August 12, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Rural Texas conservatives love free markets but not when it comes to data centers

Nikki Meador grew up here in East Texas. She’s a lifelong conservative and a three-time Trump voter unaccustomed to activism. That’s mostly because there’s never been much to protest in rural Leon County. That changed when the nurse practitioner heard data centers were coming. “We are the people who built this community, and we intend to pass it down to our children. We deserve protection, not to be sacrificed for outside investment. Industrialization is irreversible,” said Meador, 43. Meador, wearing a camo green T-shirt bearing the state’s unofficial motto, “Come and take it,” was among several dozen attending the county commissioners’ regular meeting on a recent Monday. “We’re asking you to consider the long-term cost to taxpayers, the environmental and safety risks, the permanent loss of what makes this place home,” she said.

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Texas conservatives love free markets, the energy industry, development and small government. But in scores of deep-red Texas communities such as Leon County, longtime Republican voters are setting aside those principles to battle an onslaught of data center projects that pro-business GOP leaders initially welcomed. Opposition to data centers has been notably bipartisan in communities across the country. But the fierce pushback from conservatives in Texas has required no help from liberal groups, and it has been felt everywhere from the state GOP’s new party platform to the campaigns of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott, Republicans who now support varying degrees of increased data center regulation. At the GOP convention in June, the platform included a new plank that would require data centers to disclose and finance infrastructure needs without shifting costs to residents; prioritize the use of reclaimed water; and protect aquifers and the state’s electrical grid. Patrick, a staunch Trump ally, has made AI regulation a priority for the next legislative session in January.

A.I.-driven chip crunch leads to new rush of lobbying in Washington

The artificial intelligence boom has created a shortage of a critical commodity called memory chips, and a new front for corporate lobbying in Washington. Memory chips store data in items as varied as smartphones and cars, and they are being snapped up by A.I. companies for use in giant data centers. The price of these tiny components has quadrupled over the past year, creating a problem for the White House, which has struggled to convince Americans that it has inflation under control. Now, a wide range of industries, including medical device makers, car manufacturers and consumer electronics companies like Apple, are asking for the government’s help to get the chips they need. The companies and their lobbyists have suggested a mix of solutions, some conventional and others highly interventionist, like federal policy that would push memory chip makers to allocate more chips to their industries, according to interviews with 18 people, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about those discussions.

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Some have suggested that selling chips to a broader set of customers should be a condition for receiving money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, a program to fund semiconductor research and manufacturing in the United States, three of those people said. Others have asked the Trump administration to use a Korean War-era law called the Defense Production Act to require allocation to industries outside of A.I., five people said. “We’re in what I would characterize as a 100-year flood on the memory pricing, with exponential increases in memory prices,” Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said last month in an earnings call. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in June, a group of trade associations warned of “risks to large parts of the economy” from an “urgent imbalance” in the memory chip market. Memory chips are starting to add to inflation in the United States, said Diane Swonk, the chief economist for KPMG US, an accounting firm. Shoppers are already cutting back on buying video game consoles, and more expensive electronics will probably follow, she said. “The A.I. boom is so strong that it is bidding up costs elsewhere,” Ms. Swonk said.

DHS wanted to build the largest ICE detention complex in the US in El Paso. Here's how the plan just got killed.

The Trump administration is scrapping plans to convert a nearly 1 million-square-foot Socorro, Texas, warehouse complex into a mega immigration detention center and training center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, said Tuesday (Aug. 11). The complex was originally envisioned as the largest immigration detention facility in the country. Escobar said in a statement that the Department of Homeland Security has transferred the Socorro warehouses to the General Services Administration, the agency in charge of federal properties. “This means the warehouses will be put up for sale and they will no longer be used by the federal government for detention purposes,” Escobar said.

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DHS wanted to build the largest ICE detention complex in the US. Here's how the plan just got killed. The reversal on the planned Socorro detention facility came after months of scrutiny over costs and intense local opposition to its impact on local water supply and first responders. Numerous political and advocacy groups in El Paso opposed the Socorro detention center plan. In Socorro, a community of about 30,000 people southeast of El Paso, much of the opposition came from parishioners in the community’s three Catholic parishes, who had moral objections to mass detention as well as practical concerns about the impact to their relatively small water system. “Human beings should not be treated like sardines. We are not sardines,” El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz said in Spanish to 50 people gathered on July 29 at San Felipe de Jesus parish in Socorro for a presentation on the proposed ICE detention center and other issues flagged by the Lower Valley Water District. The announcement on the Socorro warehouses follows reports that ICE plans to keep the controversial Camp East Montana detention facility open for at least another year, rejecting calls that it close over reported human rights abuses. The facility on Fort Bliss land can house up to 5,000 detainees, the largest immigration detention facility in the country.

Left-wing surge stalls in Wisconsin as Francesca Hong narrowly loses

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley narrowly won the Democratic nomination for governor in this battleground state, upsetting Democratic socialist Francesca Hong and delivering a significant blow to the party’s insurgent far-left flank. Hong, who led in polls ahead of Tuesday’s primary, had the backing of many progressives and the socialist left. But she lacked support from some of the movement’s top national names. Boosted by a late endorsement from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, Crowley was declared the winner by the Associated Press. With 98% of the expected vote tallied, he led Hong, 39.8% to 39.4%, the AP reported.

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The unexpectedly close race is the latest evidence that an intraparty fight among Democrats is far from over. Last week, Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in a divisive and costly Democratic Senate primary in Michigan that saw progressives claim one of their biggest victories to date. But the tight margins in Wisconsin and Michigan indicate that while the far left appeared to be surging, many voters still believe a more centrist approach is Democrats’ best hope to win competitive general elections. “There are a lot of people who are scared,” Crowley told the Wall Street Journal the day before the primary. “She is a self-proclaimed socialist. There are a lot of people worried about not just this party, but this country moving in that direction.” According to Wisconsin election rules, a candidate can request a recount if trailing by less than 1% of the total votes cast for the office. Crowley will face Tom Tiffany, a Republican congressman from northern Wisconsin, in the general election in November. The open-seat governor’s race in Wisconsin, the state that delivered the narrowest 2024 presidential election result, comes after Evers decided not to seek a third term.

State Stories

John Cornyn urges DHS consultation on Big Bend border projects

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is urging Department of Homeland Security officials to engage with local leaders, residents and business owners about border barrier projects in the Big Bend region. Cornyn sent a letter Friday to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, obtained by the American-Statesman, highlighting concerns about federal plans and construction of physical barriers in Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park. The longtime Republican senator pointed to concerns from local sheriffs, county judges and landowners that the projects could harm the landscape and local economy and impede access to the Rio Grande.

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Cornyn cited federal laws, including a requirement that federal agencies consult local governments, tribes and property owners to minimize impacts on nearby communities. He wrote that such communication has occurred in the past, but “it appears the level of coordination and communication related to proposed construction…has not been as fulsome as in prior years.” He cited an April 16 letter from 14 Texas-Mexico border county judges asking the agency to engage with their communities about the projects. To Cornyn's knowledge, he wrote, the letter never received a response. “The request from local officials and community leaders for coordination and communication appear very reasonable to me,” Cornyn wrote. “I would ask that you or your designees meet with Texas stakeholders directly to discuss their concerns before proceeding with any additional construction of physical barriers in [the region].”

They’re named in the Epstein files — and they donated to Ken Paxton’s campaign

At least one member of a Texas family whose business once considered buying Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious plane — the “Lolita Express” — donated thousands of dollars to support Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign earlier this year, according to federal campaign finance records. The Jaffe family, known for its real estate holdings and aviation business based in Texas, appears in two batches of Epstein documents released by the Department of Justice: once for trying to buy Epstein’s infamous plane, and once for reportedly associating — according to an anonymous tipster — with scantily clad young women. At least one member of the family also donated upwards of $6,000 to groups supporting Paxton after the Epstein files were released publicly, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

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The Paxton campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment, including a question about whether it would return the money. A member of the Jaffe family denied any wrongdoing to MS NOW during a phone call Monday. And Doug Jaffe III told MS NOW in an email early Tuesday morning that he had “absolutely nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein or the Epstein files.” “I never met Jeffrey Epstein, had no relationship or association with him, and have no knowledge of the anonymous tip you referenced,” he wrote. But in the Epstein files, Doug Jaffe III is mentioned in a 2020 anonymous tip call to the FBI National Threat Operations Center alleging possible sex and drug trafficking. According to the caller, in the early 2000s, Jaffe invited the caller to spend spring break with him and others at a villa in Mexico owned in part by his aunt. While there, the anonymous caller said they saw a “scandalously” dressed young girl, and estimated her age as roughly 11 or 12. “Doug told ANON the girl was his niece, which she later found out what [sic] a lie,” the FBI log of the call reads.

Brian Hawthrone: The truth about Flock

(Brian Hawthrone is the Chambers County Sheriff.) Social media is abuzz about Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR), and in turn, it has some of our citizens abuzz. One company in particular, Flock, is getting most of the coverage and most of that coverage is negative. Much of that negative publicity stems from police officers who have been alleged to have misused the data from that system. One recent social media headline from Lincoln Square reads, “More Than 20 Cops Have Been Arrested for Using Flock to Stalk Women.” Any of those allegations that are true are bad. It’s bad for public confidence. It’s bad for that law enforcement agency. It’s bad for the law enforcement profession. But, as with much in our society today, that headline has no context for the average reader. That headline, and similar anti-ALPR posts, seem to run daily giving the perception that such improper, and potentially illegal, behavior is rampant across the country. It is much like the emotion that sparks after a police shooting. The same story runs continuously, giving the impression that a police deadly force encounter happens every minute. It does not.

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Across the country every year, there are roughly 50 million police-initiated contacts with the public. Universally accepted statistics show those contacts will result in about 1,000 police shootings each year. That’s 0.002 percent of all police-initiated contacts. Of those 1,000 deadly force encounters, conservatively speaking, 997 of them will be unquestionable and not controversial. The remaining 3 will be questioned, protested, and potentially lead to criminal charges against the officers. Those 3 incidents represent 0.000006 percent of all police-initiated contacts with the public each year. That is 6 millionths of one percent! When we talk about that one bad shooting, that kind of context should give the public a better understanding of those incidents than what they get from mainstream and social media. Law enforcement ALPR cameras only identify that a vehicle was in a specific location at a specific time in a public space where anyone could see it. The camera has no way of knowing where you came from or where you are going. And it doesn’t even know who you are. It only records an image of the license plate and vehicle. Using that image to identify who that vehicle belongs to requires access to the state DMV database. Those two systems are separate, and each requires separate authorization to access its data – an appropriate privacy protection. In government, and especially in law enforcement, we have access to many databases that we use daily to investigate and solve crimes. Through law enforcement databases, we can access the driver’s license, vehicle registration, and criminal history from every state and the federal system.

Lina Hidalgo blasts Democratic commissioners in scathing Substack post

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said her Democratic colleagues on Commissioners Court have abandoned the principles that swept them into office as part of the 2018 Blue Wave, and called on voters to scrutinize the court's recent decisions in a scathing post made to Substack. The fusillade is the latest in an ongoing dispute between Hidalgo and her fellow Democrats that emerged after the party achieved a 4-1 supermajority on the court in 2023, and has produced bitter arguments between the county judge and two of her colleagues. The animosity shows no signs of abating as Hidalgo, who did not seek reelection this year, enters her final months in office. Hidalgo said a combination of questionable relationships between her Democratic colleagues, their campaign donors and the contracts they approve, coupled with recent raises for county law enforcement and subsequent cuts to programs in other departments, are part of the court's backslide into practices she said were common under the its pre-2019 Republican majority.

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"Here we are again but this time, sadly, under the Democratic label," Hidalgo wrote on Substack. "Members of Commissioners Court have campaign coffers so large there are no primaries to speak of. Blatant pay to play with No-Bid contracts awarded to donors. Catastrophic budgetary decisions with little public awareness." Pay to play, or exchanging government contracts for campaign contributions, is illegal. Commissioners have repeatedly said they are not corrupt. The bulk of Hidalgo's criticisms were directed toward Commissioners Adrian Garcia and Lesley Briones, both moderate Democrats who are up for reelection this year and with whom Hidalgo has clashed over funding for law enforcement and other initiatives. None of Hidalgo's fellow Democrats responded to a request for comment. The Harris County Democratic Party also did not respond. The post was the first made to Hidalgo's newly created Substack, which she launched in late July. She first publicly shared the page in a Facebook post Monday. Hidalgo said waning public interest in county government — fueled in part by decisions made by her colleagues that she said disenfranchised residents — prompted her to seek out a platform she could use to directly engage with the public.

Beef recall in Texas: USDA recalls nearly 30,000 pounds

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is warning Texas consumers about nearly 30,000 pounds of raw beef recalled after the products entered the country without required federal reinspection. Corte Argentino USA LLC of Aventura, Florida, is recalling about 29,628 pounds of raw beef imported from Argentina, according to the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. The recall was announced Aug. 8 after officials determined the products entered the United States without undergoing required import reinspection. FSIS reinspection can include reviewing documentation, verifying labels and packaging, evaluating a product's condition and, when necessary, testing samples for contaminants. No illnesses or injuries linked to the recalled beef have been confirmed, according to the USDA. Anyone concerned about an illness or injury should contact a health care provider.

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The raw beef products were produced from May 15 through May 20, 2026, and have use- or freeze-by dates from Sept. 15 through Sept. 20, 2026. Article continues below this ad The recalled products are marked with the Argentine establishment number "EST. N° OF. 2025" and shipping mark "26644-AA." They were distributed to businesses and stores in Texas and Florida. The recall includes various-weight cardboard boxes containing Frigorifico Gorina SAIC boneless beef products: Top Sirloin Butt ("Cuadril Sin Tapa"), Eye Round ("Peceto"), Topside Cap Off ("Nalga AD S/Tapa"), Flat ("Carnaza Cuadrada"), and Knuckle ("Bola de Lomo").

Tan Parker: It’s back to school for local students

There is a rhythm to August in North Texas. The heat settles in, the summer that felt endless suddenly seems to have slipped away, and families turn their attention to a new school year. Backpacks come down from the closet, supply lists are checked, and a generation of Texas students prepares to walk through the schoolhouse doors. I have always loved this season. Beth and I raised our daughters in our community, where they attended Lewisville ISD schools. We vividly remember the mix of anticipation and disbelief that comes with watching your children begin another school year – and how quickly they grow up! While the paths our children ultimately forge will differ, I believe one of our most consequential responsibilities is preparing the next generation of Texans for a bright and prosperous future.

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Whether a student’s journey leads to a university, a skilled trade, military service, or directly into the broader workforce, each pathway can open the door to a life of opportunity and purpose. For students entering higher education this fall, Governor Greg Abbott recently reaffirmed his directive freezing undergraduate tuition and fees at Texas public colleges and universities through the 2026–27 academic year. For high school students interested in gaining career-ready skills before graduation, Texas invested an additional $153 million to expand Career and Technical Education opportunities as part of the $8.5 billion in new public education funding approved last legislative session. The legislation also directed additional resources toward teacher and staff pay, early literacy, school safety, and special education. This school year, Texas will also have a more student-centered approach to special education funding, based on each child’s individual needs rather than primarily on the classroom setting in which instruction is provided. The new framework will consider the services, technology, equipment, and professional support required to help each student succeed. That same conviction guided House Bill 2310, legislation I was honored to carry in the Senate. For too long, families of young children with disabilities or developmental delays have had to navigate early childhood services divided among three state agencies. Each agency performs vital work, but separate systems can create barriers, complicate transitions, and allow important information or resources to slip through the cracks.

Southwest bolsters Board with two CEOs

Southwest Airlines has appointed Jason Liberty, Chairman and Chief Executive of Royal Caribbean Group, and Varun Krishna, Chief Executive of Rocket Companies, to its Board of Directors with immediate effect. The airline said the appointments will strengthen the board’s expertise in technology, digital innovation, commercial strategy and financial leadership as Southwest continues to execute its strategic priorities. Liberty has led Royal Caribbean Group as Chief Executive since 2022 and became Chairman in 2025, having previously served as Chief Financial Officer for nine years. During more than two decades at the company, he has held senior roles across finance, strategy, technology and operations. Krishna leads Rocket Companies, the financial technology group whose businesses include Rocket Mortgage and Redfin. Before joining Rocket, he held senior positions at Intuit, PayPal, Groupon and Microsoft. Southwest said the two executives bring experience leading large, customer-focused companies through periods of growth and transformation.

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Conservative group attacks Talarico on trans rights with AI-slop LBJ

Last week, the infamous 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson ad, "Daisy" got a Texas-ified remake courtesy of a conservative advocacy group that has been at the forefront of anti-trans policy-making. The group put the ad, which was generated with AI, out on behalf of Texas Attorney General and Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ken Paxton. Though it only ever aired once during the 1964 presidential campaign, "Daisy," is one of the most important ads in the history of American political campaigns. In it, a little girl picks petals off of a daisy while counting to 10. A voiceover interjects, counting down from 10 as the camera zooms into the girl's eye. Then, a flash of nothing before a nuclear explosion fills the screen. It's gutsy, shocking, like something out of an early horror film. But it got the message across: Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee, will risk civilization itself if elected president. In the AI-sloppified remake,instead of the spectre of nuclear war, the ad is playing on a different fear: that Democratic nominee James Talarico will literally perform transgender surgery on your daughter.

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"She dreams of growing up, falling in love, becoming a mother," a poor man's facsimile of LBJ says. The scene cuts to an old-school operating room, where the girl is lying in a hospital bed with some sort of breathing device strapped to her face. Then, a masked doctor pops up, pulls down his mask, and reveals himself to be Talarico (if his nametag didn't clue you in). "Keep counting," fake Talarico says eerily. "The trans industry preys on confused children. Irreversible puberty blockers," the fake LBJ voice continues as the camera zooms in on the girl's eye. "Cross-sex hormones. Sex-change surgeries. This November, stop them before it's too late." "VOTE FOR KEN PAXTON ON NOV. 3," the ad concludes. It's unclear where, exactly, this ad will run. APP said it was a $10 million ad buy, but did not respond to Chron's request for comment on whether it will run on TV. But the Virginia-based American Principles Project has been instrumental in pushing anti-trans laws and rhetoric around the country. APP President Terry Schilling has urged Republicans to adopt anti-trans talking points to attack Democrats. Schilling said on X that a "$4.5 billion transgender industry" preys on children and blasted Talarico for voting against a 2023 bill banning gender affirming care for minors in Texas. "If you want to protect kids and your tax dollars, vote for Ken Paxton!" Schilling wrote. But Schilling and his contemporaries who pushed Republicans to emphasize transgender attack ads have admitted in interviews that their goal is to eliminate transition care entirely. The initial focus began with children because his group was "going where the consensus is," Schilling told the New York Times. Riley Gaines, the former swimmer who has advocated against trans women in women's sports and gender affirming care for trans youth, has similarly said that focusing on sports "will be the card that makes all of it crumble."

Dallas County commissioners pass budget, give voters chance to vote on homelessness tax

Dallas County commissioners decided on Tuesday to add a homelessness tax proposal to the November election ballot — and approved the first tax rate increase since 2010. Commissioners, though split 3 to 2, also approved a tax rate of $0.2246 for every $100 in value for fiscal year 2027. Adding the homelessness tax proposal to the mid-term ballot also was split 3 to 2. It lets voters decide whether to approve that tax. It would fund homelessness outreach services and resource support, including housing and mental heath treatment. The county would be locked in to a minimum 5-year contract with the non-profit Housing Forward. That organization would help allocate money among housing and healthcare network programs.

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Commissioners John Wiley Price and Elba Garcia voted not to include the proposal on the ballot. "The voters deserve a well-designed plan with measurable objectives and that is what is not there," Garcia said Tuesday. " Several speakers voiced their support for the proposal on Tuesday. The proposal originally included public safety components, like more crisis intervention training for law enforcement and a program that helps people in jail who self-report homelessness to secure shelter and support services. Those and other programs were removed from the proposal language, lowering the adopted budget to about $1.59 billion. The county shouldn't ask taxpayers for more than it needs, Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins said. "We don't need to tax the voters at a higher rate than 2.4," he said. "That's what the amendment is. We've worked that budget again and again. We've found those savings, so let's only charge what is necessary." To comply with state law, the tax rate was raised on Tuesday to its historical high before voters get the choice to approve more.

Texas county defends plan to swap voting maps between primary and November election

A Texas county told the state Supreme Court it can change its voting maps between its primary and November general election — doubling down on what pro-voting plaintiffs warn could be replicated across the state to undermine the will of the voters. Whether Galveston County can switch out its district maps is not just a local dispute. A win for the county could embolden other Texas jurisdictions to tweak election maps after seeing primary results in order to boost partisan advantages in the general election. However, Galveston argues it is well within its powers under the Texas Constitution to redraw district boundaries when and how it sees fit, admitting in its brief that the latest adjustment is an attempt to boost Republicans’ odds of winning their races.

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“Practically, there are many reasons why a county’s commissioners may adopt changed precinct boundaries between a primary and general election,” the county argued in a new response filed Monday. “They may want to increase partisan performance (as here), address new laws, or comply with population requirements.” Pro-voting plaintiffs filed an emergency petition last week asking the Texas Supreme Court to block the 11th-hour map switch, arguing the Texas Election Code requires that a political party’s nominees for a county general election be selected by a primary election. Galveston County’s local maps have been at the center of a years-long redistricting legal battle. Pro-voting plaintiffs are still fighting to block a GOP gerrymander that was struck down in 2023 by U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed by President Donald Trump. The decision was later reversed by the ultra-conservative Fifth Circuit, and some of the claims are still being litigated in the district court. On Friday, Brown, who was weighing a request to end what is left of that prior federal case, called the timing of Galveston County’s map swap “highly suspicious.” Ironically, Brown also noted that GOP officials didn’t do a particularly good job at redrawing the map for partisan gain.

After refusing abortion, surrogate travels to TX for legal protection

An out-of-state surrogate has traveled to Texas seeking medical care for the unborn child she’s carrying, according to the Texas Attorney General’s office, after refusing the intended parents' request for an abortion. Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office announced Tuesday that it is intervening in a Dallas County court case, on behalf of the pregnant woman and the fetus she’s carrying. The announcement comes days after the surrogate, McKenna West, spoke in an interview with The Megyn Kelly Show. West, who lives in Alaska, said in the interview that she signed a surrogacy contract with a couple who wanted a child. The Texas attorney general’s legal filing identified the couple as living in California.

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The surrogacy contract, West said in the interview, allowed the intended parents to choose to terminate the pregnancy, although West didn’t believe they’d take that option. At about 20 weeks' pregnancy, West said, the fetus she’s carrying was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. After the diagnosis, according to West’s interview, the intended parents wanted the pregnancy to be terminated. West, however, refused. The pregnant woman has now traveled to Texas, according to Paxton’s office, seeking legal protections and medical care for the unborn child. The congenital heart condition typically requires multiple surgeries soon after birth. An attorney for the intended parents did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. When The Dallas Morning News sent a request for comment to an attorney representing West, a spokesperson for Alliance Defending Freedom responded and said the surrogate is not currently available for an interview. Although West has not yet given birth, the Texas attorney general has preemptively requested that UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas provide life-saving care to the child upon birth.

‘Smear, smear, smear’: Tarrant County judge candidates feud over polling locations

Two Tarrant County Commissioners Court members are throwing names across party lines over the recent proposition to cut 140 polling sites for the 2026 midterm election. Last week, the five-person court unanimously agreed that the slash was far too large and sent Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig back to the drawing board. Democrat Alisa Simmons, the Precinct 2 commissioner, has sent out at least five campaign emails in roughly a week blaming Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare and the two other Republicans for the proposed cuts. All of the emails included a prompt to donate to Simmons’s campaign or sign a petition in her favor. Simmons is running against O’Hare for his seat as Tarrant County Judge in the Nov. 3 election.

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“Either Tim O’Hare KNEW a proposal to eliminate ALMOST HALF of our voting locations was moving forward and failed to put a stop to it,” two of the emails said. “OR, if you take him at his word, he did not know what was happening inside the very government he is supposed to lead. Neither explanation is acceptable.” Simmons was also slated to speak at a rally prior to the Tuesday commissioners court meeting where speakers called the proposal “voter suppression.” She did not end up speaking and didn’t give a reason why. In the meeting, when the full court discussed the proposal for the first time, O’Hare was the first to say the number of Election Day voting sites was way too low. Simmons agreed but believed O’Hare or one of the other Republicans prompted the slash. Every member on the court said they didn’t know about the proposed cuts until it came out in the agenda the week before their public meeting. Ludwig said he did not run the proposal by any member of the court. In order to come up with the 176 sites, he said he apolitically looked at the map of election precincts and determined how many voting locations would be adequate with an increased turnout. In response to Simmons’s claims, O’Hare said she is being completely dishonest.

Fort Worth makes major moves towards data center moratorium, regulations

After a summer of fits and starts, with multi-billion dollar developments circling the city, Fort Worth took major steps on Tuesday to regulate and limit the growth of data centers — with a potential moratorium now taking shape. Past 11:30 p.m. at the Fort Worth City Council’s Aug. 11 meeting, after several hours of public comment, council members approved several measures related to the local regulation of data centers, and began a lengthy process of implementing a local moratorium on new data center developments. It’s a move that local advocacy groups have been calling for for months, even as the city instead focused on a large package of new regulations for data centers.

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Along with initiating the moratorium process, the city will now establish a Data Center Infrastructure Commission that would, according to the resolution passed on Tuesday, “conduct a comprehensive, fact based evaluation of data center development.” The commission will be made up of 11 members, led by Dr. Mike Slattery, director of the Institute for Environmental Studies at Texas Christian University. The commission will include industry experts and academics, plus several community members. The ultimate goal of the commission will be to produce a report to the city council in November. The council also approved a resolution that, following a directive from Gov. Greg Abbott for Texas to pause the approval of new data centers until two state regulators can audit all existing applications, any data centers developers looking to build in Fort Worth would have to receive necessary state approvals before the city would approve any development permits. Council members approved the measure after dozens of residents gave more than two hours of public comment, including state representatives who are running for statewide office.

USDA secretary says Edinburg sterile fly production facility ahead of schedule

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott visited Moore Air Base Monday to discuss plans to prevent further spread of the New World screwworm. Following a brief demonstration of the Department of Homeland Security’s surveillance drones and a roundtable discussion, Rollins took to a podium on the tarmac to address the media. She said that progress on the sterile fly production facility, located at Moore Air Base, is ahead of schedule.

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When ground was broken for the new facility in April, the project was estimated to be completed in November of next year. “We are now planning to open seven months ahead of schedule,” Rollins announced. “This facility will be fully operational by April 1st of this coming spring.” Upon completion, Rollins said that the facility will produce up to 100 million sterile flies per week. She said that they hope to increase that amount to 300 million by late 2028. “A big shout out to the team here at Moore Air Base that helped us open the dispersal facility, which may not have seemed like a big idea when we did that last spring,” Rollins said. “Once the screwworm hit our side of the border, and once we began to identify and then immediately move in flies to drop over where those confirmations were, it is this fly facility and this team, this dispersal facility right here where we’re standing, it is the reason that I believe we have been so successful in the containment.”

National Stories

Hunter Biden is now everywhere. What does he want?

Hunter Biden is going places that few Democrats will go. He’s also going places few Republicans will go. On Monday, Tucker Carlson aired a lengthy conversation with the former president’s 56-year-old son. They talked about social media, war, and President Trump. “I think he’s one of the most transformational individuals in our political history, all for ill,” Hunter Biden said of Trump on the program. This came shortly after Hunter Biden sat down with Nick Fuentes for a two-hour conversation about a range of things, including Fuentes’s past comments on Jews and Hunter’s past use of cocaine. And they talked about Trump. On Friday, Hunter Biden told the BBC that his father’s cancer was very serious, having spread to his bones and “further.” Jill Biden’s book came out earlier this year, and Joe Biden’s book is scheduled to publish in November.

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But Hunter Biden is suddenly the one with the megaphone. He’s everywhere: tweeting, appearing on podcasts, talking about America and, often, Trump. He is in front of audiences that in the past might have viewed Hunter Biden as an archetypal villain. Maybe they still do. For much of Biden’s presidency, Hunter Biden’s life, drug use, gun ownership, personal behavior, and personal photographs were put on full display. Hunter kept a mostly lower profile then. He started an account on X in May. Carlson, in the interview released Monday, pressed Hunter on why he was speaking out in this way (the two said they’ve known each other more than 30 years). Hunter said his life had become so exposed by critics and others that he felt he had nowhere else to go. “In that total exposure, there was nowhere to hide,” he said. “The only way out was through—owning the things that were true and speaking truth to the things that were false.” That’s Hunter’s version of his motivation. Many people are dubious, questioning his motives. Welcome to politics. If Hunter Biden is going to be a main voice in American politics in 2026 and beyond, that might be a development Trump is more than happy to welcome.

In South Carolina, Sen. Darline Graham advances to a GOP special primary runoff for U.S. Senate

Sen. Darline Graham, who is serving out the remainder of her brother's term, didn't secure enough votes to win Tuesday's primary outright, but she did receive enough of the total to advance to a runoff. Also advancing to the Aug. 25. runoff is Rep. Ralph Norman. That's according to race calls by The Associated Press. President Trump backed Graham, who was appointed by South Carolina's Gov. Henry McMaster last month to complete her late brother's term. Yet some GOP voters say while they respect the president's endorsement, they chose other candidates in a crowded field.

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After her appointment, Sen. Darline Graham had a busy few weeks as South Carolina's junior senator voting on key items in Washington, including the confirmation vote of Attorney General Todd Blanche and a bill long championed by her brother to sanction buyers of Russian oil and gas. "This campaign schedule has been absolutely brutal," Graham told reporters Saturday in Florence, S.C., following a campaign event. "But you know what, I'm still standing, I'm still going and that shows you how strong I am." At a tele-rally on Monday, Trump said that Graham is the best candidate to support the goals of his administration. "[She] will help us achieve our mission to Make America Great Again," Trump said. "She looks so nice, but she's actually tough and strong, and she's the perfect person to carry on Lindsey's legacy." Graham said that she would focus on cost of living concerns.

Progressive Peggy Flanagan sweeps Minnesota Senate primary in race defined by anti-ICE anger

Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, won the Democratic primary for US Senate in a race centered on immigration enforcement after the Trump administration crackdown turned deadly and destructive earlier this year. Flanagan ousted congresswoman Angie Craig in yet another example of progressive campaigns toppling moderates amid an anti-establishment wave among Democrats. “It’s time to fight for what people actually need,” Flanagan recently told the Guardian. “And so often I think Democrats are like: ‘What do we think we can win?’ Instead of: ‘What are the fights that we should be picking?’” Flanagan will now face Michele Tafoya, a Republican former National Football League sideline reporter, in November. If she wins, Flanagan will become the first Native American woman in the Senate.

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Meanwhile, the state’s gubernatorial race proved a rebuke of Donald Trump’s endorsement power as Mike Lindell, an election denier and pillow salesman, lost to Lisa Demuth, the Minnesota house speaker. Demuth will face Amy Klobuchar, a Democratic US senator, in November, where Klobuchar is favored to win. Lindell’s significant campaign liabilities had led his own party to speak out against his campaign. He is contending with ongoing defamation cases because of his election denialism, as well as a potential campaign finance violation for handing out free pillows at a parade. He recently stepped down as CEO of MyPillow, which faces legal claims for unpaid bills. Minnesota leans Democratic. It has not elected a Republican statewide since 2006, when Tim Pawlenty won a second term as governor and a Republican presidential candidate has not won the state since 1972.

Democratic Rep. John Larson loses his primary to opponent calling for generational change

Democratic Rep. John Larson of Connecticut has lost his primary race to former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, NBC News projects, becoming the latest example of Democratic voters’ push to sweep out incumbent House members and replace them with younger leadership. Larson, 78, has been a fixture in Connecticut politics, having served for more than a decade in the state Legislature and almost three decades in Congress. A former member of party leadership, he touted his work on Social Security in Congress and had been backed by the state’s congressional delegation, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and key unions.

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But Bronin, 47, mounted a serious campaign against him, calling for generational change and arguing that President Donald Trump’s second term called for new energy and new direction from Democratic lawmakers. Bronin raised more money than Larson and won over party activists at the state convention, winning the state party’s endorsement. Larson is the 10th House member to lose a primary this year: seven Democrats and three Republicans. “In this moment, when Donald Trump is president, the job of a member of Congress isn’t just in the subcommittee rooms, it’s what you are doing outside the walls of the Capitol to build a movement,” Bronin said in a late May interview. “Over these next two years, it’s so important to have Democratic members of Congress using that platform not just to give red-faced speeches to an empty chamber for the C-SPAN cameras, but to ... carry our message, to win people back who lost faith in our party.” Asked Monday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press Now” about the movement for generational change in the Democratic Party, Larson said that “I think the change that we need is to continue to go after Donald Trump” and touted his “record of doing that.” “I have the endorsement of more elected officials, every sitting member in the congressional delegation, because they understand what I’ve been able to deliver,” he said. “They understand that they’re able to work with me, and they understand what I’ve been able to accomplish on their behalf. Luke Bronin has no record. I’m running on a record of accomplishment and achievement.” Bronin replied that Larson has been in office “for about 50 years, and for the last 10 years or so, I just think he’s gotten stuck in a routine. And I understand, you know, it’s hard to find anybody who does the same thing for 30 years and doesn’t get a little bit stuck in the routine, but this is not a moment that we can keep doing the same thing.”

No ID, No money, No way out: DHS deports a man to a country he doesn't know

Rogelio Bolufé stared out the porthole of the white Boeing 767 as the landing gear hummed to life. He eyed endless green fields, a sparkling expanse of water, and a sprawling city along a river. The 44-year-old Cuban, who’d lost months of his life inside the vast network of U.S. immigration jails, was staring at his new purgatory: southern Ecuador. His mind wasn’t on the reality of being stranded in this strange place; that despair would swallow him later. Instead, his thoughts were fixed on the piles of documents that had been taken by prison guards and vanished. And now, he thought, I disappear too.

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His deportee companions, mostly returning Ecuadorians and men from neighboring Peru, talked themselves into a frenzy over how they’d show journalists on the ground the deep and dark impressions on their wrists — evidence that they’d been tightly bound for more than 24 hours in hot and mostly stationary buses and planes with little water and infuriating discomfort. But when the plane landed at Aeropuerto Internacional José Joaquín de Olmedo minutes before noon on June 1, the tarmac was empty. Bolufé heard one man ask: “Don’t people worry about us?” He was still wearing his dark green prison clothes when he stepped into the scorching midday sun, down the stairs and onto the runway. An American man in uniform handed him a sheet of paper. “Pasaporte de emergencia,” it read. “Ecuatoriano nacido en Ecuador.” Bolufé shot the man a confused look. The document was a blatant lie. Bolufé was not an “Ecuadorian born in Ecuador.” The Department of Homeland Security knew that. It was in his case file and detention records and plastered all over the internet thanks to his minor celebrity status in political circles back in Miami’s Little Havana.

Democrats are building their opposition to the Protect College Sports Act

Late Friday night, in the last hours before the Senate left for August recess, there was still a chance, however slim, that the Protect College Sports Act would go to a vote. Hours earlier, President Donald Trump had posted about the bill on Truth Social, telling senators to stay in Washington until they passed it. Sure, a handful of Republicans had filed last-minute amendments, some of which called for significant changes to the 171-page legislation. But Republicans pushing the bill started riding the president’s endorsement as hard as they could, hoping it would get the PCSA to the floor. And it was about that time, when there was a “new groundswell of interest in the bill,” as one Senate aide put it, that Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) and Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) went to work. Each called a number of their fellow Democrats to explain why they don’t like the bill. They called labor groups, civil rights groups, all kinds of groups that could strengthen the public and private pushback. Their staffers called one another. A lot.

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Around 11:30 p.m., Senate leaders needed unanimous consent to proceed to a vote on the bill. Murphy and Booker objected. Then around 2 a.m., they objected a second time, as did a handful of other lawmakers from both parties, according to multiple aides. “Booker and Murphy put stakes in the ground and said we’re not moving,” said a lobbyist working on the bill. “And that was basically that.” According to the bill’s lead sponsors, Majority Leader John Thune agreed to make the bill a priority when the Senate returned in mid-September. But Murphy and Booker hadn’t just compressed the timeline for the bill to pass through the Senate and House before the midterms in November. They also gave themselves five more weeks to build up the Democratic opposition to it. “This month is now our opportunity to explain what’s in the bill,” Murphy told NOTUS. “And explain to people, and explain to our colleagues on the left, that this is a fundamental civil rights issue. That this is an unprecedented restraint on compensation for student-athletes, but particularly young Black student-athletes.”

Ex-ICE agent’s group awarded $158 million to represent migrant children

The Trump administration has awarded a $158 million contract to represent unaccompanied migrant children to a nonprofit group founded by a former immigration agent who inspired the film “Sound of Freedom,” a federal contracting database shows. A notice of the award to the Minneapolis-based group Our Rescue, which combats child trafficking, was posted online late Friday. The contract is with the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which oversees the care of minors who cross the border without authorization and without a parent or guardian. The award could increase up to $244 million, the contract notice showed. President Donald Trump’s administration in recent weeks has pivoted away from working with advocacy groups that previously represented the minors. Last week, a small Texas law firm with ties to the Trump administration was awarded a $150 million no-bid contract to represent unaccompanied minors in their immigration court proceedings.

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That firm, Burke Law Group, is helmed by Marcella Burke, a former Trump appointee. Immigration advocates criticized the contract and the Trump administration’s decision to cut ties with groups that had two decades of experience in legally represented minors. Our Rescue was founded in 2013 by Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who quit his job and embarked on efforts to rescue children from sex trafficking rings in countries including Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, and Thailand. His work was loosely fictionalized in “Sound of Freedom,” a 2023 film starring actor Jim Caviezel that drew acclaim from conservatives. Others, however, criticized the movie for catering to unfounded conspiracy theories, including those peddled by the far-right group QAnon. During Trump’s first term, Ballard was appointed in 2019 as a co-chair of a council tasked with making antitrafficking recommendations to the White House. Ballard abruptly left Our Rescue in July 2023, days before “Sound of Freedom” was screened at Trump’s private club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Copyright August 12, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved