October 20, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Data centers are the focus of this Austin-area race for Texas Senate

Republican Charles Schwertner, an orthopedic surgeon, has represented Texas State Senate District 5 for more than a decade. In that time, the district, which is home to just over a million people across 11 counties, has seen explosive growth. Schwertner's hometown of Georgetown has seen its population nearly double from about 55,000 to about 107,000. Much of the region's economic growth has come in the form of data centers. Bastrop and Williamson counties, in particular, have seen an influx of these developments under Schwertner's watch, drawing disapproval from many residents. Schwertner's Democratic challenger in the Nov. 3 election, Paul Thomasson, is hoping that disapproval will cost the longtime Republican incumbent a fifth term in the Texas Senate.

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"I feel that the Republicans have been in power for over 30 years, and I feel that Austin has degenerated into billionaire governance where the billionaires get what they want and nobody else matters much," Thomasson, a retired pastor from College Station, said. "The billionaires wanted data centers, and they're forced down the throats of everybody in every county across Texas whether they want them or not." Thomasson's campaign website says one his goals is "NO MORE DATA CENTERS." In the absence of an outright ban on such developments, though, Thomasson said he would make sure to "tax" them. Currently, the state gives data centers more than $1 billion in tax breaks each year. Thomasson said he would also like to see local officials have more authority over the developments. "The people of the county have got to have a say and whether or not they're going to be brought in," he said. "Data centers raised everybody's electricity rates ... It lowers their property value. People ought to have a say about whether or not somebody can move next to them and do that." He believes data centers should have to pay for their own electricity and power infrastructure, as well as make an effort to conserve water.

Hinojosa sues to review confidential emails between Musk, Abbott

State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic candidate for Texas governor, is suing her gubernatorial opponent in order to review more than a thousand pages of communication between Greg Abbott’s office and Elon Musk’s representatives, which were deemed confidential due to their “embarrassing” and “intimate” nature. “Nobody here is accusing Greg Abbott of having a torrid love affair with Elon Musk,” said Hinojosa in front of the Travis County courthouse Monday morning. “What this is about is we have the world’s only trillionaire getting massive tax breaks from this governor after giving him over $500,000 in campaign contributions.” Abbott, after voting in Del Valle on Monday morning, called the suit an act of desperation from Hinojosa.

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“What Gina is trying to do more than anything else is to try to get attention for her and her campaign,” Abbott said to reporters. “This election has slipped through her hands and she doesn’t have any ability to do anything else other than to grasp at straws to get attention.” Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary, called the lawsuit baseless and said Hinojosa is abusing her official capacity as an outgoing lawmaker to generate headlines for political reasons. The suit was filed on the same day early voting for the midterms began. “The lawsuit is baseless and nothing more than an act of desperation,” Mahaleris said in a statement. “Texans see this for what it is: a political stunt.” The documents Hinojosa is after were part of a public records request filed by The Texas Newsroom in 2025. The governor’s office objected to releasing the communications on several grounds, including “the state’s competitive business interests, attorney-client privilege, and deliberative-process privilege,” according to Hinojosa’s lawsuit. In August 2025, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sustained the objections but directed the governor’s office to release some of the requested materials. The governor’s office produced 1,374 pages to the Texas Newsroom, but only around 200 pages were not redacted, according to the lawsuit. Hinojosa wrote a letter to the governor’s office on Sep. 29 requesting to review the redacted information and cited a Texas law that allows members of the legislature to review confidential documents for “legislative purposes.”

Republican National Committee, far richer than D.N.C., pumps $50 million into midterms

Taking advantage of a recent Supreme Court decision, the Republican National Committee is sending tens of millions of dollars to help the party’s midterm candidates. The long-awaited move adds to the G.O.P.’s considerable financial advantages, especially in Senate races, despite a tough political environment. The R.N.C., which entered September with an enormous $126 million on hand, told The New York Times that it was finishing moving more than $50 million to the groups overseeing the party’s efforts to elect House and Senate candidates. The cash infusion, significantly larger than what Republicans have done in the past, is something that the troubled and financially struggling Democratic National Committee is incapable of doing. The R.N.C. told The Times that it had transferred more than $44 million between mid-August and mid-October to the party’s main House and Senate committees. Many of those transfers will be disclosed for the first time in a campaign-finance filing on Tuesday evening.

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The cash was about evenly split between the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect House Republicans, and its Senate counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Committee. At least $6 million more is set to be sent to those two committees by Election Day, the committee said. The spending comes as Republicans play defense across the midterm map, devoting resources to states and districts that were once thought to be safely red as President Trump’s low approval ratings weigh on the party’s candidates. The R.N.C. has amassed its huge war chest in part thanks to an aggressive fund-raising effort by Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who has led the party’s finance operation. The party said it raised $18.5 million in September. By Oct. 14, R.N.C. officials said, its $126 million coffers had been drawn down to $76 million, a campaign-finance filing on Thursday will show. Transfers are not new. In the four most recent election cycles, the R.N.C. has transferred between $8 million and roughly $31 million to these party committees.

U.S. risks losing tech race without energy push, say former Trump, Biden officials

Former officials from the Trump, Biden and Obama administrations are warning that the U.S. is at risk of losing a technological and industrial race with China—unless it adopts a sweeping energy-permitting bill. The U.S. isn’t building energy infrastructure fast enough to remain globally competitive, the officials said in a letter to be sent Tuesday to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) Among others who signed the letter are former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served in the first Trump administration; former Biden-era Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen; and Stephen Miran, former Federal Reserve governor who was appointed by President Trump.

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China has made energy infrastructure central to its industrial strategy. By contrast, the U.S. faces lengthy delays in building the transmission lines and energy components needed to power the development of semiconductors, critical minerals and artificial intelligence, the officials argue. The letter was organized by Arnab Datta, director of policy implementation at the Institute for Progress, a think tank in Washington, D.C. “While the United States retains enormous advantages in technology, capital markets, attracting the world’s talent, entrepreneurship, and natural resources, those advantages matter less if a company cannot build a factory quickly enough to reach market or if the infrastructure required to power it takes five, ten, or fifteen years to plan and complete,” the letter said. Said Miran in an interview: “If we don’t have abundant cheap energy it’s just too expensive to manufacture here, and we’d be ceding a massive advantage to our competitors and adversaries” including China. The Senate last month announced legislation to speed up the permitting process that has long drawn complaints from energy developers. It proposes an overhaul of environmental rules, introduces changes aimed at strengthening the electric grid and mandates that data centers pay for all of their associated transmission costs.

State Stories

Texas continued permitting data centers after Abbott’s pause, report finds

Regulators in Texas did not stop processing permits for data center projects when Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a pause last month, according to an analysis of public records released Monday by the oil and gas watchdog group FracTracker. Amid an upswell of public opposition to the booming buildout of digital infrastructure in Texas, Abbott directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in a Sept. 21 letter “to halt all permits sought by data centers.” But FracTracker, in collaboration with Public Citizen, identified 35 permitting actions taken by the TCEQ for data center projects in subsequent weeks. “TCEQ has continued reviewing applications and issuing approvals that allow data center development to proceed,” the groups said in a press release Monday. “These actions do not signal an agency trying to pause.” Abbott’s office and the TCEQ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Abbott has described his moratorium on data center projects as an opportunity for state agencies to evaluate the facilities’ impact on water resources and grid stability. “No other state agency shall move forward with regulatory approvals related to data centers until this information is acquired,” Abbott wrote in his Sept. 21 letter to TCEQ executive director Kelly Keel. Since that letter, the TCEQ has fast-tracked or assigned engineers to 14 permits, approved stormwater coverage for 11, certified emissions estimates for seven and issued public notice for three, according to permitting documents collected by FracTracker and Public Citizen. The permits regard construction of gas power generation facilities for energy-hungry facilities. All of the largest gas power projects currently proposed in Texas are specifically intended to serve data centers, which are primarily planned to run artificial intelligence. The projects would release tens of thousands of tons of regulated pollutants, according to permitting documents, as well as more than 100 million tons per year of greenhouse gases—an enormous amount roughly equal to the annual emissions of a mid-sized industrialized country.

Early voting draws statewide candidates to ‘battleground’ Tarrant County ahead of Nov. 3

As early voting opened Monday, three of the four candidates at the top of the Texas midterms ballot rallied supporters in Fort Worth, emphasizing the importance of winning Tarrant County to win statewide office. Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Senate candidates Ken Paxton and James Talarico each made campaign stops in Fort Worth, while gubernatorial challenger Gina Hinojosa spent the first day of early voting in Austin and San Antonio. Each of the candidates who made it to Fort Worth were met by throngs of supporters, and each spoke to the key role Tarrant County plays in Texas politics. The candidates’ convergence on Fort Worth was far from coincidental; county leaders and political experts told the Fort Worth Report the attention from the top of the ticket demonstrates that both political parties see the county as pivotal in their success.

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“It shows what we’ve been saying throughout this campaign, that Tarrant County really is the battleground county for our state — how valuable, how important the votes are from here,” said Tim Davis, chair of the Tarrant County GOP. That sentiment was shared by Allison Campolo, chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, who said the candidates’ presence in Fort Worth showed both parties are aligned on the same goal: Tarrant. “It’s very clear to Republicans that they’re about to lose this county. And when they lose this county, they can’t hold on to very much power outside of that. It’ll be very hard for them to hold on to Texas,” Campolo said. “And so they’re sending all their top guns to this county — not just today, but all the days leading up to it.” Tarrant is the largest Republican-held county in Texas. Long seen as a GOP stronghold, the county’s political makeup has in recent years shifted closer to the center, as voters narrowly supported Democratic candidates at the top of the ballot in the 2018 midterms and 2020 presidential elections. In the months leading up to early voting, Republican candidates from the top of the ballot to the bottom have spoken candidly of their concern that Tarrant County could flip blue in November. In his 2024 reelection bid, President Donald Trump won Tarrant County with 51.82% of votes. But a runoff election in January to fill Tarrant County’s then-vacant Texas Senate seat showed the county is still up for grabs, as Democrat Taylor Rehmet won by 14 percentage points in the district Trump carried by 17 points.

If you voted in Harris County on Monday, you're part of a new record

If you voted today on the first day of early voting in Harris County, you were part of a record-breaking crowd. According to Harris County Elections, a new record for turnout for a midterm election was set on Monday, and it didn’t even take a full day to do it. According to a post from the county, there were more than 70,000 voters who had been processed by 3:30 p.m. So with 3.5 hours left in the day, it broke the previous high, which was 63,188, set in 2018. At around 9 p.m., we got the overall unofficial totals for the day. All-in, the county reported 129,454 voters total. That includes 104,660 in-person voters on Monday, as well as 24,794 mail ballots received.

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Border wall ‘man camps’ have rapidly spread across the Big Bend with little state oversight.

Driving south to Terlingua on Highway 118 in the Big Bend region of West Texas, it’s customary to see old abandoned cars, wandering donkeys, sun-faded buildings and wide-open vistas in between. But this past summer, locals got an unexpected new neighbor — a sprawling, dusty “man camp” facility designed to house as many as 200 border wall construction workers. “?It kinda looked like the little cottage mining industry we have here, but then they just kept bulldozing and it became something monstrous,” said Emily Greenwood, a resident of the mostly off-grid Terlingua Ranch community, who owns land next to to the development. Construction on the man camp stirred up dust and made way for dozens of RVs, fuel storage tanks, water tanks, storage containers, trucks, industrial lights and heavy machinery, all patrolled by armed security guards. Greenwood, a veteran who plans to start a native plant nursery on her land, said she worried about getting Valley Fever from all the dust the man camp was generating — a lung infection caused by a soil fungus present throughout the Southwest.

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She noticed the site lacked public postings about its permits, leading her to file formal complaints with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the agency tasked with protecting public health and managing the state’s natural resources. The man camp’s intended residents would work for Southwest Valley Constructors, a New Mexico firm awarded a $1.7 billion no-bid contract to build border barriers and patrol roads within Big Bend National Park. In total, the Trump administration is planning five separate border barrier projects across the region — the least trafficked along the entire southwest border — for over $7 billion. For residents and tourists, the area man camps have become a constant reminder of the wildly unpopular project that many fear will amount to the destruction of some of the state’s most pristine public and private lands. Construction on border walls and other infrastructure across the Big Bend region has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge, who also blocked the Trump administration’s use of federal regulatory waivers allowing the Department of Homeland Security to bypass dozens of environmental, cultural resource protection and public health laws to speed up the project. The Trump administration has asked the judge overseeing the case to allow construction to continue as the legal fight plays out, and indicated it may ultimately try to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The regulatory waivers are crucial to President Trump’s broader push to wall off the entire U.S.-Mexico border, an effort funded by $46.5 billion from Congress. Trump administration lawyers have staunchly defended the border plans for the Big Bend region in court, arguing in one recent filing that Congress gave the head of DHS the “specific authority to waive any legal requirement necessary to ensure expeditious construction.”

Dallas ISD pulls books after Dan Patrick library warning

Last month, Maya Madabhushi walked into the library at Sudie L. Williams Talented and Gifted Academy and found the librarian on the verge of tears. The librarian was labeling and boxing up a stack of books pulled from the Dallas ISD middle school library’s shelves. She explained the books had to be removed because of new state rules around school library collections. She suggested Maya and her friends might like to check out a few of them before she sent them away. Maya, a seventh grader, looked through the stack. Some of them were by two of her favorite authors, Tahereh Mafi and Rick Riordan. Others were longtime favorites among middle school readers, such as Gary Paulsen’s “Hatchet” and Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Many of them had themes related to racial justice or LGBTQ relationships, Maya said.

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Maya returned to class. During her next period, she rounded up a few of her friends, and they headed back to the library, where they looked through the stacks. Maya checked out eight books. Some of her friends took a dozen or more. Dallas ISD pulled those books, and hundreds of others, for review in the wake of an August news conference in which Lt. Gov Dan Patrick threatened to crack down on libraries that have “vulgar” titles in their collections. After review, some books may return to the library. Others may be moved to another grade level or removed entirely. In the meantime, the books sit in a district service center off Akard Street in the Cedars neighborhood. “Honestly, it was so heartbreaking to see those books just being taken away,” Maya said. A year after Texas lawmakers passed a bill giving parents and school boards a bigger role in deciding what books are included on library shelves, some policymakers are looking to further limit what they describe as obscene material in schools. Free speech advocates and parents say pressure from officials in Austin is leading districts to pull books from libraries, cutting off students’ access to thousands of literary works.

Some East Central ISD voters got incomplete ballots today. Bexar County blames it on state-run elections system.

On the first day of early voting, East Central Independent School District reported ballot discrepancies involving a tax proposition that would give the district more money from taxpayers. In a mass email to the press on Monday afternoon, district officials said some East Central voters reported not seeing the measure, titled Proposition A, on their ballot, instead seeing an item from a different school district. Bexar County spokesperson John Moreno confirmed the discrepancy and said it’s related to the Texas Election Administration Management system, the state’s central platform to manage voter registrations and elections. The TEAM system caused a massive registration backlog last year that left voters without a new voter registration card before the March primary. Bexar County plans to part ways with the system in January.

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“I can confirm this has been resolved for Bexar County and affected less than 1% of our eligible voters,” Moreno said. County officials say the problem did not affect mail-in ballots. For voters who have already cast their votes today, the ballots will be accepted as they are, and voters cannot receive replacement ballots if they have already cast their vote. East Central ISD’s Prop A would only appear on the ballot of voters registered inside the district’s boundaries, and this type of measure would appear near the bottom of the ballot, which is already packed with a buzzy Senate and gubernatorial race, statewide elections, county races and more. East Central ISD specifically highlighted discrepancies in voting precincts 4071, 4087, and 4151, which are near the towns of Schertz and St. Hedwig. Voters in Bexar County can vote at any polling location and find all their applicable races on their ballot. The district is advising voters who have already cast their ballots and believe Proposition A was incorrectly omitted to contact the Texas Secretary of State at 1-800-252-8683 or elections@sos.texas.gov. All residents within East Central ISD boundaries may also file a complaint with the Texas Secretary of State, regardless of whether they have already voted.

In seventh in-custody death this year, Tarrant County inmate, 41, dies at hospital

A 41-year-old woman who was an inmate of the Tarrant County Jail died on Sunday, Oct. 18, at a Fort Worth hospital, six days after she was booked, according to the county sheriff’s office. The inmate, whom the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office said was Broshundrick McNeal, was booked into custody on Oct. 12 after she was arrested by the Fort Worth Police Department on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of marijuana, and resisting arrest, search or transport. Due to various medical conditions, McNeal was assigned upon booking to the jail’s medical observation area, according to the sheriff’s office. She was under the care of medical personnel until she was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital.

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The medical examiner’s office has not released the cause or manner of McNeal’s death, which occurred about 2:15 a.m. There have been seven in-custody deaths at the sheriff’s office this year, according to county records. An eighth person died in June after being taken to JPS, but his death is not included in the count because he had been released from custody before his death, according to the sheriff’s office. All in-custody deaths are reviewed and investigated by Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office jail staff, the TCSO Criminal Investigations Division, an outside law enforcement agency, JPS Medical Staff, The Texas Commission on Jail Standards, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office and the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

‘Bexar County is the future’: Why both parties are making San Antonio a top priority in this election

In the final days of the 2026 midterm election, state and national figures are swarming San Antonio to rev up local voters who could play an outsized role in a pivotal election. Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico‘s statewide campaign tour will make its last stop here on Nov. 1 — the day before Republican nominee Ken Paxton is ending his 30-stop bus tour at the Alamo. President Donald Trump rallied here earlier this month, weeks after U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) visited a Southside VFW.

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The moves come as two Democrats viewed as potential 2028 presidential contenders are helping San Antonio-area congressional candidates, and Johnson’s Democratic counterpart, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) will campaign here on Sunday. No part of the country has seen a greater political swing than South Texas in recent years, where Trump set a high-water mark when carrying the state by 13.5% in 2024. Now the GOP hopes to continue that trend to win a number of redrawn congressional districts this cycle — despite poll after poll showing Republicans struggling to hold onto Trump’s coalition. Nowhere is that dynamic on greater display than Texas’ 35th Congressional District, which was drawn to favor a Republican, but could now determine who holds the keys to the speaker’s office next year. “Leaders from across Congress and across the country are all watching what happens right here in this district,” Johnson told supporters at a San Antonio VFW Post in August. “This district is the whole enchilada.”

Longtime St. David's HealthCare CEO to retire

One of Central Texas's longtime healthcare leaders is preparing to pass the torch. St. David's HealthCare announced CEO and president David Huffstutler will retire in March 2027, setting off a nationwide search for the major employer's next top executive. "Leading St. David's HealthCare has been the greatest privilege of my career," Huffstutler said in a statement. "Together, we have grown to meet the needs of a rapidly changing Central Texas while never losing sight of what matters most: providing exceptional care to every patient every day." The shakeup will mark a major change for the Austin-area's fourth largest employer. According to the announcement, St. David's employs 13,200 people within the region.

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Retirement will cap off over four decades' worth of healthcare leadership roles for Huffstutler. Since taking the healthcare system's reins in February 2011, he has overseen St. David's jump from 60 care sites to over 200 Central Texas facilities, including nine hospitals and 13 emergency centers. Last year, Huffstutler told the ABJ that St. David's was focused on providing smaller, more focused facilities in some of the metro's booming regions. Part of that aim included adding more freestanding emergency room and urgent care facilities in medically underserved areas. Just a couple months ago, it acquired 14 urgent care centers throughout the Austin metro, which will operate as St. David's CareNow Urgent Care clinics. The company also recently started construction on its $20.5 million emergency center in Kyle and has initiated the $180 million expansion of its South Austin Medical Center. St. David's is also planning on a new Leander hospital and more expansions for local existing facilities. HCA Healthcare, a national hospital operating partner for St. David's, plans on announcing Huffstutler's successor in the coming months. He will maintain his posts at both St. David's and as president of HCA Healthcare's Central and West Texas Division through next March.

U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz promises consequences for illegal voting

On the first day of early voting, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Aaron Reitz promised to go after voters who violate federal election law in his division. “I will hunt you down and prosecute you,” Reitz said in a video shared on social media Monday. He spoke directly to the camera, with an image of President Donald Trump behind him and a Bible to his side. The message had a dark tone ahead of what is expected to be an unusually close election cycle in Texas, with Democrats leading or within striking distance in several statewide races. Reitz emphasized in the address that “American elections are for Americans only.” A former deputy to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Reitz helped represent Republicans trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

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Before he was appointed this year by the Trump administration to serve as U.S. attorney in Houston, Reitz repeatedly accused the Democratic Party of rigging elections and said they will try to do so in the 2028 presidential race. “Dems have rigged and stolen votes for decades because they despise voters and loathe America,” he wrote on X in January, when he was one of several GOP candidates for Texas attorney general. He ultimately lost the Republican primary. Ahead of Monday’s video, Reitz told The New York Times that he would “muster all of my legal and law enforcement troops to ensure that federal law is upheld” in the 2026 election. But he also acknowledged that elections are primarily a state matter, according to the Times. In the video, Reitz said he was dispatching civil and criminal District Election Officers to key polling locations to guarantee election compliance. It’s a common practice for Election Day; during the 2022 midterm election, former President Joe Biden’s DOJ sent monitors to 24 states.

How Hutto landed Blue Origin, and what it means for the boomtown northeast of Austin

After a decade of missing out on Tesla Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Toyota Motor Corp., among others, Hutto economic development director Cheney Gamboa acknowledged there's a sense of relief in landing Blue Origin? Enterprises LP. "It's no secret that Hutto has been in the finals for so many big projects. It feels really good to win this one and bring it home," Gamboa said. Jeff Bezos' space company made official earlier this month what's been in the works for the last year: Blue Origin is headed to Hutto, where it plans to invest a minimum of $550 million and create at least 2,000 jobs in a 1.3 million-square-foot manufacturing facility it's calling "Constellation Park." The company – which recently disclosed a pre-money valuation of $130 billion – is already moving into two buildings at Hutto Crossing at 148 Parker Way.

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Now that it's public, those involved in courting Blue Origin pulled back the veil on how one of the country's largest companies ended up in Hutto. The deal represents one of the region's largest economic development wins of the last half-decade, alongside Samsung? Electronics Co. Ltd. in nearby Taylor and Tesla in eastern Travis County. It started with a request for information codenamed "Project Blue Hub." It evolved into weekend calls, in-person site visits and incentives talks that sealed the deal over competition from Alabama and Florida. It ultimately means the most for Hutto, a city that until now was best known for its hippo mascot. Blue Origin is expected to quickly become the largest private-sector employer in the boomtown that has swelled to 43,000 people — up from 28,000 five years ago — about 35 miles northeast of Austin. City and regional leaders are brimming with excitement about what it means long-term – even if there's more traffic. "People don't see a lot of what it takes to win a project like this," Gamboa said. "But I always reiterate to people that I live here, so I am only going to advocate for a project that I wholeheartedly think is good for this community for the long-term. I recognize concerns. I probably share a majority of them. But this is going to be really good for Hutto for a long, long time, and I'm excited to celebrate with the community various milestones that are yet to come with this project."

As Texas cities pull back on Flock cameras, one Houston man wants more

Fred Woods understands why so many people object to Flock cameras in their community, but his northeast Houston neighborhood has constant problems with drug dealing, vandalism and illegal dumping – and he thinks the cameras can help. “If these can do something about that and bring a sense of security, we need it,” Woods said. While many others want to remove the cameras along Houston streets, Woods wants more of them. Standing at the corner of Homestead and Hopper roads, in the shadow of the community’s one Flock camera, Woods – former president of the local civic club and an active member of several Northwood Manor community groups – can point down the street and recount when the church to the south was burglarized, then north to a vacant market that is now an illegal dumping ground.

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Then there is the fence just behind him, dented yet again from when someone driving too fast missed the turn at Hopper and cruised head-on into the iron railing. Three more streets have the same issue – along with problems related to speeding, people fleeing from petty crimes and other situations where police can only do so much and respond after the incident, Woods said. The camera close to Woods and many others are in peril as communities reevaluate their contracts with Flock and other companies. Local and state leaders have turned hundreds off in Texas as concerns about privacy prompt their shutdown. Gov. Greg Abbott rescinded state funding for cameras, including more than 200 in Houston, while cities surrounding Houston and portions of Harris County have covered up their cameras or voided the contracts altogether. Critics note the cameras are always lurking, looking and recording. Woods’ reply is that is exactly what they are meant to do.

Post-Prairieland: How Dallas activism has changed since the detention center shooting

Many Dallas activists still stand with the group of protesters sentenced to a collective 556 years in prison for their participation in a protest-turned-shooting at the Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado. The DFW Support Committee, which has nearly 12,000 Instagram followers, often hosts letter-writing events and fundraisers for defendants’ legal fees. Benjamin Song, who also went by the name Champagne and is serving a sentence of 100 years for multiple charges stemming from the incident, including attempted murder, had immense influence on activism in Dallas, specifically militant activism. While support remains strong, militant activism circles feel the loss of influential members and are seeing changes in participation and safety.

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“Before, whenever Champagne wasn’t arrested, the John Brown Gun Club was still active, and the Socialist Rifle Association was still active; it was safe,” a local militant activist who goes by the name Doberman said. “There was no self-policing of a community and everyone could voice their anger, voice their frustrations. “Now, after the Prairieland incident occurred, any type of militancy, whether it’s body armor, firearms, even med kits […] people see that and think ‘that person is preparing for violence,’” she added. On July 4, 2025, a group of North Texas activists went to protest at the Prairieland Detention Center, where more than 1,000 people had been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and were awaiting deportation. A report of a break-in prompted Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross to respond. He drove toward the facility gates and saw a figure dressed in black running away. Gross got out of the car, yelled for them to stop, and drew his firearm. Then he was shot by Benjamin Song. Ten people were in custody within 24 hours of what law enforcement was calling a planned attack on the detention center. After an 11-day manhunt, Song was tracked to an apartment in North Dallas and arrested on July 15, 2025. Song was sentenced to 100 years in prison, and others received 30 years or more for their role in the incident.

National Stories

Democrats pump $500K into Oklahoma governor's race as map expands further into red territory

The Democratic Governors Association announced Tuesday it is investing half a million dollars to flip the governor’s mansion in Oklahoma — a state the president won by 34 points in 2024. The race between Republican former state Sen. Mike Mazzei and Democratic state Rep. Cyndi Munson is a statistical tie, according to recent polls. That includes an internal Munson poll from Workbench Strategy obtained by POLITICO, showing Mazzei has an edge but within the margin of error. The investment marks an unusually aggressive Democratic play in one of the nation’s deepest-red strongholds and underscores how wide a field Democrats are playing in the final stretch of the midterms. The last Democrat to win the governor’s race was Brad Henry in 2006, but Democrats are betting that the relatively small investment in what is shaping up to be a big Democratic year could be enough to spur an enormous upset. They argue their dollars will stretch further than they do in other states, helping Munson blanket the airwaves with both digital and TV ads.

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“Cyndi Munson is a great candidate who has put Oklahoma on the map by running a strong, aggressive, grassroots campaign focused on what Oklahomans care about,” said DGA spokesperson Kevin Donahoe, adding that the DGA believes Munson is “in a strong position” to win. The investment also spotlights yet another Trump-backed Republican winning a bitter primary only to struggle in the general election — a vivid example of why many in the party have been nervous about the president putting his finger on the scale. Trump also picked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and businessman Anthony Constantino for a New York House seat. Both are now struggling in places Trump won easily two years ago. Trump endorsed Mazzei in the August GOP primary runoff over state Attorney General Gentner Drummond, but three Republicans familiar with the Oklahoma governor’s race, granted anonymity to candidly discuss the contest, framed Mazzei as a weaker-than-average candidate.

Democratic super PAC hammers GOP over trans bathroom focus

A Democratic super PAC is hammering Republicans over their focus on transgender issues as GOP candidates in battleground races invoke culture war issues against their Democratic opponents in the final stretch of the midterm cycle. Progress Action Fund released a new ad on Tuesday, first shared with The Hill and part of an ad buy worth more than $1 million, that portrays a generic Republican congressman tasked with checking whether girls are using a bathroom that aligns with their biological sex. In the 30-second ad called “Republicans In Your Bathroom,” a girl walks into a bathroom stall, screaming when she realizes a GOP congressman is waiting in the stall for her. “I’m your Republican congressman,” the generic lawmaker says to the girl after she asks what he’s doing in the stall. “Now that we’re in charge, I’m checking to make sure there’s no trans people in the wrong bathroom.”

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“Bathrooms are private. Don’t you have anything better to do?” she asks. “I won the last election, and this is my priority,” the lawmaker replies. “Now, let’s make sure you’re really a girl.” The ad is scheduled to air on connected TV and streaming services in Texas and Ohio two weeks out from Election Day. Both states are home to competitive Senate and House races that will determine the majorities in both chambers. “Americans want their elected officials to lower gas prices and end the war in Iran, not follow them into the f–king restroom,” Progress Action Fund executive director Joe Jacobson said in a statement. “Republicans are creepy as hell. Democrats need to grow a spine and call Republicans out for their creepy fetish of monitoring children’s bathrooms.” Republican candidates have leaned into transgender issues, particularly the debate into whether transgender girls and women can play on sports teams that align with their gender identity, as a major attack line against Democrats.

Christiane Amanpour leaving CNN after 43 years

Longtime CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour, who began as an entry-level assistant and rose to become one of the most visible correspondents and anchors on TV, reporting from war zones and hot spots for decades, will be leaving the network after 43 years. Amanpour, the network’s chief international anchor, will scale back her daily show, “Amanpour,” on CNN International to once a week at the beginning of 2027, and end it in May, leaving the network the following month. She said in a statement Monday that she looks forward to “interesting new projects down the line.” Amanpour, 68, also will end her PBS show, “Amanpour & Co,” at the end of the year, she said in her statement, shared by CNN. She will continue her podcast, “The Ex Files,” with her ex-husband, Jamie Rubin, a former U.S. diplomat.

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“After many months of thought and a few sleepless nights, I have decided to separate from CNN, my partner of 43 fantastic years!” Amanpour said. She added she would “always be rooting for CNN and maintaining its history of independent journalism. Remember: Always be truthful, not neutral.” Amanpour did not give a reason for her departure, nor did she specifically mention changes at her network. But her exit coincides with a new era at CNN as it comes under a new owner, Skydance. After a yearlong process, Skydance-owned Paramount closed its $81 billion buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery on Oct. 6. The merger unites under one roof two giants in TV news — CBS and CNN. On a personal front, Amanpour has spoken openly about her 2021 diagnosis of ovarian cancer and two later recurrences, calling it “the invisible killer.” She has urged others to “get all the scans that you can.” Amanpour joined CNN as an assistant in Atlanta in 1983. In his own message Monday, CNN’s chief executive, Mark Thompson, wrote that at the time, her promise was not universally appreciated. “Famously, one of her bosses told her back then that she didn’t have what it took to become a foreign correspondent — or to hold any on-air role at all,” Thompson wrote. “Boy, did she prove him wrong!”

Alberta rejects secession referendum, chooses to remain part of Canada

The oil-rich province of Alberta has rejected the pathway to secession and will remain part of Canada, landing a definitive blow to a fringe but loud campaign which sought support from the US. About three quarters of voters chose to stay in Canada, while one quarter opted to hold a second vote on separation later as of early Tuesday local time, with roughly 45% of polls reporting, according to unofficial results posted by the province. Monday’s result comes amid a rising tide of patriotism and unity in Canada as the country has rallied against US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats.

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The Alberta independence campaign, a grassroots effort led by a handful of vocal separatists, was amplified heavily online, and some of its leaders had met with members of Trump’s administration. The vote had faced concerns of possible foreign interference after Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail reported Republican operatives had assisted top separatist leaders with their independence bid. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the vote to remain means that “Albertans and all Canadians will move forward together with renewed purpose and high ambition” in a statement posted to X early Tuesday. Thomas Lukaszuk, former Alberta politician and founder of the pro-unity Forever Canadian movement, said the result would send a strong message to Trump: “Canada is not up for grabs.” “We are a solid country that’s united from coast to coast to coast and we stick up for each other,” Lukaszuk told a cheering crowd as the results came in.

One in three Americans back second execution attempt after failed one, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

One-third ?of Americans think the government should try a second time to put a convicted criminal to death if ?a first execution attempt fails, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted after a botched lethal injection in Tennessee. The four-day poll, completed on Monday, showed 39% of respondents thought the government should instead allow convicts to serve life in prison following a failed execution, while 26% were not sure which was a better ?approach. The nationwide survey found minority public support for trying again to execute inmates who survive execution attempts, a question Tennessee now ?faces after Christa Pike, 50, survived two lethal injection attempts last month in Nashville.

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The convicted murderer was ?taken to a hospital unconscious following the attempted execution, critically ill and with severe arm injuries after two syringes of ?the caustic barbiturate pentobarbital failed to kill her, marking Tennessee's second botched lethal injection this year. She did not regain consciousness until five ?days later. Most countries around the world, along with 23 US states, have abolished capital punishment. Those US states that still impose it have struggled in recent years to obtain execution drugs, and some have considered other methods, including firing squads. A slight majority of Americans — 55% — continue to support capital punishment for people convicted ?of the most serious crimes, down from 63% who said in a 2017 Reuters/Ipsos poll that they supported the policy. Some 31% of ?respondents in the latest poll said they opposed the death penalty, while 13% either did not know or did not answer the question. The issue ?has ?taken on new significance as courts consider whether states can make a second execution attempt after a failed one.

Noah Adams, longtime host of NPR's All Things Considered, has died

Noah Adams, a writer, broadcaster, and storyteller who hosted All Things Considered for 18 years, has died. Adams died Friday at his home in Yellow Springs, Ohio, according to his wife, Neenah Ellis. He was 84. He guided listeners through major events like Ronald Reagan's landslide electoral victories, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the September 11 terrorist attacks. But to the people who worked alongside him in the newsroom, Adams' journalism shone through in the softer features he reported. Adams would ride trains across the country, or spend days in small towns talking to whoever he came across. He'd ask questions. He'd listen. He'd write down notes and observations. And then he'd produce long, thoughtful radio pieces that helped listeners understand and appreciate the world a little bit better.

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"He was always observing," recalled Melissa Block, who produced pieces alongside Adams for years before hosting All Things Considered herself. "He would have a little reporter's notebook and he would be taking notes in shorthand. His writing is almost illegible – it would just be the vaguest sketches of things. But somehow, when we came back, he would capture the character of a place or a person or a town in the most vivid, rich, simple language. It was a complete picture based on his unbelievable powers of observation." Adams, who was born in Kentucky, came to NPR in the mid-1970s, when the network was still new, and still figuring things out. He was private — intensely private — but told people he'd bopped around a series of jobs before falling into radio. He worked construction. He sold cars, as he recounted once in an on-air essay. In 1972, he started working at the public radio station at the University of Kentucky. Three years later, he applied for a job as a production assistant on All Things Considered. For years, the show's staff has begun each morning with a long meeting about the day's news, and what should and should not be included in the two-hour broadcast. Like all meetings, it can be rote or boring, and many staffers can, at times, view it with some cynicism.

JD Vance declines to endorse Netanyahu for reelection

Vice President JD Vance declined Monday to endorse Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection a day after President Donald Trump endorsed the embattled Israeli leader. “The president has the most influential endorsement in American or international political history,” Vance said during an interview with journalist Mark Halperin. “I endorse American candidates, and that’s where I’m focused on the midterms,” Vance said, while traveling Monday to campaign for Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley of North Carolina. “So, I’m not getting involved in Israeli elections.” Vance has campaigned for a foreign leader — then-Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, last spring before the right-wing leader’s party lost that country’s parliamentary election.

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Vance’s deference to Trump on Netanyahu comes at an extraordinarily sensitive time for Jewish Americans and the U.S. alliance with Israel. Concerns about antisemitism have surged across the political spectrum ahead of the midterm elections. Republicans have been eager to portray Democrats, notably Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, as hostile toward Jews and Israel, while they deal with their own internal schisms. Vance has faced skepticism from Jewish Republicans about his commitment to Jewish Americans and the U.S. alliance with Israel. Last month, Vance spoke privately in Las Vegas to the Republican Jewish Coalition, a leading GOP group committed to advocating for a strong U.S. relationship with Israel and against antisemitism. Vance left a positive impression on his RJC audience while stopping short of disavowing influential conservative podcast host Tucker Carlson.

Copyright October 20, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved