January 22, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Inside Trump’s head-spinning Greenland and tariffs u-turn

When President Trump arrived in the snow-covered Swiss Alps on Wednesday afternoon, European leaders were panicking that his efforts to acquire Greenland would trigger a trans-Atlantic conflagration. By the time the sun set, Trump had backed down. The about-face followed days of back-channel conversations between Trump, his advisers and European leaders, including NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, according to people close to the talks. The Europeans, who stood united in their opposition to Trump acquiring Greenland, employed a mix of enticements, such as offers to boost Arctic security, and warnings, including about the dangers to the U.S. of a deeper rupture in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. After a meeting with Rutte on Wednesday, Trump called off promised tariffs on European nations, contending that he had “formed the framework of a future deal” with respect to the largest island in the world.

click here for more

The exact contours of the framework are still in flux, but negotiations are expected to center on several areas, according to officials in Europe familiar with the discussions. They include a potential U.S. agreement with Denmark about stationing forces at bases in Greenland and expanded European efforts to boost security around the Arctic. The U.S. could receive a right of first refusal on investments in Greenland’s mineral resources—a veto aimed at preventing Russia and China from tapping the island’s wealth—and in exchange Trump would take tariff threats off the table, the officials said. Speaking to reporters, Trump called the framework “really fantastic,” but offered few details. He said he assumes Denmark, which controls Greenland, had been informed about the potential deal. The White House declined to comment on the details of the proposed framework and a Trump administration official said the scope of the negotiations hadn’t been set in stone. “If this deal goes through, and President Trump is very hopeful it will, the United States will be achieving all of its strategic goals with respect to Greenland, at very little cost, forever,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

Ahead of this weekend's freeze, Texans are asking: Where's Ted Cruz?

Ahead of an Arctic blast forecast to bring plunging temperatures, "hazardous cold" and ice to areas across Texas this weekend, some Texans are asking a familiar question: Where is Sen. Ted Cruz? The Texas senator faced heavy backlash in 2021 after constituents discovered he had flown to Cancun for a family vacation during a devastating winter storm that left an estimated 246 people dead and most of the state without power. So when an eagle-eyed X user spotted Cruz on a flight to Laguna Beach, Calif., on Tuesday, attention quickly turned to whether history might be repeating itself.

click here for more

Is the senator fleeing the storm for sunnier climes once again? Not the case, a spokesperson for Cruz confirmed to the Statesman. "Senator Cruz is currently on pre-planned work travel that was scheduled weeks in advance," the spokesperson said in a statement. "He will be back in Texas before the storm is projected to hit." Cruz returned early from his Cancun trip in 2021 after widespread criticism, saying at the time that he initially planned to “work remotely” but reconsidered as the situation worsened. "From the moment I sat on the plane, I begin really second-guessing that decision," Cruz said after his return to Texas. "As it became a bigger and bigger firestorm, it became all the more compelling that I needed to come back."

Trump 2.0 shakes up K Street power balance

President Donald Trump has upended business as usual in Washington, and the lobbying industry is no exception. The District’s reigning lobbying firm from 2024, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, was dethroned in 2025 by Ballard Partners, the firm run by Trump ally Brian Ballard that counts White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Attorney General Pam Bondi among its alumni. Ballard Partners made more than $87.6 million in 2025, according to a NOTUS analysis of federal lobbying disclosures — a more than 350% increase from the $19.3 million in federal lobbying revenue it earned in 2024. No lobbying firm has ever cracked $80 million in federal revenue in one year until Ballard Partners did last year.

click here for more

“We are exceptionally honored to be in the company of the many respected firms we have long admired. Our success is due to the tireless work of our partners and staff who go above and beyond every day to deliver results for our outstanding clients,” Brian Ballard, president of Ballard Partners, said in a statement to NOTUS. Some on K Street are skeptical that a Trump-tied firm can sustain its momentum if Republicans lose control of the House or Senate later this year, and certainly, if they lose the White House in 2028. But Ballard said the firm is “doggedly committed to growing a fiercely bipartisan firm that is built to thrive in Washington’s dynamic political environment for decades to come.” Bipartisan firms have been able to absorb much of the shock of the transition from the Biden administration to Trump’s second term. Several lobbying firms that thrived in 2025 are Republican-only, though. CGCN, a Republican firm filled with former Trump administration alumni, nearly doubled its federal lobbying revenue from $9.7 million in 2024 to more than $18.9 million in 2025.

Abbott endorses challenger against incumbent Ag Commissioner Sid Miller

Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday endorsed Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller's Republican primary challenger, initiating a rare intraparty dustup with an entrenched incumbent who has strong ties to President Donald Trump. Abbott, who is seeking a record fourth term and is heavily favored in the upcoming primary, said on social media that he is backing political newcomer Nate Sheets, because he is "committed to fighting for the best interests of Texas agriculture, upholding the rule of law, and restoring integrity" to the office Miller has held since 2015.

click here for more

"Texans deserve an Agriculture Commissioner who is focused on promoting Texas Agriculture, with zero tolerance for criminality," Abbott said in the post. "Nate Sheets is the true conservative champion for the job and is the leader we need to keep Texas the global powerhouse in agriculture." Miller, who was elected agriculture commissioner the same year Abbott won his first race for governor, has proven to be both a colorful and controversial statewide officeholder. He has been a champion of the Texas hemp industry and pushed back against Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's full-court press to ban products containing THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis that is derived from hemp. Last year, Miller rehired his longtime friend and political aide Todd Smith shortly after Smith pleaded guilty to commercial bribery charges that he’d solicited tens of thousands from farmers seeking licenses to grow hemp in the state. It's unclear if Abbott's statement was a reference to the incident.

State Stories

Cuban detainee in El Paso ICE facility died by homicide, autopsy shows

A Cuban immigrant’s death in an El Paso detention center this month was ruled a homicide, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday by the county medical examiner’s office. The detainee, Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, became unresponsive while he was physically restrained by law enforcement on Jan. 3 at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility called Camp East Montana, the report said. Emergency medical workers tried to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The autopsy listed the cause of death as “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.” The report also described injuries Mr. Lunas Campos had sustained to his head and neck, including burst blood vessels in the front and side of the neck, as well as on his eyelids.

click here for more

The determination by the medical examiner’s office does not necessarily indicate criminal culpability. It is a classification of how a person died, not a legal determination of guilt. Mr. Lunas Campos’s death has brought renewed scrutiny to the detention center this month after The Washington Post reported the episode last week. His family has asserted that he was killed by the facility’s guards, citing a witness who said he saw guards choking Mr. Lunas Campos to death. The family is preparing a wrongful-death lawsuit, according to their lawyer, Will Horowitz. “He was being abused and beaten and choked to death,” Jeanette Pagan Lopez, the mother of two of Mr. Lunas Campos’s children, told The New York Times last week. On Wednesday, Ms. Pagan Lopez said she had not yet seen the autopsy report. Federal officials have offered a different account of how Mr. Lunas Campos died. In a Jan. 9 news release, they said he died on Jan. 3 after experiencing medical distress, but after the Washington Post article published, they described his death as a suicide.

Jury acquits former Uvalde school officer in first criminal trial tied to Robb Elementary shooting

A Nueces County jury on Wednesday acquitted former Uvalde CISD police officer Adrian Gonzales of all charges in the first criminal trial tied to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers. As the verdict was read, several family members of the victims sat in silence, visibly emotional, some covering their faces as they wiped away tears. “It’s been an emotional roller coaster since day one. We prepared for the worst,” said Javier Cazares, who lost his 9-year-old daughter, Jackie, in the shooting. “We had a little hope, but it wasn’t enough.”

click here for more

Jesse Rizo, the uncle of Jackie Cazares, said he respected the jury’s decision but believes it sends a troubling message to law enforcement in future situations. “If you’re an officer, you can stand by, stand down, and do nothing while people are executed, killed, slaughtered, massacred,” Rizo said. “Is that the message you sent today?” The verdict ends the first attempt to hold a law enforcement officer criminally responsible for the delayed police response to the massacre, in which nearly 400 officers waited more than an hour to confront the gunman. Prosecutors had argued Gonzales, one of the first officers on scene, failed to act quickly enough to stop or delay the shooter. Defense attorneys said Gonzales never saw the gunman and acted reasonably given the limited information available to him at the time. During closing arguments earlier Wednesday, attorneys on both sides told jurors their verdict would send a message to law enforcement officers across Texas — though they disagreed sharply on what that message should be.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board: Taylor Rehmet for Senate District 9

Everything about the special election for a Tarrant County seat in the Texas Senate is unusual — the timing, the first-time candidates for state office and, increasingly, the potential outcome. Democrat Taylor Rehmet led the first round of voting despite the fact that District 9, covering much of north and west Tarrant County, is solid Republican turf. That was largely because two Republicans split the vote. But Rehmet came close to winning outright, and he’s got a chance to pull off an upset in the runoff against Republican Leigh Wambsganss. That would be the best outcome for Fort Worth. It’s not that the winner here, whose term will end in early 2027, will sway important legislation. It’s likely that Rehmet or Wambsganss won’t cast a single vote in the Senate, which doesn’t meet this year, until after one of them is elected to a full term in the fall.

click here for more

A Rehmet victory, though, would send an important message to the Texas and Tarrant County Republican parties: Enough. Rehmet, a union leader and aircraft machinist, has focused his campaign on economic and quality-of-life concerns. We don’t agree with him on any number of specific issues. But he’s more in tune with everyday voters’ concerns: the price of groceries, the availability of reasonably priced housing, the quality of public schools and the length of their commutes. He’s not bucking his party on social and cultural issues. But he seems to recognize that they eat up far too much of our political oxygen as serious economic issues stack up. And if Rehmet, 33, should pull this off, it will be a clear signal to the GOP that it is in danger of going too far to the right and ignoring the needs of Texans beyond the narrowest Republican base. By nominating Wambsganss, a 58-year-old Southlake resident, the party embraced its conservative id. She’s a long-tenured and successful activist who, until launching this campaign, was an executive at Patriot Mobile, the Christian-themed cellular company, and a leader in its political activities. Texas Republicans need a jolt, a reminder that they should prioritize the biggest concerns of Texas families: education (not just school vouchers), health care (not just restrictions on abortion and gender care) and housing (not just cutting property taxes).

'Call a Republican': Phone connects liberal San Francisco with conservative Texas

An old pay phone in San Francisco's Mission District is connecting people in the majority Democratic city with people in Abilene, Texas, a majority Republican city. The phone is called the Party Line; it was installed over the weekend in front of tattoo studio Black Serum in San Francisco and in front of a bookshop in Abilene. In San Francisco, users are encouraged to "call a Republican." In Abilene, they're asked to "call a Democrat." Tech startup Matter Neuroscience is behind the social experiment. The company is focused on boosting happiness and believes people fundamentally enjoy talking. The idea is to encourage conversation between people who may be different away from social media.

click here for more

Christopher Renfro, who works a few doors down from where the phone is installed in San Francisco, decided to pick it up and give it a try on Tuesday. "Hey, this is Chris from San Francisco. Who am I speaking with?" Renfro started the conversation. Renfro said the man on the other line was on a date and had just had wood-fired pizza for lunch. They talked about their jobs and the cities they lived in. Politics never came up, but Matter Neuroscience told the San Francisco Chronicle that's the point. Renfro said it was a good experience. "I think as long as you're just trying to be nice, respectful and see where they are in the world, it's pretty easy to have a conversation with anyone," he said.

To save district from takeover, Austin ISD will likely cede control of three middle schools

Three struggling Austin middle schools will likely come under the operation of charter schools after a detailed review of testing scores and projections showed the schools are unlikely to improve enough to avoid a district takeover. Austin ISD board members are expected to vote later this month on whether to seek the charter partnerships and relinquish control of Dobie, Webb and Burnet middle schools as part of a scramble to maintain control of the district. At a board meeting Thursday night, Superintendent Matias Segura confirmed the schools were showing meaningful academic gains but not enough, or at least fast enough, to escape Texas’ accountability clock. Without dramatic improvement this year, the campuses could trigger a chain reaction that allows the state to close the schools or seize control of the entire district.

click here for more

Under Texas policy, if any of the three schools receive a fifth failing accountability rating after this year’s standardized tests, the state education commissioner could order the campuses closed or overtake the district entirely, replacing elected trustees with a state-appointed board of managers and diminishing local input on district decisions. Test scores weigh heavily in the accountability ratings. Segura told board members the district relied on an internal data review as well as an analysis by a technical partner, Steady State, which showed especially strong academic growth at Burnet and Dobie. “In reality, that great work is leading to improvement, and we’re excited to share some of that, but we also recognize that there are lots of challenges with the types of growth we need in the time period that we have,” Segura said after commending teachers and staff at the three schools, which he said he visited recently. Trustee Arati Singh highlighted double-digit gains in reading and math scores among seventh and eighth grade students at Dobie and Burnet middle schools. “I don’t know if I have really seen these kinds of gains,” Singh said. “Thank you to the staff of our schools for doing this and the students and our families for really focusing in. I wish we could continue this trajectory.”

Farrah Abraham says she’s running for Austin City Council. Is she eligible?

Reality TV star Farrah Abraham made headlines last week when she announced her bid for the District 5 seat on the Austin City Council. But is she eligible to run? City code requires council candidates to have lived continuously in Texas for at least 12 months and in the district they seek to represent for at least six months before the filing deadline. Abraham filed a campaign finance report last Thursday listing a mailing address in District 9. In a statement to the American-Statesman, Abraham said data indicating that her address was not in District 5 was outdated. She said the city confirmed her council district after what she described as confusion surrounding her initial mayoral announcement. Abraham initially announced a run for Austin mayor on TMZ before learning the next mayoral election is not until 2028.

click here for more

“The current map for 2031 is correct that I do indeed live in district 5 and have triple checked via Ai legal binding accurate maps,” Abraham said. She added that she hopes to advocate for the use of artificial intelligence on Austin city websites “to help other candidates stop misinformation to get me disqualified.” “I have provided what was legally stated to me by city officials who approved my documents to move forward and that is proper fact checking,” she said. “If I was not in the zip code then I clearly would not have my docs updated and wait two years for Mayor.” On Tuesday, Abraham posted on Instagram that the address she listed, on Harwin Lane, is in Council District 5. Her post included an image of a council district map with what appeared to be a search of the address and the text, “Definitive Answer: [Street number] Harwin Lane is District 5.” The Statesman located Harwin Lane on the city's Council District Map and found that the street is entirely within District 2.

Texas Supreme Court to hear suit from over 50 cities saying telecom providers get illegal discounts

Texas Supreme Court justices will decide whether two state laws are giving unlawful discounts to cable and telecommunication service providers, resulting in millions in lost revenue for dozens of cities across the state. The court granted the state’s request to review the case in which both the trial court and the Austin-based Third Court of Appeals ruled two laws passed by the Texas Legislature in 2017 and 2019 capping costs for providers are unconstitutional. Justices will hear arguments in the case March 5. “The (Texas) Constitution says you can’t give public property away for free,” Bob Heath, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, told KERA News. “That’s exactly what’s going on here.”

click here for more

KERA News has reached out to the Texas Attorney General’s Office for comment and will update this story with any response. State lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1004 in 2017, allowing wireless network providers install network nodes in public rights-of-way — like roads — and cities to charge the providers an annual $250 right-of-way rate per node. The nodes are typically installed on street lights or utility poles 30-40 feet above the ground, enabling 5G wireless services. Two years later, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1152. Instead of requiring companies providing both cable and telecom services to pay cities to deliver both services, the law allowed companies to only pay whichever charge was higher. Texas argued the laws incentivize technology improvements, provide uniform regulation, reduce consumer costs and eliminate “double taxation” for utility companies. The laws passed as providers started rolling out 5G wireless technology and asked federal and state officials to streamline the process.

UH removed its student government. Can they budget $25M in student fees?

Two state lawmakers and a group of University of Houston students are questioning whether the university followed state law when it approved a $25 million student fee budget last fall without a functioning student government. The controversy involves the Student Fees Advisory Committee, which UH students view as their most direct way to affect change on campus. It sets the budget for millions of dollars in student fees each year, funding campus services like health care, veteran support and career advising. While previous debates have centered on subsidies for athletics, the committee became a flash point again last year after UH administrators dissolved the Student Government Association, which state statute holds responsible for making student appointments to the advisory committee.

click here for more

Instead of waiting for a new student government this spring, UH officials convened a group of current and former student leaders to conduct interviews and appoint new members to the advisory panel, a university spokesperson said. That work-around got the attention of state Rep. Penny Morales Shaw, D-Houston. She wrote a letter to UH Chancellor Renu Khator on Nov. 25, saying she worried that the appointments were improper and "undermined student authority." "The statute reflects the Legislature's belief that students should have a meaningful voice in decisions affecting the more than $25 million in annual student service fees at UH," Morales Shaw wrote. "While I deeply respect UH's autonomy in managing its affairs, I want to ensure we're on the same page regarding the statutory requirements for student representation." State Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, also wrote a letter to the student chair of the committee, urging her not to sign the 2027 budget recommendations until it was clear UH was following the law. The student chair did not respond to requests for comment.

Gov. Greg Abbott demands Cy-Fair ISD cancel Islamic Games event

Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to Cy-Fair ISD leaders Wednesday demanding that they cancel a sporting event with the Islamic Games of North America scheduled for later this year, citing alleged ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which Abbott recently declared a "foreign terrorist organization." "You cannot invite such dangers through the front doors of our schools," he wrote. "Radical Islamic extremism is not welcome in Texas — and certainly not in our schools." The move comes after the Dallas-area Grapevine-Colleyville ISD canceled a similar event on Tuesday, saying that they had learned that CAIR New Jersey was a sponsor of a related event at one point, according to news reports.

click here for more

The Islamic Games describes itself as the "premier Muslim sports and athletic event in North America," with over 8,000 athletes participating in games held across the U.S. and Canada last year. It says its mission is to promote unity and community development and is "open to any individual or team regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion." Abbott ordered Cy-Fair ISD to "preserve all records and communications concerning this event" and demanded leaders cancel the event within seven days of receiving the letter or face an investigation by the Texas Education Agency and potential legal action by Attorney General Ken Paxton. He added that he would direct Paxton to file "injunctions to halt public school districts from hosting events sponsored by designated terror organizations like CAIR." Cy-Fair ISD leaders did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the event, which is scheduled to take place at Bridgeland High School in October. In his letter to Cy-Fair ISD leaders, Abbott cites a link to a snapshot of the Islamic Games' website from Nov. 16 — two days before his terrorist organization designation of CAIR — using the Wayback Machine, an online archive that collects snapshots of websites. CAIR New Jersey is listed among the slate of event sponsors on the archived page, but it is no longer on the live site.

3 Prairieland shooting defense attorneys fined $500 each for ‘frivolous’ evidence motions

A federal judge in Fort Worth fined three defense attorneys in the July 4 Prairieland Detention Center shooting case Jan. 14 for filing “frivolous” motions attempting to obtain evidence from prosecutors. After a hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman ordered Patrick McLain, Brian Bouffard and Bradley Sauer — attorneys for defendant Zachary Evetts — to pay $500 each for their “sharp-elbow drafting” of repeated motions in the case, in what he said were violations of state rules for attorney conduct. The motions accused the government of stonewalling Evetts’ attorneys as they attempt to obtain and review evidence ahead of the Feb. 17 trial in the case. The prosecution and defense are legally required to share all evidence that will be presented at trial with the other side in a case.

click here for more

Pittman’s order also accused the attorneys of falsely casting doubt on the prosecutors’ integrity and misrepresenting communications between the parties. In one of their motions, Evetts’ attorneys omitted an email from the government responding to one request — explaining that the defense counsel’s demands for evidence were moot or sought materials outside the scope of criminal rules for discovery. Evetts’ attorneys say the omission was a mistake. McLain, Evetts' lead counsel, told KERA News in a phone call Tuesday that while he and his co-counsel stand by the accuracy of their requests for Pittman to enforce the rules of discovery against the government, as outlined in a scheduling order, his team respects the judge’s authority. “We are, of course, going to honor his decision, and we're going to proceed forward to trial, ready to advocate on behalf of Mr. Evetts and argue for his acquittal on the charges against him in this case,” McLain said.

Austin candidates raised $140K heading into 2026 City Council elections this November

Mid-January campaign finance reports offer an early look at Austin's 2026 City Council contests, as candidates for five seats raised almost $140,000 and had nearly $800,000 on hand heading into the new year. This November's local ballot will feature elections for half of Austin's 10 geographic council districts. The District 1 seat will be open for the first time in eight years, as council member Natasha Harper-Madison reaches her term limit and isn't running for re-election. Any challengers in districts 3, 5, 8 and 9 are expected to face incumbent candidates; District 8 council member Paige Ellis is also reaching her limit of two consecutive terms but will petition her Southwest Austin constituents to allow her to run for a third.

click here for more

Two people have filed so far in the race to succeed Harper-Madison and represent portions of Central and East Austin in District 1. Candidate Steven Brown raised almost $6,000 from more than two dozen people and spent less than $200, leaving him with just over $5,500 heading into 2026, while Alexandria Anderson reported no fundraising, campaign spending or cash on hand. Sitting council member José Velásquez doesn't yet have any challengers in District 3, which covers portions of South and East Austin. Velásquez drew more than $27,000 in donations from over 100 people last year while reporting just under $1,400 in fundraising expenses, leaving him with more than $32,000 on hand for his upcoming campaign. South Austin's District 5 race has three candidates so far, with David Weinberg and Farrah Abraham challenging incumbent council member Ryan Alter.

County Stories

Tarrant County Juvenile Board removes lawyer. Some say it was a political move

A local lawyer who is running for a district judge seat was removed from a list of court-appointed attorneys by the Tarrant County Juvenile Board. Some say it was driven by politics. Brian Willett, a Democrat , was not approved for a list of attorneys a court can assign to represent juveniles whose families can’t afford one, during a Tarrant County Juvenile Board meeting on Wednesday. Willett, who is running for the 323rd District Court seat, which hears child welfare and juvenile delinquency cases, is hoping to unseat Judge Alex Kim, a Republican and the chair of the Tarrant County Juvenile Board.

click here for more

“I think it’s totally political, because I’ve been on the list from the very beginning in 2002 when it first opened and never had a problem,” Willett told the Star-Telegram. “The only thing that’s changed since then is I decided to run against one of their candidates, and now, all of a sudden, it’s an issue.” Willett was not present during the meeting and heard about the news hours later. Judge Christopher Taylor, a Republican who presides over the 48th District Court, said he wanted to personally remove Willett from the approved list of attorneys and vote on Willett separately. Judge Don Cosby, a Republican who presides over the 67th District Court, questioned if it was a political move. “Are we doing this for political reasons?” Crosby asked. “I don’t want to be part of something, that is hurting somebody for political reasons.” Taylor said he has “personal issues” with Willett and will abstain from the vote.

City Stories

Crosswalks and intersection in University Park will keep SMU theme

As you may have heard, late last year, Gov. Greg Abbott, who gladly enforced an edict from U.S. Transportation Secretary/former MTV Real World roommate/Airport Sartorial Choice Critic/Human Jock Jams CD/champion lumberjack/speed climber Sean Duffy, ordered that all “non-standard surface markings, signage, and signals” have to go. That would especially include rainbow crosswalks and anything related to Black Lives Matter. As Tim pointed out yesterday, Dallas learned that the state denied the city’s appeal to keep its crosswalks, which are funded by local merchants in Oak Lawn, not taxpayers. In October, Fox 4’s Steve Noviello asked why nobody was talking about the SMU Mustang intersection in University Park.

click here for more

After Dallas got its final verdict, we reached out to Paige Ruedy, the University Park community information officer, to ask about the roadway markings, which feature the Mustang within the intersection, surrounded on four sides by decorative crosswalks. We pointed out several examples where seemingly innocuous decorative crosswalks were believed to be out of compliance with the state order and had been removed. “Has anyone at the Governor’s office or TxDOT confirmed that the SMU crosswalk is in compliance?” we asked. “After review of the documents, we believe all intersections within the City are in compliance with the Governor’s order,” Ruedy told us. “Our assessment focused on intersections in University Park specifically and did not involve comparisons to other cities.” Noviello’s question was a good one, because other cities with decorative crosswalks that have nothing to do with any controversy at all were also required to yoink their crosswalks. Corpus Christi had to get rid of two, including one that honored Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Lubbock also had to remove its Buddy Holly crosswalks, for Pete’s sake. The city posted a photo of the intersection under construction last September.

National Stories

IRS head announces a shake-up on the eve of the 2026 tax season

Days before the 2026 tax filing season begins, the head of the IRS announced a shake-up Tuesday, saying the personnel and operational changes are intended to improve taxpayer service and modernize the agency. The timing of the announcement coincides with a critical moment for the agency, as the IRS prepares to process millions of tax returns while simultaneously implementing major tax law changes under the tax and spending package President Donald Trump signed into law last summer. There are new tax relief provisions for tips and overtime, and new deductions for qualifying older Americans. In a letter addressed to the agency’s 74,000 employees and viewed by The Associated Press, Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano announced new priorities and a reorganization of IRS executive leadership.

click here for more

Notably, Gary Shapley, the whistleblower who testified publicly about investigations into Hunter Biden’s taxes and served just two days as IRS Commissioner last year, was named deputy chief of the Criminal Investigation division. Guy Ficco, the head of Criminal Investigation, is set to retire and will be replaced by Jarod Koopman, who will also serve as chief tax compliance officer alongside Bisignano. Joseph Ziegler, another Hunter Biden whistleblower, was named chief of internal consulting, the letter said. Bisignano said in the letter that he is “confident that with this new team in place, the IRS is well-prepared to deliver a successful tax filing season for the American public.” The June National Taxpayer Advocate report to Congress warned that the 2026 season could be rocky after a series of mass layoffs last year brought on by the Department of Government Efficiency. “With the IRS workforce reduced by 26% and significant tax law changes on the horizon, there are risks to next year’s filing season,” said Erin M. Collins, who leads the organization assigned to protect taxpayers’ rights. Bisignano, who was named to his job in October, also serves as the commissioner of the Social Security Administration. His main priorities for the IRS in 2026 include enhancing customer service, improving tax collections and safeguarding taxpayer privacy. The IRS expects to receive roughly 164 million individual income tax returns this year, which is on par with what it received last year. The average refund amount last year was $3,167, according to IRS data. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said on several occasions that the effects of Republican tax law will result in bigger refunds in 2026.

Data centers are becoming a political problem

Lawmakers in Washington often insist data centers, which require thousands of acres and enormous amounts of energy, are a municipal issue. But residents organizing against their construction say candidates up and down the ballot will have to answer for their concerns — especially if those politicians are going to campaign on affordability. “This absolutely plays into affordability,” said Christine Le Jeune, a founding organizer of Great Lakes Neighbors United in Wisconsin. “People are concerned about rapidly rising energy prices.” Le Jeune’s group launched a petition to recall the mayor of Port Washington, a Wisconsin town on Lake Michigan where construction began last month on a $15 billion data center to service OpenAI and Oracle through the Stargate project backed by President Donald Trump.

click here for more

The recall effort is one of the bolder actions in a wave of local protests against data centers sweeping Wisconsin and the country. Le Jeune said Mayor Ted Neitzke failed to take up residents’ concerns that they will end up “on the hook” for data centers’ energy usage into consideration when he went ahead with the Stargate plans. Neitzke did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers feel insulated from the grassroots resistance threatening local elected officials. “It’s going to be more a challenge in gubernatorial races and state races, because that’s where those decisions are made. We don’t have as much, in fact very little to do with it at a federal level,” Rep. Mark Pocan said. That may not last long.

Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says

Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches. The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities. The shift comes as the Trump administration dramatically expands immigration arrests nationwide, deploying thousands of officers under a mass deportation campaign that is already reshaping enforcement tactics in cities such as Minneapolis.

click here for more

For years, immigrant advocates, legal aid groups and local governments have urged people not to open their doors to immigration agents unless they are shown a warrant signed by a judge. That guidance is rooted in Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial approval. The ICE directive directly undercuts that advice at a time when arrests are accelerating under the administration’s immigration crackdown. Related Stories Oglala Sioux president walks back claims of DHS pressure, member arrests What to know about the warrants most immigration agents use to make arrests Judge refuses to block new DHS policy limiting Congress members' access to ICE facilities The memo itself has not been widely shared within the agency, according to a whistleblower complaint, but its contents have been used to train new ICE officers who are being deployed into cities and towns to implement the president’s immigration crackdown. New ICE hires and those still in training are being told to follow the memo’s guidance instead of written training materials that actually contradict the memo, according to the whistleblower disclosure.

Health insurance CEOs to appear before House committees as premiums soar

The CEOs of five major health insurers are set to face a grilling from members of Congress on Thursday as House Republicans seek to place blame for rising health care costs. The back-to-back hearings before the Energy and Commerce and the Ways and Means committees come after Republicans allowed enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire at the end of last year, a move that led to sharp premium increases for millions of Americans. Congress has few immediate plans to address the lapse in the tax credits. The House and the Senate have yet to reach a deal to lower skyrocketing health insurance premiums. And with the Senate out this week and the House set to go into recess next week, the odds of passing a bill anytime soon are very slim, experts say.

click here for more

“Insurance companies are an easy target because they make people miserable through prior authorization review and in many other ways,” said Drew Altman, president and CEO of KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group. The CEOs of UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health Group, Cigna Health Group, Elevance Health and Ascendiun are set to testify. President Donald Trump and Republicans are facing criticism from voters about the cost of living, including health care. Last week, Trump rolled out his long-awaited health care plan, which included a proposal to redirect funding used for ACA subsidies into health savings accounts. The plan offered few details and drew criticism for largely restating ideas Trump has previously floated. Many of the proposals need congressional approval, raising questions about how quickly — or whether — they can be implemented. Trump’s plan is not expected to be the focus of Thursday’s hearings. Instead, they are expected to be the first in a series to examine the “root causes” driving higher health care prices, committee Chairs Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Jason Smith, R-Mo., said in a statement. Thursday’s hearings will also take aim at the ACA, which Republicans say is a major driver of higher health care costs. “The ACA mandated coverage for individuals regardless of underlying health conditions and largely prohibited plans from underwriting plans at the individual level,” a hearing document says, “effectively increasing health care access and affordability for the unhealthiest Americans but also driving up health care costs for healthier Americans.”

DOGE employees shared Social Security data, court filing shows

Employees with the Department of Government Efficiency who were detailed to the Social Security Administration last March shared sensitive data through a nonsecure third party server, in violation of agency security policies, the Justice Department disclosed in a court filing. The Social Security Administration does not know what data was shared on the server or whether it still exists there, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 16 formal correction to statements that Social Security Administration officials made to a federal court in Maryland last spring. But the disclosure about the third-party server confirms concerns among career government employees and data security experts that DOGE’s chaotic access to sensitive government data risks sharing this data broadly and without knowing what data was exposed or who has seen it.

click here for more

Last August, the Social Security Administration’s chief data officer, shortly before resigning, filed a whistle-blower complaint over DOGE employees’ activities, saying they had shared a crucial database on a private server. The Justice Department’s filing addresses the period last March at the height of the conflict between career Social Security officials and DOGE over the sharing of sensitive information. The Justice Department’s “corrections to the record” identified sworn statements that senior agency officials made asserting that the agency revoked DOGE employees’ access to sensitive data, statements the department later found to be false, though federal lawyers said the officials did not know they were false at the time. According to the Justice Department, the inconsistencies were revealed through an internal agency review last fall. The agency notified Justice Department lawyers about its findings on Dec. 10. The department filed corrections to the court more than a month later. The Social Security Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Copyright January 22, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved