April 13, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Oil prices surge after Trump says U.S. will blockade the Strait of Hormuz

The price of oil surged Sunday night after President Donald Trump said the U.S. would blockade the Strait of Hormuz after peace talks with Iran failed. U.S. crude oil soared 8%, to more than $104 per barrel. International Brent oil jumped more than 7%, to $103 per barrel. Wholesale gas prices also spiked 6%, while heating oil, a proxy for jet fuel prices, jumped 10% in early trading. Stock futures declined sharply. Futures that indicate where the S&P 500 will trade fell 1%, Nasdaq 100 futures slid 1.3%, and Dow futures tumbled more than 500 points. "Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz," Trump said on Truth Social.

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"I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran," Trump added in the post. The Strait of Hormuz is one of most important waterways for oil and other energy products, such as liquefied natural gas. Before the war, hundreds of ships per day passed through it, carrying that energy to the global marketplace. But on most days since the war began Feb. 28, fewer than 10 ships a day have been able pass through. "Reopening the Strait has become the market’s most time-sensitive priority," JPMorgan Chase commodities analysts said Sunday. "The last tanker to clear Hormuz on February 28 is expected to reach its destination around April 20, marking the point at which pre-closure barrels are fully exhausted from the global supply chain." Last week, only 24 ships passed through the strait out to the ocean. On Friday, only two ships passed, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence that was shared with NBC News. Neither were oil or gas tankers. Trump made the announcement early Sunday after Vice President JD Vance, along with Trump's special envoy for peace, Steve Witkoff, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, flew to Islamabad to hold talks with Iranian regime leaders amid a two-week ceasefire.

Senate GOP leaders hold off on investing more in John Cornyn, for now

Last week, the GOP's powerful Senate Leadership Fund super PAC announced it was committing $342 million to support a slate of candidates across eight states. Texas, whereU.S. Sen. John Cornyn, is fighting for political survival in a runoff against state Attorney General Ken Paxton on May 26, was not one of them. NationalRepublican leaders' decision to so far hold off in committing more money to the state comes as the Cornyn continues to lag in the polls behind Paxton, ahead of what could be a competitive midterm race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.

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With President Donald Trump so far declining to endorse in the race – after suggesting he would do so following the primary – some of the the president's supporters have been calling for the party's fundraising arms to forgo investing more into Cornyn's primary campaign when Republicans are facing competitive Democratic challenges elsewhere in November. "RINO/Uniparty Senators like John Cornyn remain in office for decades so when you get a chance to replace them with true American First conservatives you have to seize the opportunity," Alex Muse, a conservative influencer, wrote on X last week. The Senate Leadership Fund, which iscontrolled by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, declined to comment for this story. Alex Latcham, the fund's executive director, told The New York Times last week that he didn’t see Texas as competitive in November, but would reconsider if the dynamics changed.

AI is using so much energy that computing firepower is running out

The artificial intelligence gold rush is rapidly drying up the supply of the one resource that AI developers can’t do without: computing power. The sharp capacity crunch has caused consternation among power users, forced companies to scuttle products and led to reliability problems. The issues are a warning sign for the AI boom, as they may limit the utility of powerful new AI tools just as massive amounts of users have begun to rely on them to boost productivity. Over the past few months, demand has exploded for “agentic” AI, autonomous tools that use the technology to independently perform tasks, from writing software code to scheduling house tours for real-estate brokers. Companies have been scrambling to secure the availability of computing capacity needed to serve a growing base of customers who are also significantly increasing their AI use.

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“Everyone’s talking about oil, but I think what the world is mainly short of is tokens,” said Ben Pouladian, an engineer and tech investor based in Los Angeles. A token is a unit of measurement in AI to track how much computing resources are being used for a task. “AI is at this point no longer just some chatbot that we ask for a recipe while we stand in front of the fridge. It’s orchestrating tasks, it’s getting smarter,” Pouladian said. All of it points to a classic problem that has popped up in technology booms throughout history, from the 19th-century railroad expansion to the telecom and internet explosion of the early 2000s. Demand is growing far faster than companies are able to access resources and build out infrastructure. Historically, price increases have been among the only ways to address a supply crunch, but such a move could be perilous for frontier AI companies, who are in a ferocious competition to gain users. Hourly rental prices for GPUs, the microchips used to train and run AI models, have surged since the fall. Anthropic, the maker of popular chatbot Claude and viral coding app Claude Code, has been plagued recently by frequent outages. The company has begun metering computing supply to users during peak hours, but the rollout has been marred by customers who have complained that they are reaching the limit far too quickly.

U.S. House members could vote this week to boot Tony Gonzales

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales could face a vote to expel him from the House as soon as this week after a growing number of members expressed support for ousting him and Rep. Eric Swalwell of California over new allegations of sexual misconduct, raising the specter of a rare special election in a midterm year. The move to expel Gonzales, a third-term Republican from San Antonio, gained steam after U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said Friday that she would file a motion to eject Swalwell, citing a former aide’s allegation of rape reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. On Sunday, Luna said she’d pair that motion with a resolution for Gonzales’ expulsion. House Democrats plan to force the vote on Gonzales if Luna proceeds with her effort against Swalwell, a Democrat, Axios and the New York Times reported, citing two unnamed congressional aides with knowledge of the tentative plan.

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By Sunday afternoon, at least five Republicans and five Democrats had expressed support for banishing both men. They include GOP Reps. Mike Lawler of New York and Byron McDonald of Florida and Democratic Reps. Jared Huffman of California and Pramila Jayapal of Washington state. “Congress must hold itself to the highest ethical standard, regardless of party,” Lawler wrote on X. “Leadership and members in both parties should have moral clarity and recognize some things are more important than vote margins and party loyalty.” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, a New Mexico Democrat who chairs the Democratic Women’s Caucus, said the expulsion votes were necessary to show it was unacceptable to "sexually abuse staff" and still run for and serve in elected office. “Reps. Gonzales and Swalwell exploited their staffers’ ideals and commitment to public service as a vulnerability,” Fernández wrote in a statement posted to X. “Instead of being treated with respect, they were preyed upon.” On Sunday night, Fernández posted on X: “There’s already been a resolution announced to expel Swalwell that I will support. I will introduce a resolution to expel Rep. Gonzales.”

State Stories

Louie Gohmert: Voting for lies and corruption is not a choice

Despite Ken Paxton’s claims he essentially had crooks conspiring against him in his office just like President Trump, Paxton admitted in Court to all the facts & law specified against him in the pleadings by the whistleblowers he fired and retaliated against. That wasn’t at all like President Trump’s situation. Judge Catherine Mauzy found on April 4, 2025[Case # D-1-GN-20-006861, TX 250th Judicial District Court] just as Paxton admitted, that he retaliated against and fired his top employees for reporting his corruption despite his long, loud claims to the contrary outside of court. Otherwise he’d have had to give a deposition under oath about specifics. Paxton learned from Bill Clinton that with all Paxton had to hide, he could not afford to allow anyone to ever ask him questions under oath.

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The trial judge accepted his in-court general admissions and issued judgment based on those admissions for a $6.6 MILLION judgment against Paxton. Right after court, for the benefit of his blind followers who would never read the transcript nor believe media reports, Paxton said publicly it was “a ridiculous judgment that is not based on the facts or the law” and that he would appeal the outrageous judgment. But it was based on facts and law; Paxton had just admitted in front of the judge that day! On May 2, 2025, Paxton appealed the judgment while he continued to publicly protest the unfair judgment he said he would definitely get overturned and supporters and legislators did not need to worry. If he had not appealed in May, the judgment would’ve become final and been presented to the Texas legislature for payment before they recessed at the end of May 2025; and that would’ve made all kinds of news with legislators up in arms against Paxton. Paxton assured them he’d get it reversed on appeal.

Threats, fines and a quorum break: A Texas lawmaker’s fight to stay in office

For state Rep. Salman Bhojani, the first Muslim elected to the Texas Legislature, the fines he faces for breaking quorum with fellow Democrats last year pale in comparison to the threats that forced his family from their home. They endured online harassment that included hate speech and threats so severe they had to leave. It was almost enough to drive Bhojani out of politics, he said. The key word is "almost." After returning to Texas, where the Legislature approved the Republican-backed congressional redistricting plan that prompted the quorum break, Bhojani said he felt duty-bound to continue in public service. He is seeking a third term representing his North Texas district in November.

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"If I'm not going to do it, I don't know who else will do it the way I want to do it and represent my community," he said in an interview Friday alongside his wife, Nima. "Hopefully (the hate speech is) behind us. There is a lot of momentum to change things." The interview, conducted by phone from his suburban home near Fort Worth, came as the House Administration Committee deliberated behind closed doors on how to impose fines totaling $8,354 for Democrats’ unauthorized absence during an August special session. Bhojani left Texas before most members of the House Democratic Caucus boarded a chartered jet to Chicago, denying the chamber a quorum to act on a redistricting plan that aimed to add five Republican-leaning seats. He had traveled to Pakistan, the country where he was born, to be with an aunt he described as a second mother as she faced an illness that would claim her life. Family emergencies, such as illness or death, are typically grounds for an excused absence, but online critics questioned his account. Bhojani released passport and travel records to rebut the claims. Meanwhile, Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French escalated the rhetoric.

Wives, daughters scramble as ICE deportations spread across Central Texas

As an ice storm closed in on Central Texas in late January, Bricia, a 43-year-old mother battling endometrial cancer, moved deliberately through her Elgin home, deciding what to pack before the power went out. Pain radiated from her right shoulder, flaring with stress and aggravating skin already raw from radiation treatment. She wanted to lie down. Instead, she kept moving, preparing to flee the cold and the dark. Three months behind on her power bill, she was losing heat and light at the worst possible moment — just months after federal immigration agents detained her husband, the family’s primary breadwinner. In the months since, Bricia and her 21-year-old U.S. citizen daughter have watched their savings evaporate, their business collapse and their home slip toward foreclosure — part of a widening pattern across Central Texas, where a surge in immigration arrests is quietly destabilizing families and pushing many toward financial ruin.

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Such stories are becoming increasingly common in Bastrop County, including Elgin, a majority-Hispanic exurb of about 12,000 residents, roughly 30 miles east of downtown Austin. In the “Sausage Capital of Texas,” gravel roads wind past goat and horse pens on properties belonging to immigrant families who commute to the city to work construction or clean homes. Many were drawn to the area decades ago by affordable land and rent. Now, deportations are eroding that stability. Other area residents are also absorbing the financial shock of losing a primary breadwinner. They include a recent college graduate in Camp Swift who is supporting the family after her father’s deportation, and another Elgin mother who is selling pan dulce late into the night, taking on her husband’s work. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in Central and South Texas have climbed to an average of 2,000 arrests per month during the Trump administration, according to a New York Times analysis. About 9 in 10 of those arrested locally are men, the American-Statesman found, leaving women and children to shoulder the economic fallout. ICE did not respond to the Statesman’s requests for comment.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s office was told to release trade mission documents. Most are redacted

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo's office was instructed by Texas officials to release documents related to a recent trade mission that was conducted to garner business prospects and foreign investments in the county, which includes the fourth-largest city in the United States. But the vast majority of those documents, provided to Houston Public Media in response to a public records request, were heavily redacted. The documents that were released about Hidalgo's trip in October last year — as part of an economic development delegation to Taiwan and Japan — offer little detail about the outgoing county judge's schedule, costs and partnerships secured from the trade mission.

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Hidalgo has embarked on three trade missions in the past year with local delegations led by the Greater Houston Partnership, an economic development organization, to expand the county’s international relations. And she's been highly scrutinized for the trips, which resulted in extensive absences from Harris County Commissioners Court meetings — raising questions about her ability to lead during important discussions when she's not in attendance. Hidalgo attended a trade mission to Paris last summer before the trip to Taiwan and Japan. More recently, she joined a local delegation for a trip to The Netherlands and Germany in March, which coincided with calls for her resignation in the aftermath of her quarrel with Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo leaders. The documents about her trip to Taiwan and Japan were requested by Houston Public Media in December. Though county lawyers fought to keep the records concealed, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office in March ordered their release, agreeing only to the redaction of personal contact information.

Corpus Christi water workshop grows heated over Inner Harbor desalination plan

A city water workshop meant to clarify progress on a proposed Inner Harbor desalination plant instead devolved into a contentious, nearly two-hour exchange among council members, the mayor and residents. No vote was taken during the meeting, but tensions ran high as officials debated not only the desalination project itself, but also the purpose and timing of the workshop. Council members questioned whether the meeting was necessary, noting the full council is already scheduled to meet in the coming days. “We had to expense staff, time, energy,” District 4 Councilwoman Kaylynn Paxson said. “All of us had to stop our schedules … and we’re not actually anti-desal.”

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Mayor Paulette Guajardo defended the decision to hold the workshop, saying it was intended to keep the public informed about the status of the project and outstanding issues. “The public knowing where this contract is, what is still missing from it, what we’re waiting on … is important,” Guajardo said. “We address these issues for the public, which is who we work for.” The proposed Inner Harbor desalination plant remains a key part of the city’s long-term water strategy, but major questions persist — including whether city leaders will have enough information to move forward later this month. District 5 Councilman Gil Hernandez expressed skepticism that critical data will be ready in time.

Former TPPF head, now Heritage Foundation leader, toasted editor of controversial right-wing magazine

At a recent dinner, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts toasted Paul Gottfried, the editor of a magazine that has published writers accused of espousing white supremacism. In his remarks, he spoke against “heritage Americans … [repudiating] their heritage.” He referred to Gottfried as having been “exiled” from conservatism but now being part of an “ascendant” movement. Gottfried is a historian and a self-described paleoconservative who has criticized the mainstream conservative movement for what he says are failures to protect a traditionalist Judeo-Christian view of American life and stop the rise of multiculturalism. Paleoconservatism is a right-wing ideology that seeks to combat internationalism and multiculturalism.

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He may be most famous for coining the term “alternative right” in a 2008 speech, in which he castigated conservatives who had “become so terrified by those on their left that they pretend not to notice the stark fact of human cognitive disparities.” “The fact that not everyone enjoys the same genetic precondition for learning is irrelevant for this politically motivated experiment in wishful thinking,” Gottfried said at the time. In his remarks at a recent dinner in honor of Gottfried’s magazine, Chronicles, Roberts praised Gottfried for criticizing “the antidiscrimination regime” and called him “one of the sages of our age.” In 2021, Gottfried took over as editor of Chronicles, a monthly magazine with a stated mission of “defending the traditions and history of America and the West.” The magazine has published many far-right figures, including Sam Francis, a former adviser to Pat Buchanan who used the magazine to praise former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke for defending “the American Way of Life,” and Thomas Fleming, a founding member of the neo-Confederate group the League of the South.

Low-tax Texas opens London office to lure jobs and investment

The US state of Texas is putting UK businesses in its crosshairs with the launch this month of a dedicated London office to lure jobs and investment to the low-tax Lone Star State. Texas recently secured approval for the new site, adding to a growing list of international offices from which it can try to draw corporate heavyweights across its borders. It is the latest sign that Texas lobbyists, led by the office of the state’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, are widening their economic ambitions beyond American borders, having already had success luring jobs and investment from rival US states including California, Delaware and New York. Lobbyists working in the London office are likely to court UK bosses with incentives including new, fast-track business courts and multimillion dollar subsidies. Texas charges neither corporation nor income tax.

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Their targets are expected to include the City’s banks and investment houses, as the state aims to build on Dallas’s financial-sector boom, and continue its promotion of the area now known as Y’all Street. Those ambitions have caught the attention of the City of London Corporation. The City’s mayor, Susan Langley, travelled to Dallas in February and discussed how London could tap into excitement over the launch later this year of the state’s first dedicated stock market, the TXSE. “With the launch of the Texas Stock Exchange, new dual-listing opportunities could connect British and Texan firms to fresh capital,” she said in a post on X after the visit. The news comes as London tries to reverse a trend where businesses have been abandoning the UK stock market, choosing either to go private or shift their listings to hubs overseas, including New York. The London office – which will add to Texas’s offices in Mexico and Taiwan – will be led by James Taylor, one of the founders of the Austin-based lobbying and public relations firm Vianovo.

Texas Tech University to close gender, sexuality programs

All majors, minors, certificates and graduate degrees that are “centered on” sexual orientation or gender identity must be phased out and canceled, Texas Tech University system chancellor Brandon Creighton told university presidents in a memo Friday. The decree is an escalation of the course content review policies implemented last year and reflects a trend of academic censorship at Texas public institutions. The memo requires that gender and sexuality content be sorted into one of three groups: content that is “centered on” sexual orientation or gender identity, content that “includes” those topics and content that incidentally references them. Provosts must then review courses and programs that fall into the “centered on” category and recommend them for closure by June 15. Programs earmarked for closure must freeze admissions and begin a teach-out plan for currently enrolled students.

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Student self-directed study and faculty research are exempt from the rules, though going forward the system will “prioritize recruitment in alignment with this memorandum.” Instruction required for licensures and instruction on “chromosomal variations, Differences of Sex Development (DSDs), and intersex biological conditions” is still allowed; however, professors who teach on those topics may not use them to “advocate for or validate sociological frameworks of fluid gender identities,” the memo said. Creighton’s memo also reinforced rules stating that faculty must recognize a strict gender binary and prohibits the “endorsement of a gender spectrum or fluid gender identities as empirical biological science.” Jen Shelton, an associate professor of English, told The Texas Tribune that the memo feels like a “betrayal.” “The good news is I think the whole university has been betrayed. I think even the provost did not expect it to look like this, because it’s people from the provost’s office who have been coming to us and saying, ‘Don’t worry. This part is all going to be fine,’” Shelton said.

Elon Musk wants to turn 700 acres of Texas wildlife refuge into SpaceX property

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is aiming to acquire 712 acres of land in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, amid the protests of environmentalists and activist groups. The proposal would exchange the wildlife refuge land for 692 acres of land in Starbase, SpaceX’s headquarters on the southern tip of Texas. Starbase was officially designated a city in May 2025, after workers living near SpaceX’s rocket launch facility there voted in favor of the measure, according to the Texas Tribune. A draft of the proposed land exchange was published on March 2, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the National Wildlife Refuge in question, asked the public to submit feedback on the proposal, according to Valley Central. SpaceX has not said how it intends to use the land, but the proposal acknowledged it is likely they will develop on that land after acquisition.

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“It is reasonably foreseeable that the lands proposed for divestiture will be used for residential, commercial, industrial, and infrastructure purposes in the near term,” the proposal reads. The South Texas Environmental Justice Network, an environmental advocacy group in the Rio Grande Valley, submitted comments on behalf of 3,392 people opposed to the land exchange, according to their press release. “Rio Grande Valley residents oppose Elon Musk’s colonization of our wildlife, beach, and sacred lands for SpaceX’s dangerous and unnecessary rockets,” said Bekah Hinojosa, the network’s co-founder, in the press release. “We urge the US Fish & Wildlife to listen to our community’s pleas and deny SpaceX’s 712-acre land grab.” The proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the purpose of the land exchange was to “conserve species’ habitats, improve habitat protection, consolidate ownership, and simplify management of refuge lands”. The South Texas Environmental Justice Network also said the 712 acres that SpaceX wants are considered “culturally significant” to the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, a group indigenous to the Rio Grande Valley.

Phil Garner, popular former Astros player and manager, dies at 76

Phil Garner, the gritty infielder who played for the Houston Astros and later managed the team to its first World Series appearance, has died. He was 76. Garner, a three-time All-Star who was nicknamed “Scrap Iron,” died Saturday night, according to his family. “Phil Garner passed away peacefully last night, April 11, surrounded by family and love after a two-plus-year battle with pancreatic cancer,” his family said in a statement to MLB.com. “Phil never lost his signature spark of life he was so well known for or his love for baseball which was with him until the end. Special thanks to the Houston Medical Center, MD Anderson, Baylor St. Luke’s and all the Doctors and Nurses for their excellent care and support.”

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The Astros praised Garner for the “tremendous impact” he had on the franchise as both a player and manager, with owner Jim Crane saying “Phil Garner’s contributions to the Houston Astros, the city of Houston and to the game of baseball will not be forgotten.” Former Astros star Lance Berkman, who played for Garner from 2004-07, called him “a blast to be around and a joy to play for.” “Phil was a players’ manager in that he understood high-level competition and how difficult it is to have success in the major leagues,” Berkman said. “He infused the team with his grit and toughness while holding us to the highest standards of professionalism. … Definitely one of my favorites! He will be missed by his many friends, former players and teammates in the baseball community.” Garner, who spent 16 seasons in the major leagues, played for the Astros from 1981-87. The Jefferson City, Tenn., native also played for the Athletics, Pirates, Dodgers and Giants. He was the No. 3 overall pick by Oakland in the 1971 secondary draft out of the University of Tennessee, which retired his No. 18 in 2009.

San Antonio police union pauses contract talks after ‘slap in the face’ pay offer from city

The president of the San Antonio Police Officers Association (SAPOA) said his union is backing away from the negotiating table after a pay offer he described as a “slap in the face.” The union and City of San Antonio have been negotiating a new contract since late January. Both sides have proposed combinations of hourly-rate and percentage-based raises, meaning different ranks would be affected differently. The city presented an offer today that would raise the base wages for the lowest-ranking San Antonio police officers from $65,431 currently to $74,970 in April 2029 — a more than 14% bump in pay. However, the union has proposed raising the same officers’ pay to $82,164 in the same time frame — a more than 25% increase.

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In an emailed statement after the negotiation session, SAPOA President Danny Diaz said the city’s counteroffer “devalues our officers and the dangerous work they do every day,” and the union was “pausing further discussions at this time.” In a follow-up phone interview, Diaz told KSAT that officers have been quick to let the union know how they felt. “Our phones have not been quiet,” he said. “They’ve been ringing off the wall. And it’s very loud and clear that that is a slap in the face, what they offered today.” The city said in an emailed statement an “independent survey” of Texas’ largest cities showed the department’s compensation is “already competitive.” “When total compensation — including healthcare, pension, and retiree benefits — is considered, San Antonio ranks in the top three among large Texas cities at all career stages analyzed,” the statement reads. “We are committed to not losing ground and remaining among the top three in total compensation.”

Patrick Dumont offers rare interview, talks Cuban tension, Mavs' new arena, future with Flagg and more

Foremost in Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont’s thoughts is excitement, hope and what he calls an extraordinary opportunity to build around 19-year-old sensation Cooper Flagg. But as the Mavericks carry a 25-56 record into Sunday’s season finale against Chicago, Dumont also is acutely aware that a state-of-the-franchise discussion is in order – with The Dallas Morning News and by extension, fans. He knows that until earned otherwise, his 27-month tenure as team governor largely will be defined by the night that can’t be erased and the trade that can’t be undone – for which he says fans had every right to hold the franchise and specifically himself accountable. “This team is about the city of Dallas,” he says. “It's about our players doing well and our team winning, and it's about our fans.

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“I believe in our accountability. We have to work hard to make things right.” Dumont interviews are rare, as fans have learned since the Miriam Adelson-Dumont families purchased the Mavericks' majority interest from Mark Cuban on Dec. 27, 2023. This one is intentionally timed. Sunday’s game concludes a season that began last October with high expectations but quickly crumbled into the franchise’s second 50-loss season in the last 28 years – a mere two seasons after going to the NBA Finals within Dumont’s first six months as governor. “When expectations aren't met, we really have to take a critical look at everything we're doing,” he says. “We have to reflect and say, 'How do we get better?' “I really believe this is an extremely important offseason for this franchise. We're going to work tirelessly to get things right. We have a lot of work to do.” That’s his segue to the other reason behind the interview’s timing: His plan for filling the Mavericks’ president of basketball operations position. That process, which unofficially began after Nico Harrison’s Nov. 11 dismissal, is about to shift to hyperdrive.

Officials: Brownsville, Cameron County, are among Texas’ newest commercial hubs

The transformation taking place in Cameron County and in the City of Brownsville have turned the region into a new energy, aerospace and advancing manufacturing hub in South Texas. And this is credited to the collaboration of a number of players from the public and private sectors. The labor force is getting more skilled, wages are employment are up and people are choosing to a stay closer to home because of better opportunities. Just two of the newest corporations - NextDecade and SpaceX – employ close to 10,000 people altogether and the two entities are planning to hire more people to work. Other companies like Rich’s, a company that sells a variety of frozen products, employs 600 people and is trying to fill close to 50 openings in all areas of work.

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During a roundtable discussion held Friday, April 10, at the Texas A&M Engineering and Advance Manufacturing Hub on Texas Highway 48, representatives from the public and private sectors met to hear about today’s educational opportunities and job creation. U.S Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, spoke about the expansion of the Pell Grant program that now includes trade. “We are here to tell you about jobs and about what has been done in Washington, D.C.” he said. “Jobs have been growing by leaps and bounds in the Rio Grande Valley, particularly in Brownsville.” Cornyn said President Donald Trump was exuberant to announce that an oil refinery is going to be built at the Port of Brownsville - the first one in the country in the last 50 years.

School vouchers are what we thought they were

What would’ve been school-choice proponents’ triumphant publicity tour after the application period closed on Texas’ shiny new voucher program, in mid-March, was instead consumed by catty finger-pointing between two top state officials over who’s to blame for the state seemingly botching its attempt to religiously discriminate against some program participants. It’s the sort of comedic tragedy that has become all too common in the red empire of Texas: Pass a harmful new policy while prevaricating as to its actual intent, create a pretext to carry out the policy in a clearly discriminatory fashion, invite a costly lawsuit that will ultimately end with the state being forced to comply, muddy the waters over who’s to blame. While pushing the private-school voucher bill through the state House and Senate last year, Republican legislative hands repeatedly insisted, when presented with various theoretical scenarios, that this near-universal “Texas Education Freedom Accounts” program would be open to any and all types of private schools—of all creeds and persuasions.

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Religious freedom was to reign supreme. How dare thee even question the universality of this venerable program, Republican legislators inveighed. In predictable fashion, the Texas GOP—lately in the throes of another virulent anti-Muslim bender—hasn’t quite lived up to that promise. In the lead-up to the official voucher rollout, acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock—who is currently in charge of administering the program and was, at the time, trying to win a primary election to hold onto his appointed post—used the administrative process to effectively block certain Islamic schools from participating by alleging such potential applicants were affiliated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a national civil rights group akin to the NAACP or LULAC, and the Egypt-based transnational organization the Muslim Brotherhood, each of which the state has deemed a “foreign terrorist organization.” (The rule also sought to block schools affiliated with the darned Chinese Communist Party.) The conflation of CAIR with the Muslim Brotherhood and Palestine’s Hamas is a theory that’s long brewed in the right’s more feverish swamps. (CAIR is suing the State of Texas over this designation.) In response, a group of Islamic schools and Muslim families went to court over the discriminatory exclusion from the program: “The exclusion is not based on individualized findings of unlawful conduct by any specific school, but rather on categorical presumptions that Islamic schools are suspect and potentially linked to terrorism by virtue of their religious identity and community associations,” the lawsuit read. A federal judge ordered the state to extend its application deadline to allow for these schools to go through the process.

National Stories

How JD Vance tried and failed to end the war in Iran that he opposed

After more than 16 straight hours of closed-door meetings that stretched into early Sunday morning, Vice President JD Vance ambled into an ornate ballroom in Pakistan and let out a sigh. When he arrived at the lectern to speak to the press, he grimaced. He talked about “shortcomings,” “bad news” and not being “able to make headway.” The United States and Iran did not reach any agreement. Exhausted and frustrated after 21 hours on the ground, Mr. Vance provided few details, took three questions and departed. He did not address whether the two-week cease-fire with Iran would hold or what would happen to the Strait of Hormuz or if President Trump would now follow through with his threat to wipe Iranian civilization off the map.

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It was a remarkable conclusion to a high-stakes diplomatic trip for Mr. Vance, who made his opposition known to a full-scale war in Iran. America’s allies and adversaries alike were pinning their hopes on Mr. Vance to find a way out of a conflict that has upended the global economy, frayed alliances and expanded to the wider region. Instead, he left with nothing. He blamed Iran for the failed talks, saying the United States sought a commitment that Iran would not seek a nuclear weapon, and it refused. That it was Mr. Vance who found himself in this position was extraordinary in itself. The man inside Mr. Trump’s inner circle most opposed to the war was tasked with leading the highest-level talks between the United States and Iran in nearly 50 years. Mr. Trump, for his part, was thousands of miles away at the Kaseya Center in Miami, watching a U.F.C. fight alongside Marco Rubio, his secretary of state and national security adviser. For Mr. Vance, the trip represented the highest-profile assignment of his tenure, which has largely been marked by domestic politics. White House officials had hoped he would be spending the months leading up to the midterms traveling the country to boost the Republican Party. Instead, he spent the early part of the week in Hungary campaigning for Prime Minister Viktor Orban and concluded it in Pakistan trying to negotiate the end of a messy and complicated war.

‘Dark money’ kingpin Leonard Leo revamps operation ahead of midterms

Conservative legal activist Leonard Leo’s “dark money” operation is getting a makeover. The Concord Fund quietly filed articles of termination on Jan. 6 of this year, according to previously unreported Virginia business records. Leo’s Concord Fund, which was previously known as the Judicial Crisis Network, has for years been a key node in a network of nonprofits used to steer tens of millions of dollars each year to conservative political committees and causes. A branch of The Concord Fund remains active in Missouri, where it’s spent millions trying to influence state elections in recent years. It’s unclear why The Concord Fund otherwise terminated its operations. Gary Marx, The Concord Fund’s president, did not respond to emails requesting comment on the organization’s status, and a phone number listed on the group’s latest annual report to the IRS was disconnected.

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Leo, a lawyer and businessman, is co-chair of the board of directors for the Federalist Society, which has — until recently — had close ties to President Donald Trump and many prominent Republicans. Other dark money groups with ties to Leo are taking up activities previously undertaken by The Concord Fund. The ultimate source of the money, funneled through nonprofits or donor-advised funds that do not have to disclose their donors, remains obscured. “Because the names change, I think most Americans have no idea what’s going on or how many of these differently named groups are the same through line with Leonard Leo at the sort of center of the spider web,” Lisa Graves, founder and executive director of the left-leaning watchdog group True North Research, told NOTUS. The Concord Fund’s demise — and apparent reimagining — appears to have begun late last year. In December 2025, a few days before The Concord Fund dissolved, another Leo-linked nonprofit called The Lexington Fund registered several alternative names including Judicial Crisis Network and Honest Election Project Action, according to Texas business records.

Hungary’s Viktor Orban, ally of Trump and Putin, concedes election defeat

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban conceded defeat Sunday in a major election loss that will reverberate in Washington and Moscow and bring an end to the 16-year rule of a self-proclaimed champion of illiberal Christian democracy who is a darling of MAGA-aligned American conservatives, an ally of the Kremlin and a proud antagonist of European Union leaders in Brussels. Orban, 62, who has governed Hungary with increasing authoritarianism since 2010, and his Fidesz party were ousted by Peter Magyar, 45, a center-right, socially conservative member of the European Parliament, and his Tisza Party — in what was arguably the country’s most consequential vote since the end of the communist era. Vice President JD Vance visited Hungary last week to campaign for Orban.

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Orban quickly conceded defeat, delivering a short speech at his campaign headquarters in which he called the election result “clear.” With more than 96 percent of the vote counted, Magyar’s party looked set for a landslide victory, on course to claim 138 seats in the 199-seat parliament, five more than the 133 needed for a two-thirds constitutional majority. Orban’s party was on track to win 55. “Today we have worked a miracle, Hungary has written history,” Magyar said, addressing thousands of supporters. “Today truth triumphed over lies. Today Hungarians didn’t ask the question what can the country do for them but what can they do for the country.” Magyar also hailed the projections of a strong majority, which he said “will allow us to have a smooth and peaceful transition.” In his concession speech, Orban thanked voters who backed Fidesz and said the party now needs to focus on rebuilding their communities. “We never give up,” he said. On the bank of the Danube river, a crowd of Tisza supporters erupted in joy as Orban acknowledged what he called a painful defeat. Hungarians turned out in record numbers for the historic vote, which Magyar declared would lead to cardinal change.

Trump attacks Pope Leo in incendiary social media post

President Donald J. Trump published a lengthy attack on Pope Leo XIV on Sunday night, calling the first U.S.-born pope "terrible on Foreign Policy," citing Leo's opposition to the ongoing war in Iran and U.S. military action in Venezuela and stating that his pontificate is hurting the church. "I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon," Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday night. "I don't want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I'm doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History."

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Trump made similar comments to reporters on Sunday gathered at Joint Base Andrews. Trump's post came shortly after "60 Minutes" aired an interview featuring three U.S. Cardinals – Blase Cupich of Chicago, Joseph Tobin of Newark and Robert McElroy of Washington – who were critical of Trump's foreign policy objectives and his deportation strategies at home. In introducing the "60 Minutes" segment, CBS News journalist Norah O'Donnell said that Leo had become "increasingly outspoken" against the Trump administration's policies, and that the pope has emerged as a voice of moral opposition to the war in Iran and the administration's mass deportation campaign. O'Donnell asked the three cardinals whether they would like to see Leo be even more outspoken on issues that he disagrees with. Tobin said that the pope is "the pastor of the world, he's not a pundit."

Experts: New accreditation rules threaten academic freedom

Stakes are high as the Trump administration looks to rewrite the rules governing accreditation in the first of two week-long rule-making sessions starting today. The overhaul could dramatically change who is in charge of academic oversight and what they evaluate when determining whether an institution should have access to federal aid. Right-leaning think tanks applaud the changes, released last week in a 151-page draft, calling them an overdue means to ensure campus civil rights compliance, address college costs and ensure institutions are held accountable for their students’ outcomes. But accreditation experts, left-leaning policy analysts and student advocacy groups say the lengthy regulations, while vague and abstruse, pose a major threat to the future of institutional autonomy and America’s status as the crown jewel of global higher education.

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Little of what’s included in the draft surprised either side. President Trump and other conservatives have long seen overhauling the accreditation system as a way to reform higher ed more broadly. The draft regulations fulfill their pledges to make it easier for new accreditors to join the market and mandate what standards accreditors must and must not assess. Under Secretary Nicholas Kent has described the upcoming overhaul as “a revolution.” Robert Shireman—a longtime accreditation expert and Democratic appointee on the Education Department’s accreditation advisory committee—said at an Accreditation 101 panel Wednesday that the most important aspect of America’s higher ed oversight system has been the autonomy it provides to colleges and universities, which is “obliterated by these draft regulations.” “With the administration’s release of their draft rules earlier this week, I would characterize those as a cluster bomb being dropped on American higher education,” he said.

What the ‘Real Housewives’ think About Congress’s reality TV drama

On a recent Wednesday at the Capitol, while seven reality television stars with a penchant for explosive confrontations and theatrics paid a visit, one Republican senator angrily confronted another about what he had been saying behind his back. In front of the cameras and with other lawmakers seated around him in a stately hearing room, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky looked Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, now the homeland security secretary, in the eye and dared him to repeat his insult that Mr. Paul was “a snake.” “Today, I’ll give you that chance to clear the record,” Mr. Paul said. “Tell it to my face. If that’s what you believe, tell it to me today.” The women, all current or former “Real Housewives” from various cities who specialize in such antics, were elsewhere, lobbying lawmakers to increase funding for H.I.V. and AIDS research and care. But when Erika Girardi, a 10-year veteran of the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” learned of the exchange, she cackled.

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“Oh my god,” she said, her eyes widening. “That’s — it’s just like a reunion.” Then, Ms. Girardi, a sometime singer and actress known as Erika Jayne, leaned forward eagerly, like a television viewer on the edge of her seat. “So? What’d he say?” Such is the way of things in the hallowed halls of Congress, where the austere and grave business of legislating has given way to intense tribal politics and made-for-camera clashes. With a reality TV star in the White House and an increasingly bitter fight for control of Congress underway, the blend ofhostility, showmanship and drama President Trump cultivated has made its way to the Capitol. Lawmakers less accustomed to courting television ratings now chase viral moments, test pithy catchphrases and eagerly seek out confrontations to win over would-be donors. “I think Congress isn’t too different from the Bravo universe,” said Representative Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who went to meet the “Housewives” cast members despite, she admitted, having no idea who any of them were. Many congressional hearings remain dry affairs. Some even contain serious discussions of legislative issues. But Mr. Paul’s hostility at the Senate hearing last month was not an outlier, even on that same day.

Eric Swalwell ends bid for California governor after sexual misconduct allegations

Rep. Eric Swalwell said Sunday he would withdraw from the California governor’s race in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct that led to a nearly immediate campaign collapse, as staffers quit and prominent Democratic supporters urged him to drop out. “I am suspending my campaign for Governor,” he posted on X. “To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.” Swalwell was long considered a top contender in a wide-open field with several prominent Democrats and two Republicans ahead of the state’s June 2 nonpartisan primary. But on Friday, his campaign was roiled when CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle published reports in which women accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct.

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A former Swalwell staffer told CNN the congressman raped her when she was heavily intoxicated and left her bruised and bleeding. Swalwell has strongly denied the allegations. “I was pushing him off of me, saying no,” the woman told CNN of the incident, which she said happened in 2024 in New York City after she had stopped working in Swalwell’s office. “He didn’t stop.” The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said Saturday it is investigating the allegation of sexual assault the woman said took place in New York. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office told CNN in a statement Saturday it is “evaluating whether any alleged criminal conduct occurred within” the Bay Area county, where the same woman accused Swalwell of a separate act of sexual misconduct she said took place in 2019. Three other women who spoke with CNN also alleged various kinds of sexual misconduct by the Democratic congressman — including Swalwell sending them unsolicited explicit messages or nude photos. Swalwell has denied the women’s allegations.

Copyright April 13, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved