his handling of the war against Iran and other military operations. That he scheduled the event appears to be a measure of how much he feels the pressure to defend himself. Mr. Hegseth has not addressed reporters at the Pentagon since May, not even when a Navy commander was killed in a helicopter crash in the Arabian Sea on July 1 or when two U.S. soldiers were killed in an Iranian missile attack on a base in Jordan on July 17. The impeachment push is being led by Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky.

click here for more

Mr. Massie introduced articles of impeachment on Monday that accuse Mr. Hegseth of violating the Constitution and federal law by ignoring the will of Congress in waging the war against Iran. Other charges accuse Mr. Hegseth of unlawfully carrying out strikes against suspected drug traffickers in boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific; capturing Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro; conducting unauthorized military operations in Yemen; and using his office to conduct political retaliation against his critics, including Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona. Mr. Hegseth has vowed to fight for his job. “If you want to take issue with what we did in Epic Fury or Rough Rider or nabbing Nicolás Maduro, you’re taking issue with the troops and what they accomplished, which is historic,” he said on Monday, using the Pentagon’s monikers for the war in Iran and U.S. strikes on Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Dan Patrick says GOP senators should strip Vikki Goodwin of power

Defeated Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has ruled the Texas Senate for three terms in a my-way-or-the-highway style, urged Republican senators on Monday to trim the sails of the Democrat who defeated him and take control of the chamber that is now the GOP's only base of power in Austin. "If you lose the statewide offices and you still have the majority in the Senate, which we do, you shouldn't give up your your majority because the governor lost or the lieutenant governor lost," Patrick told conservative radio host Mark Davis. "Vikki Goodwin won, but she doesn't have the majority of votes on the floor. So I believe and I support the Republicans standing up for their voters."

click here for more

Patrick, himself a product of conservative radio before entering politics 20 years ago, said that once he leaves office in January he'll launch a political consulting firm to promote the sort of legislation that he was able to push through the Senate during his 12 years atop the Senate. He also said that although a victory by Democrat James Talarico in the U.S Senate race had appeared more likely than not, the annihilation of the GOP statewide caught many by surprise on election night. "Everyone was shocked that day. The polling was based on bad data," Patrick said, noting that pre-election surveys undercounted Democratic strength in the suburbs and South Texas. "We still won rural Texas handily, but not by as much." During his time in office, Patrick expanded on the Senate's longstanding tradition of ceding authority to make committee and chairmanship assignments and to control the flow of legislation to the chamber floor. Each legislative session, he laid out a list of conservative priorities for the Senate to consider, and his agenda was generally followed.

State Stories

Gina Hinojosa’s call for resumes draws 6,000 in two days

Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa’s call for resumes from those interested in working in the first Democratic gubernatorial administration in three decades had drawn more than 6,000 responses by Monday afternoon, her transition team told Hearst Newspapers. The flood of resumes comes as Hinojosa works to build out an administration ahead of the state’s first transfer of gubernatorial power in 12 years — and the first from one political party to another since Ann Richards handed the governor’s office over to George W. Bush in 1995. “This Administration will be by and for the people of Texas,” the governor-elect wrote in a Saturday morning post on X. “We are building a government that opens the doors of the halls of power to hardworking people who want to secure the American Dream.”

click here for more

The thousands of resumes her team received since then is far more than the number of jobs Hinojosa will need to fill when she takes over the governor’s office. The governor’s last budget request asked for funding for 120 full time positions in the office of the governor and another 197 in the trustee programs it oversees, such as economic development offices. "Thousands of Texans are ready to fulfill Gov.-elect Hinojosa's commitment to building an administration that is ready to secure the American Dream, save public schools, and put money in Texans' pockets," said Joseph Madden, executive director of the transition team. "We are hard at work learning about all of these candidates so we can build a government that is truly by and for the people." Hinojosa has not said if she plans to do a full overhaul, or just replace the heads of offices, which range from appointments and budget and policy offices to a nuclear energy office, public safety and economic development teams. Hinojosa last week announced the first members of her transition team, led by Madden, a Houston-based consultant and longtime figure in Harris County politics. Madden has served with multiple commissioners and led Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s transition into office in 2019. The team also includes Tamala Barksdale, a former Austin school trustee who served alongside Hinojosa on the school board before she became a state representative; Ryan Pollock, who heads the Texas Building Trades Council, which represents dozens of unions across the state; and Ernest Bailes, a rural Republican former state representative whom Gov. Greg Abbott had worked to oust for opposing school vouchers. “Please understand, this is a transition for the whole state of Texas, and as such, we will have many opportunities for people to weigh in with their ideas, send in resumes,” Hinojosa said at a press conference last week where she introduced the team.

John Cornyn: The case against the Big Bend border wall

One of the federal government’s primary responsibilities is to protect the American people. Under President Joe Biden’s four years of reckless open-border policies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 10 million illegal immigrants at the border, and nearly 2 million so-called “gotaways” evaded the Border Patrol. President Donald Trump reversed course on day one in office, resulting in record-low border crossings. We should continue building on this success, but we must also be clear-eyed on what makes sense and what doesn’t. This is especially true in parts of the Border Patrol’s Big Bend Sector of Texas, which accounted for only 1.3% of all border apprehensions in fiscal 2025.

click here for more

A Border Patrol agent once told me that border security is like a three-legged stool: You need to strike the right balance between personnel, technology and infrastructure. There’s no one-size-fits-all, silver-bullet strategy. An all-of-the-above approach means implementing the right tools in the right places, and a border wall can be one piece of that puzzle. Beginning in late 2025, under authority granted to the Department of Homeland Security through the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, then Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued waivers of dozens of federal statutes to build a 30-foot-high steel bollard wall along 517 miles of the Rio Grande River. Since then, DHS has awarded about $7.5 billion for border wall and border-related infrastructure projects in the Big Bend Sector. Under the act, such waivers require a determination that a region is “an area of high illegal entry.” But the facts on the ground about parts of the Big Bend Sector tell a different story.

James Talarico meets with John Cornyn in Washington

Senator-elect James Talarico sat down with U.S. Sen John Cornyn Monday to discuss areas in which the two Texas politicians could work together. The pair met in Washington following Talarico's victory last week over Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, making him the first Democratic senator from Texas since 1993. "(Cornyn) has served our state honorably, and I’m grateful for his advice and guidance," Talarico said in a statement. "Now is the time for us to come together — Democrats and Republicans — to deliver for Texas." Cornyn's office said in a statement the pair had discussed "transition planning and related matters."

click here for more

Talarico, who will replace Cornyn in Washington, had campaigned on working with Republicans. The morning after his victory he appeared on Fox News to discuss comprehensive immigration reform and lowering housing and energy costs as areas of mutual interest with the Trump administration. "Give the president credit where credit is due. He has done a better job than the previous administration in securing our border," he said. Cornyn, a fourth-term senator, lost to Paxton in the Republican primary earlier this year. During the run up to the general election this month, he criticized Paxton and said his history of scandal was likely hurt Republican's chances. The night of the midterm elections, Cornyn congratulated Talarico on social media and offered his assistance. "The voters have spoken," he wrote.

New Camp Mystic lawsuit alleges owners knew of flood warning gaps years before disaster

A new lawsuit filed by the parents of an 8-year-old girl killed in the Camp Mystic flood alleges camp leadership had years of knowledge about critical gaps in the area’s flood warning system, including the removal of an upstream river sensor that could have provided approximately 30 minutes of additional warning before floodwaters reached the property. The 106-page petition, filed Monday by Clarke and Katherine Baker on behalf of their daughter, Mary Grace, also details allegations that camp administrators prioritized moving equipment and protecting adult employees over evacuating hundreds of sleeping girls as floodwaters rose, despite receiving warnings of life-threatening conditions hours before the disaster.

click here for more

The lawsuit provides additional details about the Eastland family’s involvement with regional flood warning infrastructure, the camp’s emergency procedures and the responsibilities of individual employees. It also alleges the camp had dozens of adults on its property who were not assigned specific roles in an emergency evacuation. Mary Grace was among the 25 campers who died when catastrophic flooding swept through the camp along the Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025. The Bakers are pursuing claims against camp entities and individual members of the Eastland family, as well as several employees. Attorneys representing each of the defendants named in the lawsuit are not yet listed. KXAN will reach out once that information is available. One of the most significant allegations involves Dick Eastland, Camp Mystic’s longtime executive director, and his involvement with the Upper Guadalupe River Authority. According to the lawsuit, Eastland served as treasurer of UGRA’s board and acknowledged in a 2018 email to family members that a critical river sensor located upstream from Camp Mystic had been removed years earlier. The sensor, which monitored the South Fork of the Guadalupe River, could have provided approximately 30 minutes of advance warning before floodwater reached downstream locations, the lawsuit alleges.

Dallas Stars arena rejection raises bigger questions for North Texas

The rejection of a key funding measure for a proposed Dallas Stars arena in Plano has thrown the project's future into uncertainty, raising a bigger question: are North Texas voters becoming less willing to foot the bill for major developments? On Nov. 3, Plano voters rejected Proposition A, a series of taxes intended to help cover the city's $700 million support package for the proposed $3 billion arena and entertainment district at the Shops at Willow Bend. The outcome has complicated the project's financing, leaving the Stars and city officials searching for another way to move forward. The Stars have maintained their commitment to the relocation, stating plans to continue working with Plano as the city pursues a project finance zone that would require action by the Texas Legislature?. The team, whose CEO Brad Alberts previously said intends to "get married" with the city, is currently on a tight timeline to find its next home with its lease at Dallas' American Airlines Center set to expire in 2031.

click here for more

Steven Haynes, a finance professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, said a special taxing district could help fund the project by using tax revenue generated in the surrounding area. But that money could take years to build up, potentially forcing the Stars to seek more private investment, contribute more of the club's own money or reconsider the scale of the development. "The problem is that's kind of a pay-as-you-go and when we're looking at a development project of this size, in the billions of dollars, it's not something that you really want to do because it's not quick," Haynes said. Haynes said the approach could still shift some costs to Plano residents who shop and dine within the district. While visitors from outside Plano would also contribute, local residents who frequent the area would ultimately foot the bill, meaning "in some ways it is a pass-on to the residents of Plano." The voters' disapproval also reflects growing concerns about the financial risks of publicly supported projects, Haynes said, particularly as housing, insurance and other living expenses continue to strain household budgets.

Musk admits Tesla doesn’t have enough talent to build more than one car at a time after exodus

Elon Musk now says Tesla can’t build the Cybertruck and the Cybercab at the same time because there are only so many “smart, dedicated people” to go around. Half the executives he showed off in 2023 as proof of Tesla’s “bench strength” have since left the company. It’s the most honest explanation yet for how Tesla went from five consumer vehicle programs at the start of 2026 to a single platform, Model 3 and Model Y, by the middle of 2027. On Friday, Musk said Tesla would wind down Cybertruck production at Giga Texas around the middle of next year “to make room for increased Cybercab production.” As we pointed out at the time, Giga Texas isn’t short on space. The Cybertruck line runs at a fraction of its installed capacity because the truck sells a fraction of what Tesla planned.

click here for more

A day later, replying to a user on X, Musk gave a different reason: “The biggest thing most people fail to understand is that there are a very limited number of smart, dedicated people! They can only do so many things.” He added that if Tesla has to “maintain a complex production line, supply chain and allocate engineering for Cybertruck, we can’t use those people” for scaling Cybercab. By Monday morning, the explanation had shifted again, to the “opportunity cost of the complexity of Cybertruck.” But the Saturday version is the one that matters. Musk is telling us the bottleneck at Tesla isn’t factory space or money. It’s people. The Cybertruck is the second casualty this year. In January, Musk announced the end of the Model S and Model X on Tesla’s Q4 earnings call and summed up the reason in one word: “Autonomy.” The Fremont line is being converted to build Optimus robots, and by April, only inventory was left. The flagships had been on life support for years. Their last real update was the 2021 interior refresh. The June 2025 “refresh” brought a new paint color, a front bumper camera, a bit more range, and a $5,000 price increase. That’s not how you treat a vehicle program you care about. Tesla painted a very different picture just two years ago. At its 2024 shareholder meeting, it showed this slide of its lineup: the Model 3, Model Y, Model S, Model X, Cybertruck, and Semi, plus three vehicles under covers that Musk said were “going to be pretty special.”

After Huffines’ defeat, Austin ISD halts cooperation with state investigation

The Austin school district has halted its cooperation with a state investigation into its spending, challenging the comptroller’s authority to question district employees and demanding answers about why investigators are seeking information about library books, sex education and student identification. The move comes just days after Texas voters ousted Republican Comptroller Don Huffines, whose office launched the investigation after Gov. Greg Abbott requested audits of up to four school districts. State investigators did not arrive for a scheduled visit Monday after Austin ISD notified the comptroller’s office Friday that it would suspend its participation, a district spokesperson confirmed.

click here for more

The confrontation threatens to derail Austin ISD’s participation in one of four school district investigations Huffines’ office launched in October. The reviews were intended to determine whether taxpayer money was being directed toward students, classrooms and teachers rather than administrative expansion, with findings due Dec. 31, ahead of the next legislative session. In a four-page letter sent Friday, Austin ISD General Counsel Kenneth Walker questioned whether the comptroller had the authority to conduct extensive employee interviews, whether the investigation could be completed fairly on such a short timeline and why investigators were requesting records that appeared unrelated to school spending. “Consequently, we respectfully discontinue our participation and will not be available next week, November 9-13 for any site visits or interviews,” Walker wrote. The election has also cast uncertainty over the investigation’s future. In her first news conference after defeating Huffines, Austin-area Sen. Sarah Eckhardt said last week she would limit the reviews to school finances rather than examining library books and hiring policies, according to KERA, the Dallas-area NPR affiliate.

SpaceX plans $24 billion gas power plant, data center project in Texas

SpaceX is planning a roughly $24 billion gas-fired power plant and super-compute facility in Starbase, Texas, according to a public hearing notice. The rockets-to-AI company's request ?comes as opposition to data centers grows, with voters rejecting them ?in 40 of 41 local ballot measures and Democrats, some of whom had campaigned on pausing new projects, taking control of the US Congress and the Texas governor's office ?in the midterm elections.

click here for more

The filing shows SpaceX, which bought Elon Musk's ?AI lab xAI earlier this year, has applied for a property ?tax abatement for the project. The Starbase City Commission will consider the ?abatement, plus a related economic development agreement, at a public meeting on December ?9. The notice describes $24 billion as the estimated capital investment for the project's initial phases. It said the work may be done in multiple phases and could include future expansions. SpaceX ?would construct, own and operate the facilities. The project would be among ?the largest private investments in the Rio Grande Valley. Building its own power plant could let ?SpaceX ?skip a years-long wait to plug a project into Texas' main power grid. The notice did not say how large the abatement would be or how long it would last. It also gave no details on the plant's generating ?capacity or the scale ?of the computing ?operation. SpaceX affiliate Lone Star Mineral Development has filed plans for an 8-mile natural gas pipeline to Starbase, called Starpipe, ?that is scheduled for service by January 2027. It ?will feed ?a planned plant to turn the gas into liquid methane for Starship rockets, according to filings Reuters reviewed in June. The company last month reported a 161% jump ?in ?revenue and a ninefold increase in AI revenue ?for its third quarter. The company has been renting out computing capacity to Google, Anthropic and others. Bloomberg News first ?reported on the development.

Dallas council members seek audit over $800K GOP convention bill

Some Dallas City Council members are calling for an audit after the city was left with an $800,000 bill from President Donald Trump’s GOP event in September. “This is unacceptable to us and raises serious questions concerning why the City did not in advance obtain financial security for the anticipated costs and efforts to collect the money owed,” said a memo signed by council members Paul Ridley, Adam Bazaldua, Paula Blackmon and Bill Roth. The push comes nearly two weeks after city officials told the finance committee that the police and fire department had over $800,000 in costs.

click here for more

Council members said the city has not received any money for convention spending, leaving taxpayers to bear the burden. A bulk of the costs had been absorbed by the city’s budget, and several council members were concerned that no reimbursements had been finalized in the two months after the event. “When people use our city and facilities, it comes with a deposit, and integrity says, 'Pay your bill,’” Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Maxie Johnson said during an October meeting. The two-day midterm pep rally arrived in September amid the city’s budget deliberations, furloughs and spending cuts. City officials said recently they will pursue a Department of Justice grant to cover expenses outside of the arena. They gave a special event permit to manage street closures and traffic management. American Airlines Center, though a city-owned facility, books its own events.

After nearly 3 years, AG Ken Paxton drops fight to shut down El Paso’s Annunciation House

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has dropped a suit seeking to shut down Annunciation House after demanding two years ago to examine the records of the nonprofit network of migrant shelters in El Paso, including information about the people it served. “It’s very gratifying that this has now ended. It’s over,” Ruben Garcia, founder and executive director of Annunciation House, told El Paso Matters. “What I would want next is for the state Legislature to say, ‘We have to find a way to prevent this from happening.’” The Attorney General’s Office on Monday filed a notice of nonsuit with prejudice, meaning the office will never again file a lawsuit with similar allegations against the organization in the future. Paxton’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

click here for more

The move comes as Paxton, a Republican who unsuccessfully sought a U.S. Senate seat in the Nov. 3 midterm election, prepares to leave the AG’s Office in mid-January. Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson, a Democrat who now serves in the Senate, has said he intends to review cases brought by Paxton. The AG’s Office first delivered a demand letter to examine Annunciation House records on Feb. 7, 2024. The next day, the organization sued Paxton challenging the demand. Within days, Paxon sought to revoke the Annunciation House’s nonprofit registration in Texas and shut down its operation, alleging harboring, human smuggling and stash-house activity. Garcia vehemently denied the claims, stating the organization serves migrants processed and released by U.S. immigration authorities. The case wound its way through the courts, with an El Paso district judge blocking the AG’s attempt, and Paxton appealing to the Texas Supreme Court. In May 2025, the Texas Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision and later denied Annunciation House’s request for a rehearing.

Austin photojournalist Robert Godwin dies of cancer at 72

Photographer Robert Godwin, who documented the evolution of Austin’s social scene and philanthropy for decades, died Wednesday of small-cell lung cancer at home after extended treatment at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He was 72. “He was a happy soul right to the end,” posted Austin native Forrest Preece, who, among many other projects, writes the column, “Westside Stories,” for West Austin News. “Five days ago, he posted a photo on Facebook of the trick or treat candy he'd left out for kids in his neighborhood, with some comments parsed in his usual jovial manner.

click here for more

Because of his long, watchful exposure to the worlds of nonprofits and philanthropy during a time when both forces matured in Austin, Godwin was called upon to advise groups such as the St. David’s Foundation on fundraising tactics. He witnessed firsthand the growth of the philanthropic sector from old-fashioned charitable efforts that survived on meager donations to Austin’s current thousands of nonprofits, some with annual budgets in the tens of millions of dollars and secure endowments doing effective work at home and around the world. “It was as vanilla as you can imagine,” Godwin told the American-Statesman in 2015 about socializing during the 1970s. “There was a degree of exclusion by demographics if nothing else. And a $5,000 fundraiser was big back then. Nowadays that’s postage for invitations.” His professional advice was always delivered gently, kindly and humorously, except when it came to food. Something of a home gourmet, Godwin could be quite frank about what edibles were offered to event guests, whether at backyard barbecues or glittering galas, and how important it was to make a hospitable impression.

Harris County DA’s chief of staff leaving office after scrutiny over dismissed DWI case

The chief of staff for Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare is leaving the office weeks after KHOU 11 Investigates exposed her involvement in the quick dismissal of a DWI case involving a prominent Houston attorney and former prosecutor. In an email to staff Friday, Teare announced that Lauren Byrne “will be leaving the office.” He praised her work, writing that she had “given it her heart, pursuing justice at every turn and advocating for changes that make our criminal justice system fairer for everyone.” Teare has not said whether he asked Byrne to resign or whether she decided to leave on her own. The district attorney’s communications director said the office could not confirm details about personnel actions.

click here for more

Byrne’s departure follows questions about her role in approving a pretrial intervention agreement for attorney William “Wes” Rucker, whose DWI and unlawful carrying of a weapon charges were dismissed less than 72 hours after his Oct. 9 arrest. Chief Justin Wood of the arresting agency, Hedwig Village police, previously said the speedy dismissal “didn’t pass the smell test.” “I think it shows favoritism and poor decision-making on the part of the district attorney’s office,” Wood said in an Oct. 27 interview. KHOU 11 Investigates has now confirmed that the Tier 1 DWI pretrial intervention program had been paused since December 2025 when Byrne negotiated Rucker’s agreement. A notice to prosecutors said the Tier 1 program was “currently closed” and that no applications would be considered. The district attorney’s office said that pause was intended to give participants time to complete the program so the office could review their progress, make adjustments and consider a more permanent structure under a second phase of the program during the fourth quarter of 2026.

National Stories

GOP’s hold on Florida could chart the future of data centers

Many voters nationwide flat-out rejected data centers — and candidates who were linked to them — during last week’s midterm elections. But in Florida, the industry got its wish. GOP Rep. Byron Donalds, a pro-business Trump ally whose campaign was flush with millions from the data center and tech industries, narrowly won the election for Florida governor over Democrat David Jolly, a staunch data center opponent. Donalds’ win was one of the GOP’s few major victories of the night, as Democrats took control of Congress and ousted Republicans in red-leaning states. The data center industry also took an electoral beating, after data center-critical Democrats flipped governor’s races in states that have been industry hot spots. In Texas, Georgia and New Mexico, where tech giants like Google and Microsoft have planned massive data centers, Democratic governors-elect have pledged moratoriums on new projects. In hubs like Ohio and Nevada, the governors-in-waiting support tightening guardrails on the industry. The results reflect a burgeoning anti-data center sentiment nationwide: Voters have spurned the industry and the AI companies driving its booming growth.

click here for more

“[AI companies] are going to have to cure cancer to convince people this is a good thing,” said Brendan Steinhauser, CEO of the Alliance for Secure AI, an AI safety group. After last week’s wipeout, Florida is the most populous Republican-led state — and one still without a hyperscale data center, despite the industry’s efforts. Yet while Donalds has supported certain restrictions on data centers, he hasn’t gone as far as governors-elect in other states and has not been as hard line an opponent as outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). His victory could change the data center industry’s views about the Sunshine State’s viability, just as other states are pumping the brakes on development. In the lead-up to the election, state Democrats sought to paint Donalds as a Big Tech ally. Campaign ads, social media memes and a statewide blitz of press conferences labeled him “Data Center Donalds.” Jolly, who made data center opposition a key pillar of his campaign, promised to institute a moratorium and said he’d be willing to outright ban hyperscale facilities. Donalds’ critics blasted his donor base, which included data center developers and AI companies. It wasn’t enough — Donalds eked past Jolly by less than 2 percentage points.

Israeli opposition eyes deal with ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties to oust Netanyahu

As he seeks to crack the complicated math of building a new Israeli government coalition that will oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ex-military chief Gadi Eisenkot is eyeing a potentially controversial alliance with ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties. A deal with the ultra-Orthodox would bring a sea change to Israeli politics. And the push for it shows the bloc led by Eisenkot, a centrist security hawk known as a pragmatic battlefield tactician, seeking every option to avoid a potentially even more controversial partnership with Arab parties. For more than a decade, the ultra-Orthodox — many of whom reject secular jobs, military service and even the Zionist concept of a Jewish state — have backed the right wing led by Netanyahu in exchange for state financing of their seminaries and exemptions from the draft.

click here for more

Now, Eisenkot and his allies are exploring whether they could flip the support of the ultra-Orthodox, also called Haredi, by reaching a deal on military conscription. It is a politically risky move after the ex-general spent months on the campaign trail vowing to enlist Haredi men. Religious exemption from military service is one of the most divisive and emotional issues in Israeli society, especially after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, with the Israel Defense Forces and many families with service members saying they are stretched to a breaking point. As he accepted the mandate from Israeli President Isaac Herzog to form a new government on Sunday, Eisenkot reiterated that he would welcome the support and partnership of every parliamentary faction that accepts his four conditions, which include mandatory service for all. But he also hinted that compromises might be necessary. “We must form a national emergency government,” Eisenkot said in a speech at the president’s residence. “This will require creative and ?unconventional political steps.”

‘No business having a gun’: Some ICE recruits had a record of red flags

One officer in Detroit fired multiple shots at a fleeing teenage suspect, fatally striking him in the back in an incident that led to a $2.5 million settlement with his family. An Arkansas officer was castigated by his supervisor for showing “unreasonable anger” while on the job, and fired after his boss expressed concern about what he might do “when he faces a civilian who he feels has disrespected him.” Some officers went viral for embarrassing incidents, including a New York City detective who stole nearly $3,000 worth of high-end champagne at a music festival and a Mississippi officer who said under oath that he couldn’t remember core rights bestowed by the U.S. Constitution. All of them share one thing in common: They were later hired as federal immigration officers to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. The Trump administration has onboarded thousands of new officers in an accelerated recruitment effort that has bypassed traditional background checks in favor of quickly putting people onto the streets to arrest undocumented immigrants.

click here for more

In recent months, at least two of those hires were involved in shootings, including one that resulted in the death of a 25-year-old Colombian father. Some have been fired after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement discovered red flags in their backgrounds that initially went undetected. The names of the officers hired to scour residential streets, courthouses and airports have been shielded by the Department of Homeland Security, which cites privacy policies designed to protect them from harassment, even in incidents where they are involved in fatal use of force. But that cloak of anonymity was pierced in late October when activists hacked a DHS employee database and released information about thousands of workers, including about 1,500 ICE officers and agents hired since Trump took office in 2025. The Washington Post performed background checks on about 300 of the new hires using standard public record searches to uncover information. While most of the officers were chosen at random, others were selected for review after being flagged by artificial intelligence. The Post has verified the authenticity of the database with current and former DHS officials. The review offers the most comprehensive look yet at whom DHS hired when it urged people to apply to “defend the homeland” and offered a signing bonus of up to $50,000 for top recruits.

Exxon takes first step toward investing in Venezuela

ExxonMobil is moving forward in Venezuela. The U.S. oil giant signed a preliminary deal Monday to explore investments in Venezuela’s oil patch, negotiating a potential return to the country nearly two decades after its exit. In a 38-word statement that was sparse on details, the company said it signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate drilling opportunities with the Venezuelan government and its state-run oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela. It didn’t specify which oil fields the agreement covers but said it wants to see further progress on regulatory reform and other conditions necessary for a profitable investment. “This memorandum is a meaningful first step,” an Exxon spokesman said. “But any future investment would require stable policies, clear regulations, strong investment protections and competitive returns.”

click here for more

The Wall Street Journal reported in September that Exxon was closing in on a preliminary agreement to invest in a number of developed and undeveloped fields. At the time, the company was evaluating a deal that could encompass fields with more than 50 billion barrels of oil buried underground, according to a person familiar with the talks. Venezuela says it has some 300 billion barrels of proven reserves, which would be the largest in the world. Exxon sent teams to Caracas earlier this year to negotiate a possible deal after President Trump pushed American oil companies to plow $100 billion into the country to revitalize its energy sector. It had left Venezuela in 2007 after Hugo Chávez seized control of its oil assets there. As a result, the company has approached Venezuela with more caution than some of its smaller rivals. At a White House meeting in January, shortly after the U.S. ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Exxon CEO Darren Woods said Venezuela was “uninvestable” without significant changes to its commercial frameworks, legal system and hydrocarbon laws.

Fed Governor Waller sees December hike likely, opens door to possible half-point increase

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Tuesday the central bank needs to follow through on expectations for additional interest rate hikes or risk its credibility, even suggesting that a larger-than-usual half-percentage-point increase could be warranted in December. Speaking in London, the policymaker said he “is leaning toward” a rate increase in December even if the October inflation data comes in softer than expected — and would support “more robust action” if readings come in higher than forecast. “In that case, I believe a 50 basis point hike in the policy rate should be considered at the December meeting,” he said. “Hiking only 25 basis points would put our credibility at risk, a risk I am not eager to take.”

click here for more

Waller said Fed communications prior to and at the October meeting led markets already to price in additional rate hikes. Following through, Waller added, is what’s important, even if the hikes come intermittently. “When this communication is clear and credible, what really matters is that those hikes are eventually carried out — it is not necessary, for example, to raise rates at consecutive meetings,” he said. “If, however, the hikes are not carried out, markets will reduce expectations of rate hikes and rates will immediately fall, which would loosen monetary policy in an undesirable way.” Waller added that higher rates “will be needed, sooner rather than later.” “So, while the precise timing of the hikes doesn’t matter, ensuring that the promised hikes are implemented in a reasonable period of time does,” he said.

California voters reject Prop. 40 billionaire tax

Billionaires spent $378 million to defeat Prop. 40, exposing a rift among California Democrats on taxing the rich. California will not become the first state to levy a wealth tax on its richest residents — at least not this election. Voters rejected Proposition 40, a proposal to tax billionaires based on their net worth and financial holdings, by 52.8% to 47.2%, according to The Associated Press Monday. The measure had trailed behind for days before The Associated Press confirmed results. Leaders for Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, the union pushing the measure, seemed to concede the race minutes before the polls closed but vowed to try again in 2028 if California’s Legislature “fails to deliver a real solution” to fund healthcare hammered by recent federal law. “That’s not a hypothetical. That’s our plan,” said Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW.

click here for more

Election Day was projected to be an all-around defeat for the union, known for aggressively pursuing ballot measures. Voters defeated union-backed Proposition 44, an effort to control how clinics spend money. Proposition 42, a billionaire tax countermeasure prohibiting future wealth taxes, was leading Monday evening by 51.6% to 48.4%. That measure could get in the way of SEIU-UHW’s future plans to try taxing wealth again. The billionaire tax would have generated $100 billion for healthcare and education through a one-time, 5% tax on billionaires, according to SEIU-UHW. Opponents of the measure celebrated its defeat. “Proposition 40 was a reckless experiment conducted on our state’s economy with little regard for the harms it would cause,” according to a statement from Evan Westrop, a campaign strategist for No on Prop. 40. The opposition campaign, which was backed by wealthy tech investors and healthcare organizations, argued the measure had already driven billionaires from the state and permanently harmed income tax revenue. On Monday they said the state still faces “enormous pressure” to find other ways to fund healthcare hit by federal cuts.

Copyright November 10, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved