January 23, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

5 years after Uri, here’s why Texas leaders say state is better prepared for upcoming freeze

A far-reaching winter storm is expected to bring below-freezing temperatures, wintry precipitation and “dangerous ice” to Texas beginning Jan. 23, according to the National Weather Service. As residents brace for days of potentially hazardous conditions, state leaders said Jan. 22 that the Texas power grid “has never been stronger” and will withstand the storm. Nearly five years earlier, Winter Storm Uri blanketed Texas, devastating a power grid that was unprepared for the historic February 2021 storm. Nearly 250 people died during prolonged power outages across the state, Community Impact reported. State officials said Jan. 22 that they are prepared for the dayslong storm and will ensure issues from 2021 do not occur this year. “The power grid system we have today is completely different than the power grid system we had back then,” Gov. Greg Abbott said during a Jan. 22 news conference in Austin. “We have abundant power [and] the reliability of it has never been better.”

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Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 134 of Texas’ 254 counties, telling reporters that the northern two-thirds of the state—from San Antonio to the Panhandle—will be impacted by the storm. The Dallas-Fort Worth area may be the hardest-hit, officials said, with Community Impact reporting that sleet and below-zero wind chills will reach the region as soon as Jan. 23. “This is a severe winter storm that will impact most of the state of Texas,” Abbott said. “The severity of it is not quite as great, and the size of it is not quite as great as Winter Storm Uri. That said, people would be making a mistake if they don't take it serious.” Officials said they do not expect a repeat of the widespread power outages that occurred in 2021, emphasizing that changes have been made in recent years to harden the grid against extreme weather and secure backup power supplies. Some Texans could see “local, isolated” outages due to fallen tree branches or ice on power lines, Abbott said. Local and state agencies are preparing for the freeze by treating roadways, setting up warming centers, monitoring water supplies and making additional power supplies available. Texas Department of Transportation crews began treating roads early in the week to prevent ice from accumulating, with falling temperatures and wintry precipitation—including sleet and freezing rain—expected in parts of the state Jan. 23 through the weekend. TxDOT will be at “peak operations” in the coming days, with approximately 5,000 personnel operating hundreds of vehicles and equipment across Texas, Executive Director Marc Williams said.

Natural gas prices soar as U.S. braces for Arctic blast

Natural-gas prices have jumped 63% this week in response to forecasts calling for some of the coldest, snowiest weather in years to freeze the country from the West Texas desert to the Great Lakes. The forecasts have stoked fears of a repeat of the deadly winter storm that froze Texas in 2021 and left millions of people without electricity for days. Energy producers and utilities are preparing for the worst. The Energy Department late Thursday ordered grid operators to be prepared to take extraordinary steps to tap in to backup power generation. Subzero temperatures are in store for Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit starting Friday. New York and Washington, D.C., are expecting to be buried in snow by the end of the weekend.

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The big concern in energy markets is for Texas and other parts of the southern U.S., where uncommonly cold temperatures threaten to ice some of America’s most prolific oil-and-gas fields and wreak havoc on the power grid. Prices for electricity this weekend are already surging in Texas. The biggest gains in natural-gas prices have been for near-term deliveries. Futures for February delivery of the heating and power-generation fuel had their biggest three-day percentage gain on record. Futures settled Thursday at $5.045 per million British thermal units, up from $3.103 at the end of last week. The arctic blast has the potential to be felt in energy markets for a long time. Traders are anticipating a big chunk of U.S. production will become blocked in frozen wells when heating demand is highest, necessitating a huge drawdown of domestic stockpiles to keep furnaces and boilers running. They are betting the incoming weather will be cold and persistent enough to change the outlook for domestic supply, which a week ago appeared headed for another glut that depressed prices and pinched producers.

5-year-old boy taken by ICE in Minneapolis being held with father in Texas; used him as ‘bait

A 5-year-old child and his father arrested by federal immigration agents in Minnesota this week are now being held in a South Texas detention facility, their attorney said Thursday. Lawyer Marc Prokosh said the child, Liam Ramos, and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, were sent from Minneapolis to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley on Tuesday. The facility, run by private contractor CoreCivic, was closed in 2024 by the Biden administration, but reopened under the Trump administration last March. It can hold up to 2,400 people.

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Minnesota school officials have said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Ramos and his father in their driveway as they were coming home from school on Tuesday. They alleged the child was used as “bait” to lure his mother and others out of the home. News reports about the incident have since gone viral. The Department of Homeland Security has denied that it targeted the child. The agency claimed the father fled on foot as officers tried to arrest him and agents “remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias.” “Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the agency, in a public statement. “This is consistent with past administration’s immigration enforcement. Parents can take control of their departure and receive a free flight and $2,600 with the CBP Home app.” At a press conference in Minneapolis Thursday, school officials disputed DHS's account. Mary Granlund, the president of the school board, said she was on her way to get her children from school when she heard a commotion and saw people at the home. "I got out of my car and came around the corner, I heard, 'What are you doing? Don't take the child,'" Granlund said. She said the mother, who was in the house, told officers there were people who could care for Ramos. When they saw Granlund, she said, someone said "school is here, they can take the child. You don't have to take them."

Texas sheriff Martin Cuellar, brother of Rep. Henry Cuellar, indicted on fraud charges

Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar was arraigned on federal embezzlement charges in Houston on Thursday morning. The South Texas sheriff, along with his former first deputy, Alex Gutierrez, is accused of theft or bribery related to the use of government-funded cleaning supplies, which were used for COVID-related disinfection work from 2020 to 2022. Cuellar and Gutierrez are accused of using the sheriff office's staff and resources to run a for-profit business, Disinfect Pro Master, according to the Justice Department. The men, along with another former sheriff's office employee, Assistant Chief Ricardo “Rick” Rodriguez, opened a disinfecting business in April 2020 and entered into agreements with local businesses that lacked cleaning services and supplies, authorities said.

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Prosecutors allege sheriff's office employees handled the company's day-to-day to operations and conducted some of the disinfecting work on the clock. The company allegedly got a $500,000 contract to clean facilities at United Independent School District, a 40,000-student school district in Laredo. The cleaning was done "almost entirely" with county employees, according to prosecutors. Cuellar and the other men received $175,000 for their part in the business, according to the indictment. Cuellar, 67, and Gutierrez, 47, were indicted in November. The case was ordered unsealed on Thursday. Charging documents weren't immediately available. Both men pleaded not guilty and were released on bond. Officials said during the Thursday hearing that the indictment was connected to a 2023 FBI raid of the sheriff's office. Cuellar said at the time that the raid focused on Rodriguez. Rodriguez has already pleaded guilty for his role scheme, according to the Justice Department. In a written statement, Cuellar's lawyer, Eric Reed, denounced the charges, calling them "baseless and driven by false narratives and assumptions fueled by politics and rivalries." "The whole truth is that Sheriff Cuellar's actions were entirely lawful even if the conduct of other was not," Reed said. "The charges relate to the COVID-19 pandemic and the relentless fight by first responders and others to stop its spread." Reed said Cuellar helped lead an effort to prevent COVID infections in the Webb County jail, as well as in churches, nursing homes, daycare facilities, among other places.

State Stories

John Whitmire announces he will seek a second term as Houston mayor

Houston Mayor John Whitmire will be running for re-election, or so he indicated during a roughly hour-long conversation with Houston attorney Tony Buzbee. "I will run for another term as mayor, and plan on serving two four-year terms," Whitmire told Buzbee. "I think it takes that long at least to correct some of the mistakes and get us back on the right path and finish some of my reorganization." Whitmire broke the news during the latest episode of Buzbee's podcast, "Swimming with the Sharks," uploaded on Wednesday. The much-anticipated podcast release shines a rare light on Whitmire's roughly first two years sitting at the city's helm. The mayor is notably selective about which media he speaks with, which he himself noted in the conversation.

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Chron contacted Whitmire's office for further comment but did not receive a response by publication. Whitmire's office has not responded to Chron since August 2025. Recently, when attempting to contact the mayor's spokesperson at City Hall, a Chron reporter was told the spokesperson and the mayor would remain unavailable to Chron for "a while." Whitmire and Buzbee discussed the controversial Houston Police Department pay raises, Whitmire's attention to rectifying the unhoused "issue," public safety and road and drainage conditions. The mayor reflected on his time in elected leadership, having served in the Texas House and the Texas Senate for nearly four decades before pursuing a mayoral bid. Whitmire's tenure has been characterized as contentious by some Houstonians. He regularly receives backlash for his approach to uprooting road projects, has lost the eligibility to receive future endorsements from his party, and, more recently, was criticized for the lack of transparency regarding HPD's cooperation with ICE, among other issues.

Texas orphaned oil wells hit 20-year high, topping 11,000 statewide

Chronicle The number of orphaned wells across Texas reached over 11,000 at the end of 2025, breaking a 20-year record, according to the latest data from the state. So-called orphaned wells are oil and gas wells that are not actively maintained and have no operator on file with regulators, meaning the responsibility to clean up after and plug them lies with the state. Roughly 2,000 new wells joined the list over the last year, bringing the total of known orphaned wells to 11,123, according to the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry.

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Because of the continued consolidation of the oil and gas industry, increased production costs, and lower crude prices – the price of oil fell roughly 20% over the last year – companies are more likely to go bankrupt or dissolve, leaving unplugged wells behind for the state to fix. The number of orphaned wells across the state is likely to grow even further as a result. "While there has been a recent increase in these populations due to various external factors such as operator bankruptcies and aging wells, we are in the process of taking significant actions to increase our well plugging efforts," said Bryce Dubee, a spokesman for the Railroad Commission. The Railroad Commission earlier this month opened the "largest solicitation for well plugging and related services in our agency’s history," Dubee said, applying more than $350 million in federal funding and $100 million in state funding toward well plugging projects.

Immigration enforcement debate prompts disruptions at lengthy San Antonio City Council meeting

San Antonio City Council chambers were packed Thursday as residents crowded into a more than seven-hour meeting focused on the city’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The meeting was recessed multiple times after disruptions from the audience. Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones called for order at least three times, urging attendees to allow all speakers to be heard. “We are here to listen,” Jones said. “We also want to make sure every speaker, regardless of their viewpoint on the spectrum, is treated with respect.” The meeting was intended as a public briefing and listening session on how often the San Antonio Police Department works with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. City officials said that cooperation occurs only in limited circumstances required by state or federal law.

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According to data provided by SAPD, the department made roughly 51,000 arrests last year. Of those, 111 involved ICE detainer requests — when federal authorities ask local law enforcement to hold someone for pickup by ICE. Police said 49 of those cases involved Class C misdemeanors, while 62 involved Class B or higher offenses. Police Chief William McManus repeatedly emphasized that SAPD does not enforce immigration law. “I want to be very, very clear on this,” McManus told the council. “SAPD does not enforce immigration laws. We do not arrest people for immigration violations. We are not enabled to do that by law, and we do not have that jurisdiction.” Deputy City Manager Maria Villagomez added that out of roughly 1.8 million calls for service last year, only 258 incident reports included the word “immigration,” and most of those involved no federal action. McManus said SAPD participates in joint task forces with state and federal agencies primarily to share resources.

Texas data centers could consume 161 billion gallons of water annually by 2030

Texas data centers could consume up to 161 billion gallons of water annually by 2030, according to a white paper released Wednesday by the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC). Existing data centers in Texas consume an estimated 25 billion gallons of water each year for electricity generation and cooling systems, and their demand on the Lone Star Stater’s valuable natural resources is only going to grow, the report cautions. Considered the most rapidly growing data center market in the country, Texas is experiencing a boom in construction of the facilities with many more on the way.

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“Texas is no stranger to industrial booms, having ridden waves of oil, gas, and manufacturing, but the data center surge presents a unique challenge that requires immediate attention,” HARC President and CEO John Hall said in an emailed statement. “Our analysis makes one fact unavoidable: When we talk about data centers, we must talk about water. We have a rare window to shape how this industry grows and how Texas prospers. We can either plan now with foresight and transparency, or we will be forced to react later with our backs to the wall.” By 2030, data centers could potentially represent up to 2.7% of the state’s total water use. What’s more, HARC’s white paper cites critical planning gaps as bureaucratic blind spots in addressing this new problem of the rapidly accelerating digital age. The Texas State Water Plan, the primary tool for funding water infrastructure, relies heavily on historical data. As such, HARC argues, the plan doesn’t currently account for the future growth of data centers, leaving local communities to manage water security without adequate state-level support.

How a lawsuit by Ken Paxton gave Beto O'Rourke hope when it comes to politics

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton unwittingly gave Beto O’Rourke hope by suing him. It started over the summer, after O’Rourke donated $1 million to Texas House Democrats who had fled the state to try to stop the Republicans’ redistricting plan. In court documents, Paxton, a Republican from Collin County who is running for the U.S. Senate, argued O’Rourke was "operating a misleading financial-influence scheme" to help Texas House Democrats commit an illegal act. During an exclusive interview on the Texas Take Podcast, recorded live at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q in Austin, O’Rourke said it was a frivolous case that shouldn’t have had a shot. Still, his political action committee shelled out $400,000 to fight it in a legal system with judges appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, whom O’Rourke ran against in 2022.

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Ultimately, O’Rourke and Powered By People won. He said the verdict, delivered in September, shows that some things remain nonpartisan. “Not only did that feel good because it removed us from this frivolous legal jeopardy, but it felt good that regardless of party difference, there's something that still binds us together, and that's the United States Constitution,” O’Rourke said. But Paxton did succeed in one key way. The $400,000 lost to legal expenses became money that Powered By People couldn’t use on voter registration and turnout - the group’s core mission. “It was to bleed us dry of the resources we needed to support our volunteers out in the field,” O’Rourke said. “But lo and behold, we fought him toe to toe.”

Former ‘Lone Star Law’ game warden turns himself in after felony indictments

A former Texas game warden, once featured on Animal Planet’s “Lone Star Law,” was back in jail Wednesday after turning himself in following multiple felony indictments. Justin Charles Eddins, 47, of Jasper, was held at the Jasper County Jail on bonds totaling $100,000 for charges of false statement to obtain property or credit, more than $30,000 but less than $100,000; harvesting standing timber, more than $20,000 but less than $100,000; and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair, according to a press release. Eddins was indicted in October 2025 after he was charged with making a false statement to obtain credit, according to indictment documents received by KLTV. The indictment states Eddins made the false documents between March 2022 and November 2023 in an attempt to obtain loans amounting to between $150,000 and $300,000. Eddins was released Wednesday after his lawyer, Bill Morian, posted bail, according to Jasper County Sheriff Chuck Havard.

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Austin council members unanimously back new expense guidelines for their offices

City Council members voted to update policies governing their offices' spending, one of several financial and operational reforms they're pursuing in the wake of last year's failed tax rate election. Officials first suggested revising Austin's council spending policies in the fall, and have since been developing a new outline of allowable expenses and transparency measures. The updated policy unanimously approved Jan. 22 lays out various allowable expenses for council offices, as well as related financial reporting, staff training and enforcement standards. Officials' spending on items like office supplies, travel, hospitality, software, conferences and gifts are now outlined in the city's rulebook. All relevant city employees will now receive annual training on the policy, and public reports on all council office spending will be published online every year going forward.

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Mayor Kirk Watson, who first suggested the spending reforms after the November election, said the update consolidates and clarifies past guidelines while moving Austin's rules more in line with other Texas jurisdictions. "This will help safeguard public confidence and offer greater clarity on permissible and impermissible use of funds," he said. "When we reviewed the council spending policies, we found a bunch, a lot, a whole lot of decentralized administrative bulletins and governing policies. So this kind of ... brings those together.” A city analysis of local practices versus others across the state found Austin City Hall to be an outlier in terms of how officials' remaining funds are handled year-to-year. No other Texas cities allow council offices to carry any of their leftover budgets across fiscal years, and state senators are permitted limited office rollover. The draft version of Austin's new expense policy would have capped rollover budgets at $50,000, but that limit was removed through an amendment from council member José Velásquez who said offices need to maintain flexibility to better serve constituents. "While we all receive the same amount of funding, our communities have very different needs. Some examples of those are interpretation and translation services, and meeting with organizations and community leaders that serve monolingual Spanish speakers and immigrants," he said. "With regard to equity, I believe each council office better understands their communities’ individual needs rather than the body as a whole."

Bud Kennedy: One Texas Republican loses Greg Abbott’s support over ‘criminality’

Texas’ political season has been like a slow-developing TV plot so far, but Republicans finally have a cliffhanger. Somewhere way down the March 3 primary ballot, deep beneath races that won’t be decided until the May 26 runoff, cowboy Sid Miller is desperately gripping the reins and at risk of being bucked out of his job as Texas agriculture commissioner. Yes, I know. The race for agriculture commissioner is not must-see TV. Miller, a grinning Texas slickster straight out of a Taylor Sheridan drama, is known for wearing a big western hat, riding in rodeos and flashing a toothy smile as bright as the halogen headlights on a cattle truck. Miller has been agriculture commissioner for 11 years. Seems like 50.

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Maybe you remember when he declared war on lab-cultured meat. Or on affirmative action. Or on those crazy little seeds Amazon delivers from China. Gov. Greg Abbott has noticed. Abbott, usually cautious, issued one of his most blunt endorsements, backing Collin County Republican challenger Nate Sheets against Miller. Sheets, a creator of the “I Am Second” evangelical Christian video campaign, is also the beekeeper and founder behind Nature’s Nate Honey. Abbott took Miller behind the barn. Texans deserves an Agriculture Commissioner with “zero tolerance for criminality,” the governor posted. On his X.com campaign account, Abbott called Sheets a “principled leader” focused on promoting Texas agriculture, which is the commissioner’s primary job. That was after Miller told an East Texas campaign forum in Mineola: “Our governor — for 10 years, I’ve been trying to get him on the farm. Hadn’t got him there yet.” The governor’s “criminality” line did not refer directly to Miller. Abbott was talking about Miller’s political consultant, Todd M. Smith. Smith ran Miller’s campaigns for 25 years. He was behind Miller’s often-vulgar social media posts. In 2024, Smith pleaded guilty in a bribery case. He was put on a two-year probation after the Texas Rangers said he solicited $55,000 in exchange for licenses to grow hemp. So what did Miller do? He rehired Smith.

See who has the edge in CD18 runoff fundraising between Menefee and Edwards

With early voting underway and Election Day approaching in the runoff for Texas’ 18th Congressional District, campaign finance reports show the two campaigns are financially competitive heading into the final days. Through the most recent campaign finance reporting period ending Jan. 11, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee reported raising $2.23 million for the special election, compared to $1.74 million raised by former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards. Menefee also reported higher overall spending, roughly $1.8 million versus Edwards’ $1.4 million, but still entered the final stretch with $388,739 in cash on hand. Edwards reported $280,566.

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The bulk of both candidates’ fundraising came from individual donors. Menefee reported $2.09 million in individual contributions, while Edwards reported $1.66 million. Contributions from political committees made up a relatively small share of each campaign’s total, with Menefee reporting $138,550 from committees and Edwards reporting $55,350. The runoff election is being conducted by the current 18th Congressional District boundaries and caps a special election triggered by the prolonged vacancy of the seat after the death of Sylvester Turner earlier last year. Both runoff candidates, Menefee and Edwards, have also filed to run in the March Democratic primary for the newly redrawn CD 18. That race includes longtime representative Al Green, who previously represented Texas' 9th Congressional District, which now makes up a significant portion of the new 18th.

Dallas City Council puts tougher restrictions on proposed bullet train to Fort Worth

The Dallas City Council this week placed more restrictions on where a proposed bullet train connecting the city to Fort Worth can be built. City leaders voted unanimously Wednesday to restrict above-ground rail in parts of West Dallas including Harold Simmons Park. The resolution re-affirms and expands a 2024 resolution opposing “new aboveground passenger rail lines” through the Central Business District, Uptown, and Victory Park. “It is important because it sets parameters for such rail development should it ever come to pass, which at this time seems problematic in light of the Congress just this week reaching a deal to defund $928 million in high-speed rail grants,” said District 14 council member Paul Ridley, referring to a recently passed spending deal.

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The council also gave the go-ahead to the North Central Texas Council of Governments executive board to approve a $500,000 grant to study high-speed rail between Fort Worth and Houston. Even with the grant, Ridley said the planning process could have implications for future alignments through Dallas. Speaking to the NCTCOG board Thursday, Dallas City Council member Cara Mendelsohn reiterated the council's opposition to any above-ground rail going through downtown Dallas. "We have to do projects that are a win for everybody, and downtown Fort Worth and Arlington do not get below-grade treatment and Dallas gets seven stories up," she said. As part of the study, the council wants NCTCOG to evaluate upgrades to the existing Trinity Railway Express system “in lieu of a whole separate new high-speed rail right of way at a great additional expense,” Ridley said Wednesday. He said upgrading the Trinity Railway Express would be cheaper for the community heading west to Fort Worth.

Can Texas enforce immigration law on its own? Judges hear legal challenge.

The fate of a Texas law that makes it a state crime to enter the country without authorization could hinge on whether an immigrant advocacy center has a right to challenge the legislation, and if border enforcement is solely the federal government’s responsibility. Texas' Senate Bill 4 was passed in 2023 and makes unauthorized entry into Texas a state crime. The bill also makes unlawful presence in Texas a felony if a person has been denied entry or previously ordered removed. The bill was scheduled to go into effect in March 2024 but has been placed on hold after a federal district judge ruled in February 2024 that it conflicts with federal law and violates the Supremacy Clause of the United States.

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The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Thursday in New Orleans after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the court to reconsider the pause on the legislation. Most of the arguments centered on whether El Paso-based Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, will face harm and has standing to sue. The law was also challenged by the Biden Justice Department, but the Trump administration’s Department of Justice later dropped the lawsuit against Texas. The state of Texas argued in a court filing that Las Americas relied on a flawed theory to convince the court that it would suffer harm because it would need to divert resources to represent immigrants detained under the provisions of SB4. Texas’ argument focused largely on a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. In that case, the high court determined that the alliance didn’t have legal standing to sue the FDA. “The alliance argued the … governmental action impaired its ability to provide services and achieve its organizational mission. The Supreme Court held that argument does not work,” Texas Solicitor General William Peterson told the court. “I urge the court to resolve the case on standing grounds.”

Glenn Rogers: Go ahead; close public schools

Gov. Greg Abbott is following up his scorched earth removal of pro-public education Republican legislators with a plan to eliminate school property taxes, a move that could effectively dismantle the public school system as it currently exists. The endgame for the theo-oligarchs who control Texas state politics is complete dominion over what they call the Seven Mountains: family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business and government. Dominion over the education mountain is top priority and requires privatization and elimination of Texas public schools. But I have a few questions. First, if public education is as irredeemably broken, wasteful, ideological, incompetent and dangerous as some politicians insist, why not pull the plug now? Not a slow and gradual death, but overnight closure of every public school. Just shut the doors.

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After all, we have heard for years that public schools are failing children, indoctrinating, mismanaging funds and producing poor outcomes. If that is all true, why keep them open one more day? Why subject another child to such a vile system? Then, what happens after schools close? Here’s what: 5.5 million Texas students do not go anywhere. Parents — many of whom work hourly jobs or hold positions that do not come with flexibility — suddenly must answer a basic question: Where does my child go? Employers feel it immediately. Hospitals, construction sites, factories, restaurants, small businesses — everyone feels it. Gone, too, are special education services, speech therapy, behavioral support, school meals, transportation, counselors, dyslexia specialists, nurses and bilingual support. What about structure and predictability? Where will children be expected to show up, learn, interact and receive supervision for the bulk of the day? We received a glimpse of this nightmare during the pandemic. Remember how quickly we decided that school closures were catastrophic for kids? Remember how we said (correctly) that schools are more than buildings, more than instruction, more than test scores? Remember how we watched learning loss grow, mental health concerns skyrocket and parents reach a breaking point?

Wall Street’s Texas move gains steam as NYSE Texas hits 100-company milestone

NYSE President Lynn Martin joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss the launch of a new tokenized securities platform, a potential IPO surge in 2026 and why U.S. capital markets remain unmatched globally. The New York Stock Exchange’s quiet expansion into Texas is gaining rapid traction, with NYSE President Lynn Martin revealing that more than 100 companies have already dual-listed on NYSE Texas in under a year — a milestone that underscores Wall Street’s accelerating pivot toward the Lone Star State’s pro-business climate. "NYSE Texas, which we announced February of last year, brought it live March 31 of last year, and now have more than 100 dual listings on NYSE Texas in less than a year," President Lynn Martin told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo at the World Economic Forum on Thursday. "It’s going great," she continued.

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Earlier this week, President Donald Trump blasted plans to expand the New York Stock Exchange to Dallas, calling the move "unbelievably bad" for New York and a failure of city leadership. "Building a New York Stock Exchange in Dallas is an unbelievably bad thing for New York. I can't believe they would let this happen," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. He added that the move posed a "big test" for New York's newly inaugurated mayor, Zohran Mamdani. The New York Stock Exchange has said the Dallas expansion — a fully electronic equities exchange based in Dallas — is intended to broaden its footprint and better serve companies in the South and Southwest, not to replace its New York operations. NYSE Texas launched in March 2025 and continues to operate alongside the main exchange. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson predicts big firms will quit working in the Big Apple on 'Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street.'

National Stories

The House passed all 12 spending bills asserting their control

The House of Representatives on Thursday passed its 12th and final funding bill for the fiscal year — a productive pivot showing Congress can govern after months of legislative turmoil in the chamber. The House managed to pass all of its funding bills just months after a stand off on a spending package forced the longest government shutdown in history. Lawmakers are one step closer to avoiding another shutdown by the Jan. 30 funding deadline, pending action by the Senate and president. Lawmakers applauded in the chamber as the final package passed, while the Appropriations Committee’s chair and ranking member, Reps. Tom Cole and Rosa DeLauro, took a photo together on the House floor. The productive few weeks of churning through spending bills and passing them with bipartisan votes came after months of partisan fights that gridlocked Congress.

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House leaders couldn’t move forward with their agenda, and Republican leadership faced its own members using procedural maneuvers to force votes on issues they worked to avoid, like releasing the Epstein files and renewing health care subsidies. Even the lawmakers who negotiated the spending bills were surprised. DeLauro posed a rhetorical question to reporters Wednesday night: “I don’t believe that anyone thought that by Jan. 30 we would get to pass all the appropriations bills. Am I right?” she said. “We are.” The House approved the two final sets of appropriations bills Thursday. The first, funding for the Department of Homeland Security, passed 220-207 with help from seven Democrats: Reps. Jared Golden, Henry Cuellar, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Tom Suozzi, Laura Gillen, Vicente Gonzalez and Don Davis. Rep. Thomas Massie was the sole Republican ‘no.’ A shooting by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis had threatened the bill’s prospects for the last two weeks, though Republicans were confident it would ultimately squeak through. The second package garnered more bipartisan support in a 341-88 vote. It included funding for several departments: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Defense. Two dozen Republicans, mostly budget hawks, opposed the bill. House appropriators have been deep in negotiations over the past few months trying to come to bipartisan deals that could acquire support from both parties and be signed by the president, with some appropriators and their staff working over the holiday recess. Cole has said that keeping negotiations at the subcommittee level allowed bills to move forward without fights requiring leadership to step in. Many senior Republican appropriators and Speaker Mike Johnson gave Cole credit for getting the bills passed at a news conference Thursday evening.

Jamie Dimon issues rare CEO criticism of Trump’s immigration policy: ‘I don’t like what I’m seeing’

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday that he disagreed with President Donald Trump’s approach to immigration, offering a rare public rebuke by a U.S. corporate leader of one of Trump’s signature policies. Dimon, speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, initially praised Trump’s moves to secure the borders of the world’s largest economy. Illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border fell to the lowest level in 50 years for the period from October 2024 to September 2025, the BBC reported citing federal data. But Dimon, who has long advocated for immigration reform to boost U.S. economic growth, also made an apparent reference to videos of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers rounding up people alleged to be undocumented immigrants.

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?I don’t like what I’m seeing, five grown men beating up a little old lady,” Dimon said. “So I think we should calm down a little bit on the internal anger about immigration.” It’s unclear if Dimon was speaking about a specific incident, or more broadly about ICE confrontations. In the first year of his second term, Trump has overhauled U.S. immigration policy with a focus on mass deportations, tightened asylum access and ramped-up spending for ICE personnel and facilities. Among a torrent of new policies that changed the landscape for seeking American citizenship, the administration also rescinded guidance on where ICE arrests could happen, leading to raids at schools, hospitals and places of worship. Unlike during Trump’s first term, American CEOs have mostly avoided public criticism of his policies. Wall Street analysts have speculated that business leaders fear retribution from the Trump administration, which has sued media companies, universities and law firms, and instead choose to appeal to the president out of the public spotlight.

Sharyn Alfonsi, Scott Pelley’s jobs are on the line after pushing back against Bari Weiss’ CBS News shakeups: sources

Call it Game of … Microphones? “60 Minutes” correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Scott Pelley’s vocal pushback against CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss’s moves to shake up the outlet have put the duo at risk of being fired, The Post has learned. Both veteran correspondents could get the boot as Weiss, who has run the network since October, works to revamp “60 Minutes,” said sources with knowledge of the matter — who compared the ongoing intrigue to “Game of Thrones”-style drama. “It’s going to be a war,” a network insider told The Post. “They don’t think their s–t stinks,” the person said of the “60 Minutes” staff.

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CBS News is willing to buy out contracts of talent and executives, sources said. Alfonsi’s is up in a few months. It could not immediately be learned when Pelley’s contract is set to expire. The correspondents did not respond to requests for comment. CBS News did not immediately comment. Alfonsi irked Weiss by fighting the boss’ efforts to strengthen a recent report on El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, while Pelley has put a target on his back for a drumroll of commentary criticizing CBS News’ new leadership, sources said. Weiss is overseeing all the important political and cultural stories produced by the network — including “60 Minutes,” sources said, noting that the exec now takes part in a new Monday meeting with the show’s executive producer Tanya Simon. That’s a sharp departure from the “60 Minutes” tradition of operating as a kingdom unto itself for decades, when the show’s executive producer was the only person overseeing the show’s journalism. “CBS News is allergic to changes – especially ‘60 Minutes’ people,” said the network insider.

Rollins: Viral meal costs remark meant to describe ‘more robust plate’

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday that comments she made last week suggesting Americans could get a nutritious meal consisting of a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla, and “one other thing” for just $3 were meant to describe a “more robust plate.” Rollins clarified her remarks after being asked by a reporter whether she was being “a little bit flip” about the cost of groceries. “No, and well, I regret that I didn’t make it sound like a more robust plate because that is what I mean to make it sound like,” Rollins told reporters outside the White House.

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“A really big piece of chicken. And when I said a piece of broccoli, I meant like big. … I’m a mom of four, and I cook broccoli a lot. For me, that’s a big head of broccoli, a baked potato, etc., a couple pieces of bread,” she said. Rollins’s remark on meal prices came during an interview on NewsNation last week, where she addressed concerns over whether the White House’s new dietary guidelines meant it would become more expensive to maintain a healthy diet. “We’ve run over 1,000 simulations,” Rollins told anchor Connell McShane last Wednesday, insisting the Trump administration was not asking people to spend more on their diet. “It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, you know, a corn tortilla and one other thing,” she continued. “So, there is a way to do this that actually will save the average American consumer money.”

TikTok finalizes deal to keep operating in the U.S.

TikTok officially established a joint venture that would allow it to keep operating in the U.S., the company said Thursday, resolving a yearslong fight to address Washington’s national-security concerns. Under the terms of the deal negotiated by the Trump administration, the popular video-sharing app will be operated by a new U.S. entity controlled by investors seen as friendly to the U.S. Its data-management and algorithm-training on American users will be overseen by Oracle, the cloud-computing giant that has safeguarded its U.S. data for years and has close ties to the Trump administration. The deal was negotiated to comply with a law passed in 2024. President Trump delayed the implementation of the law a year ago after starting his second term to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. He signed a series of executive orders to extend the deadline for completing a deal until it was met Thursday.

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“I am so happy to have helped in saving TikTok!” Trump said in a social-media post Thursday night. He thanked Chinese leader Xi Jinping “for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal. He could have gone the other way, but didn’t, and is appreciated for his decision.” Trump and TikTok’s investors and allies pushed the deal through despite lingering concerns among lawmakers and security hawks that China could still influence the new entity through TikTok parent ByteDance, which owns almost 20% of it. “The majority American owned joint venture will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for U.S. users,” TikTok CEO Shou Chew said in an internal note to employees announcing the news. Chew’s deputy Adam Presser will lead the new entity, which was created after securing approval from the U.S. and Chinese governments. The board members include Chew, Oracle executive Ken Glueck and several investors. Oracle, private-equity firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX will each own 15% of the new entity while existing TikTok investors own about 30%. Other notable investors include Vice President JD Vance’s former firm Revolution and tech executive Michael Dell’s family investment office.

Judge skeptical of Trump's arguments he has proper authority to build White House ballroom

A federal judge appeared skeptical of the Trump administration's claims that it has the proper authority to continue construction on the East Wing site that was demolished last year. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon heard arguments Thursday on a motion brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to block the ongoing construction of the East Wing until the Trump administration goes through the appropriate approval processes, which it alleges the Trump administration has ignored. Friday's arguments focused primarily on two issues: whether the president can unilaterally renovate the White House and whether he can do it with private funds that were transferred to an office under his authority, rather than with funds appropriated by Congress.

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Tad Heuer, an attorney representing the Trust, argued the law requires express approval from Congress to execute a project as significant as the 90,000 square-foot East Wing renovation. Congress provides the White House with a modest annual budget for the "repair, alteration, and improvement" of the building. The administration contends this authority encompasses the East Wing overhaul. Leon responded that the Trump administration's view is a "very expansive definition," later adding that "there's been an end-run around this oversight from Congress." Leon pressed senior Justice Department official Yaakov Roth, on whether "ripping down the East Wing" is similar to previous White House renovations, like the tennis pavilion added by Mr. Trump in his first term, or the swimming pool added in 1975 by President Gerald Ford. Roth argued it was akin to those projects. "Come on. Be serious," Leon snapped.

Data center lobbying is booming as tech and energy giants face ‘affordability’ backlash

Dozens of Silicon Valley giants, utility providers and other companies stand to earn a fortune from the nation’s artificial intelligence boom. And according to new lobbying disclosures reviewed by NOTUS, these special interests together spent big money late last year to score favorable treatment from federal lawmakers and regulators on what’s fast becoming a central issue of the 2026 midterm elections: the proliferation of data centers that undergird AI’s existence. Energy demand from data centers has increased in recent years, leading to soaring prices and increasing threats of blackouts. Energy experts have raised doubts about whether the nation’s power grid can withstand data center demand — particularly as President Donald Trump attempts to stymie renewable energy development and generation.

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Hand-wringing over the proliferation of data centers — which has played a huge role in recent U.S. economic growth — has already hit Congress. Members of both parties are now publicly weighing the economic benefits of the construction boom against the risks to the power grid and costs to energy consumers, with some on the left calling for at least temporary limits on data center construction. Edison Electric Institute was one of the nation’s biggest lobbying spenders last quarter. The investor-owned association of electric companies poured $2.33 million into its lobbying efforts in an attempt to influence “data center issues generally,” among other issues. “EEI engages with policymakers to advance policies that support responsible data center development, protect everyday Americans from cost shifts and strengthen the grid for American families and businesses,” Jeremy White, an Edison Electric Institute spokesperson, wrote to NOTUS. American Electric Power, a large investor-owned utility in the Midwest, spent $360,000 during the fourth quarter of 2025 to lobby Congress, the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, partly on data center matters.

A judge just ruled a New York City district unconstitutional, possibly handing Democrats another seat

A judge has ruled that the boundaries of one of New York’s Congressional districts is unconstitutional, throwing a wrench into the 2026 midterm elections. Supreme Court Judge Jeffrey Pearlman of Manhattan issued a ruling Wednesday that says the boundaries of New York’s 11th District — which currently covers Staten Island and a small part of Brooklyn — was drawn unlawfully and needs to be redone. He ordered that a special Independent Redistricting Commission convene to complete a new map by Feb. 6, just over two weeks from now. Before becoming a judge, Pearlman has worked for major New York Democrats including Gov. Kathy Hochul and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

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The 11th Congressional District is currently represented by Republican Nicole Malliotakis, who is the only Republican member of Congress in New York City. A redrawn district could include more blue parts of the city, upsetting what is now a fairly safe seat for the GOP. John Faso, a representative of attorneys representing Rep. Malliotakis in the case, called the decision “judicial lawmaking run amok.” “It is contrary to plain language in both state and federal constitutions. The case will definitely be appealed,” he said. Malliotakis is not named as a plaintiff or defendant in the case, but joined as an intervener in late October arguing to keep the district lines as they are. The Board of Elections and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both named as defendants in the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment by THE CITY. Neither did attorneys Andrew Celli and Bennet Moskowitz, who are representing Staten Island voters as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Copyright January 23, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved