Lead Stories

Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida as Category 3 storm

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, bringing dangerous winds, life-threatening storm surge and heavy rain to a region that was pummeled by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago. The storm hit near Siesta Key, Fla., in Sarasota County around 8:30 p.m. ET as a Category 3 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said. Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 120 mph. Late Wednesday night, Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, weakening further to a Category 1 early Thursday. Before making landfall, Milton hammered Florida with several inches of rain, powerful winds, storm surge and tornadoes. The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued Florida a record number of tornado warnings, which indicate a twister has been spotted or detected by radar. The storm is likely to exacerbate the devastation wrought by Helene, which tore a path of death and destruction across several states in late September.

Millions were urged to evacuate ahead of the storm. Some faced traffic jams and found gas stations out of fuel. By Wednesday night, officials were urging residents to shelter in place. “The storm is here,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “It’s time for everybody to hunker down.” Tampa Bay was spared a direct hit, allaying some fears of catastrophic damage to coastal communities there. The area, which is densely populated and has seen booming development on low-lying ground, is still expected to see significant effects from the storm. In the bayside city of St. Petersburg, footage showed the storm had shredded the roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, while city authorities said a construction crane collapsed downtown. No injuries were reported in either incident. More than 3 million customers in Florida were without power in the early hours of Thursday, according to PowerOutage.us—over a quarter of the connections it tracks in the state. Losing power was the main concern of Charles Giglia of Sarasota. The 82-year-old retired mechanic, who recently moved to the area from Queens, N.Y., said he wasn’t able to buy a generator in time; they were all sold out. He tried to book a flight to New York City a few days ago, but there was nothing available. His home, slightly inland from the beach, wasn’t damaged by Helene and he thinks the concrete house will likely weather Milton without too much damage.

Read this article at Wall Street Journal - Subscribers Only

Inflation data to show if price cooldown has continued as election nears

Economists expect inflation to have slowed gradually in September. Inflation data set to be released on Thursday will show whether price increases have continued a monthslong slowdown or hit a snag as they near normal levels. The report will mark the final update of the nation's preeminent inflation gauge ahead of the presidential election next month. Price increases have proven a major point of contention between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Inflation has slowed dramatically from a peak of about 9% in 2022, hovering right near the Federal Reserve's target rate of 2%. Economists expect prices to have climbed 2.3% over the year ending in September. That figure would mark a gradual slowdown from a 2.5% inflation rate recorded over the prior month.

The data is set to arrive about three weeks after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate a half of a percentage point. The move dialed back the central bank's yearslong inflation fight, signaling a shift toward greater focus on ensuring a strong labor market. "This recalibration of our policy stance will help maintain the strength of the economy and the labor market," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., last month. Weaker-than-expected jobs data in both July and August had stoked worry among some economists about the nation's economic outlook. But a jobs report last week defied any such concern by presenting a rosy picture of the labor market for September in which employers hired at a strong pace, a large share of people stayed on the job and wages rose at a fast rate. Employers hired 254,000 workers in September, far exceeding economist expectations of 150,000 jobs added, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed.

Read this article at ABC News - Subscribers Only

Trump's small-dollar donor fundraising is beset by confusion and fatigue

Donald Trump’s contributions from small-dollar donors have plummeted since his last White House campaign, presenting the former president with a financial challenge as he tries to keep pace with the Democrats’ fundraising machine. Fewer than a third of the Republican’s campaign contributions have come from donors who gave less than $200 — down from nearly half of all donations in his 2020 race, according to an analysis by The Associated Press and OpenSecrets, an organization that tracks political spending. The total collected from small donors has also declined, according to the analysis. Trump raised $98 million from such contributors through June, a 40% drop compared to the $165 million they contributed during a corresponding period in his previous presidential race.

The dip has forced Trump to rely more on wealthy donors and groups backed by them, a shift that cuts into the populist message that first propelled him to the White House. The decline in donations could not come at a worse time for Trump. Democrats have raised massive sums from small-dollar donors this cycle. President Joe Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris have raised a staggering $285 million from such donors since April 2023, representing more than 40% of their fundraising, according to data from OpenSecrets. GOP operatives said the trend could portend trouble for the broader party. Trump’s fundraising dip raises questions about the party’s ability to continue tapping its aging base for funds. Such voters often live on fixed incomes and don’t have the extra cash to contribute to candidates, and polls have consistently found that the Republican base is growing older. Republicans also engaged in a hyperaggressive — often combative — style of digital fundraising that is alienating voters, the operatives said. Campaigns and committees often share or rent lists of donors to each other, leading to voters being flooded with similar solicitations that can be confusing. “Republican vendors have so mistreated our donors that many grassroots donors don’t want to give to us anymore,” said John Hall, a Republican fundraising consultant and partner at Apex Strategies. “If you make a donation to almost any Republican candidate today, within three weeks you are going to start getting 30-50 text messages from other candidates you have never heard of before.”

Read this article at Associated Press - Subscribers Only

CenterPoint 'reassessing' use of The Pond, its Houston-area lobbying retreat, CEO says

CenterPoint Energy is “reassessing the use” of its private Chambers County retreat, colloquially known as “The Pond,” as a space to wine and dine Texas lawmakers, the company’s chief executive said Saturday. The country lodge off of Trinity Bay has been key to CenterPoint’s lobbying efforts for decades. More than 70 current or former state and local elected officials said they have visited, reported spending campaign funds on trips there or were shown on the grounds in public images posted on social media, a Houston Chronicle investigation found in August. “I've never hosted an elected official or a member of any of our regulators. I've never been out at The Pond with anybody other than members of our team,” Jason Wells, CenterPoint's CEO, said in an interview following a Public Utility Commission of Texas meeting in Houston over the weekend.

“In light of the criticism, we are reassessing the use of that facility for things like hosting elected officials,” Wells said. CenterPoint Chief Communications Officer Keith Stephens called the Pond “a rustic fishing lodge” that’s “pretty pedestrian” where guests can go fishing and alligator hunting. Those who’ve visited The Pond say it boasts extraordinary fishing, a kitchen serving three meals a day, an open bar, pool and poker tables and on-site staff to help reel in the fish, clean them and filet them for guests to take home, according to the Chronicle’s investigation. Several lawmakers, including some who've backed laws or initiatives supported by CenterPoint in recent years, told the Chronicle visiting the Pond hasn’t influenced their votes or their policymaking. CenterPoint also hosts employee and community-oriented events at the Pond, Wells said. Some industry observers, however, said invitations to the Pond can build closeness between lawmakers and the company that may later come in handy.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

State Stories

Colin Allred’s no-frills approach helped win football games. He’s hoping it will oust Ted Cruz

Colin Allred was never known for his bravado on the football field or hype in the locker room. At Baylor University, where he played linebacker and was a team captain, Allred acted like a protective older brother, shutting down parties that went too late and urging teammates to stay focused when they were down. “I played with guys who are supremely talented — way more talented than Colin ever was — who would freak out when things go bad,” said CJ Wilson, who played with Allred in college before going on to the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers. “He would be looking at the scoreboard, he’d look at the ground, and he’d tell fellas around him: ‘Let’s just get one play.’” Twenty years later, the former NFL player and civil rights attorney is taking the same steady approach in a hotly contested U.S. Senate race against Republican Ted Cruz. Allred’s buttoned-up — some would say downright boring — campaign has left some Democrats frustrated, especially after Beto O’Rourke fired up crowds across the state in 2018 and came closer than any Democrat has to unseating a Republican from statewide office in decades.

Allred, now in his third term in Congress, hasn’t hit the ground in the same ceaseless way. And he won’t be dropping F-bombs in impassioned rally speeches like O’Rourke. He’s even a departure from MJ Hegar, a similarly moderate Democrat who nonetheless sought to brand herself a “badass” biker in her unsuccessful 2020 bid against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. Instead, Allred says he’s campaigning like he governs: he’s trying to lower the temperature and reach across partisan divides. He credits the approach for helping him flip his longtime Republican congressional seat six years ago and is confident it will work again. “When everything’s going crazy, it’s always the guys who keep their heads who are able to perform and do their jobs,” he said. Unlike 2018, when O’Rourke rode a blue wave of bubbling suburban resentment against Trump to a 2.6 percent loss against Cruz, this year’s Senate contest has been a race to the middle, with even Cruz working to rebrand himself as more of a bipartisan dealmaker than the firebrand he’s long been known as. Allred has kept his distance from Kamala Harris, even as her entry in the race has energized the Democratic base. He talks about beefing up border security — long a GOP priority — almost as much as restoring abortion access, the driving issue for Democrats this cycle.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Spring ISD teachers placed on administrative leave while district investigates sleeping patch claim

Spring ISD administrators say they have placed two teachers and two aides from an elementary classroom on administrative leave while they investigate parents' claims that children were given stickers containing sleeping supplements. Melissa Gomez, whose 4-year-old child is in a preschool class at Northgate Elementary, said she wants more information from the district and wants staff to be held accountable. Gomez said on Sep. 24, another parent at the school noticed her child with a sticker that she didn’t recognize and asked her child about it. Lisa Luviano told KHOU when her child brought a sticker home, she researched it online and found it being sold on Amazon as a sleeping patch with melatonin.

Gomez said she and other parents got together to discuss the situation and discovered multiple children said they had received the stickers before. She said she showed it to her son and he recognized it, then pointed to his stomach, hand and forehead. “I asked my son, and he was able to identify what it was and where he got it and what part of his body it was placed,” said Gomez. Gomez said the school district didn't look into the sticker claim or alert other parents until weeks after the first parent reported it. "We were not aware of this situation until the primary parent that reported it told us something,” she said. She said she thinks parents should have had an opportunity to hear about potential allergic reactions or get their children checked out, and she received little information when she went to the school to talk to administrators.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Lawmakers press Deloitte on 'fraud' in application to $5B Texas fund for gas-fired power plants

Texas lawmakers grilled executives from Deloitte, the consulting firm contracted to manage a $5 billion taxpayer-funded program mainly intended to kickstart construction of natural gas power plants, after the organization advanced a potentially fraudulent loan application. Allegations first arose last month that a little-known company, Aegle Power, sought loans for its proposed natural gas power plant by listing another big-name company as a sponsor without permission. Additional scrutiny revealed Aegle Power CEO Kathleen Smith had previously been convicted in an “embezzlement scheme” related to the development of a different power plant. In addition to seeking to slash the consulting firm's up to $107 million contract, lawmakers heard accusations Tuesday that Aegle Power falsified yet another aspect of its application to the state.

The Aegle Power application, which has since been denied, proposed adding nearly 1.3 gigawatts of gas-fired generation to the Texas grid. It was the second-largest offering among the 17 developers selected as finalists for low-interest loans from the Texas Energy Fund, the $5 billion program approved by voters last November. The Public Utility Commission of Texas, the state agency overseeing the fund, has emphasized no loans have yet been given to any organization. The remaining 16 projects are still in the monthslong “due diligence” stage, when Deloitte is supposed to verify the information submitted by the applicants. The commission can only execute loans with developers that pass that review. Still, the saga has embarrassed state leaders working vigorously to encourage more natural gas power plants to connect to the at-times shaky Texas power grid, which they say are needed given the potential for Texans’ electricity needs to roughly double by 2030. “The people of Texas have entrusted people like you to make sure that the money is spent appropriately, efficiently and fairly. It doesn't appear that that's happening,” state Sen. Joan Huffman said to Deloitte executives at the Tuesday hearing.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

UH President Renu Khator sets stage for big year in 2027, including $1 billion capital campaign

University of Houston President Renu Khator announced Wednesday a $1 billion capital campaign for the institution's centennial celebration in 2027. The goal capped her annual "State of the University" address, where Khator shared the past year's successes as well as her vision for the future. Here are some takeaways from the speech.

UH has already raised $580 million in a quiet phase of its new $1 billion capital campaign, which officially launched Wednesday under the name, "Can't Stop Houston." The university began the quiet phase shortly after ending its last $1 billion campaign in 2020. That effort ended up with $1.24 billion raised over eight years. The new campaign seeks to raise $100 million more for student scholarships and another $100 million for academic and research programs across disciplines. The remaining fundraising goal would go toward funding 100 graduate and professional program scholarships, giving 100 innovation awards to staff, attaining a 100% increase in support for student athletes, and landing 100 gifts for physical campus transformation. The UH Centennial will launch in October 2026 and work will begin soon on a $40 million landscaping project to finish around the time of UH's 100-year celebrations, Khator said.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Houston property tax hike will not happen after state steps in with $50M for disaster relief

A $50 million lifeline from the state for disaster debris cleanup has thwarted a potential tax hike in Houston after Mayor John Whitmire and several council members brought forward two competing tax proposals. Whitmire proposed the city’s tax rate should remain the same at just under 52 cents per $100 of a home’s assessed value. But Council Members Sallie Alcorn, Joaquin Martinez, Letitia Plummer and Mario Castillo offered a proposal under Proposition A that would have raised the rate by just under 6% to 55 cents per $100 of assessed value to help with disaster recovery. The council members’ proposal would’ve led to a bill increase of a little more than $104 a year for homeowners of an average priced house with a homestead exemption, according to the city’s finance department.

Chris Newport, Whitmire's chief of staff, said Wednesday that the $50 million is the first infusion of money from the state's solid waste fund. The administration plans to submit all invoices for debris clean up from May's derecho and Hurricane Beryl to state leaders for full reimbursement, and the state has committed to covering those costs, Newport said. The news of the windfall led the four council members to withdraw their proposal to raise property taxes. Alcorn said that she thought the proposal was the right thing to do as the leader of the city’s Budget and Fiscal affairs committee. The proposal was "certainly not a politically popular one, but I wouldn’t have put it forward if I didn’t think it was the right thing to do for the health of our city finances,” Alcorn told the council Wednesday. Houston has not raised its property taxes in recent history due to state and locally imposed revenue caps. Disaster declarations from May’s derecho and Hurricane Beryl created exceptions in those state laws that allows the city to raise its property tax rate for disaster recovery.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

David Leininger: Funding dispute is going nowhere

(David Leininger is founder and CEO of Leininger Analytics. He previously served as CFO and interim CEO at Dallas Area Rapid Transit.) The disagreement among Dallas Area Rapid Transit member cities has shifted from a healthy debate to a very disagreeable and dangerous dispute. If cooler heads don’t soon prevail, the current path could very well lead to a diminished agency incapable of supporting basic public transportation services to transit-dependent residents. It is odd and surprising that Plano would lead the charge to lower the sales tax that funds DART at the very moment of the pending introduction in 2025 of the Silver Line commuter rail system, which will provide two new stations in Plano and direct service to the University of Texas at Dallas and DFW International Airport. Even more surprising is that Plano would suggest this without even inquiring what impact it would have on the agency’s 20-year financial plan, approved by the DART board, which has very capably guided decisions regarding capital investment and service plans.

To be clear, the 1% sales tax currently being collected will remain for the foreseeable future. And, no, the Texas Legislature cannot provide Plano or other cities with relief from this obligation. The Master Debt Resolution adopted by DART at the inception of bond issuance makes that quite clear. The Texas Constitution is very specific about the sacrosanct nature of contracts. Should the Legislature attempt to modify an existing bond covenant, it would trigger concerns among virtually all local government debt issuers in Texas — especially so among the institutional investors who purchased DART bonds and rely upon their assured repayment. As harsh as this may sound, what Plano is asking is for DART to break its contract, ignore the concerns of its creditors and start a cascading crisis of public finance. While it is true DART could work around the covenant by refunding all outstanding debt and then rewriting the Master Debt Resolution, the cost of refinancing, along with increasing interest costs, would be in the hundreds of millions. It would most likely trigger an immediate downgrade in bond ratings, which would increase interest rates even more. It might also lead to a bondholder lawsuit brought by major institutional holders of DART debt. It is not going to happen.

Read this article at Dallas Morning News - Subscribers Only

Sharon Grigsby: How did UT Dallas wind up with star-studded cricket tournament promised to east Oak Cliff?

“Wait, wasn’t this star-studded cricket tournament supposed to take place on a new field in east Oak Cliff, not at the University of Texas at Dallas?” That was my first thought Sunday when I saw the full-page advertisement in The Dallas Morning News promoting world-class cricket and Coachella-style entertainment Oct. 4-14. My memory was not playing tricks on me. The event was originally scheduled for southern Dallas, where the National Cricket League planned to build a million-dollar field in the Cadillac Heights area. How those plans unraveled since local politicians announced the original site — and made big promises of an economic windfall — is yet another drop in the bucket of Dallas City Hall dysfunction. City leaders revealed in November they had landed the just-formed National Cricket League’s inaugural Sixty Strikes event. Their news conference focused on the much-needed economic shot the tournament would provide for this underserved area between I-35E and I-45.

Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn King Arnold said providing a tournament home to the league would spark prosperity for residents adjacent to the future Roland G. Parrish Park. “I want to make sure everyone understands the fact that this is a long-overdue investment in this community,” Arnold proclaimed. Arun Agarwal, the league’s chairman and part-owner — and president of the Dallas park and recreation board — told the audience that equity played a big part in the site selection. “You can imagine, when the game gets played and there are thousands of people coming to watch it, what it will do to the economic development of this area.” Fast-forward to August and — with no mention of the commitment to Cadillac Heights — the cricket league announced UTD in Richardson would host the event. Apparently, most of us missed that news or had forgotten the role southern Dallas had been promised. I have doubts the cricket field would have provided an infusion of cash for Cadillac Heights. Ditto for whether area residents care about the sport — or even had a say in the plan. My concern is with a city bureaucracy that makes it near impossible to do business with Dallas. And with politicians who make big promises then hope no one remembers. When I began digging for answers Monday, what I found lived up to the low expectations many of us have about the state of affairs at Dallas City Hall. In this case, the cricket league leadership became so weary of dealing with the park and permitting departments, it took its business elsewhere. But not before a number of trees were cut down in the proposed footprint of the cricket field.

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Child care advocates call on Texas lawmakers to make investments

The spotlight on the call for Texas child care reform intensified on Oct. 9 after more than 120 organizations across the state released a statement to the Legislature, urging lawmakers to make change through four policy recommendations. Advocacy group Texans Care for Children sent the statement alongside various chambers of commerce, faith-based organizations, child care providers and other children’s advocacy groups, some of which are based in Fort Worth. The organizations underscored the challenges of the child care crisis that are impacting children’s success in school, creating roadblocks for programs with financial struggles, and hindering parents’ ability to go to work and pay for the cost of high-quality care. The legislative session begins in January, and committees in both the House and Senate have been assigned to study interim charges related to child care ahead of lawmakers convening in Austin. “The Legislature has an opportunity to give more parents a chance to go to work and more kids a chance to get the early learning experiences they need,” said David Feigen, director of early learning policy at Texans Care for Children.

The four policy recommendations include: Investing in the state’s subsidy system by addressing the waitlist of about 80,000 children and tailoring reimbursement rates to providers who accept subsidies; Increasing the supply of programs by offering competitive grants to expand affordable care in high-need areas. This includes focuses on child care deserts, serving children with disabilities and infant and toddler care; Ensuring programs recruit and retain qualified staff by way of helping low-income educators access child care themselves; Expanding pre-K partnerships in public schools by providing options for families in community-based child care programs that can provide education and care for a full working day. Among the Fort Worth-based organizations who signed onto the statement include the Early Learning Alliance, Child Care Associates, Green Space Learning and the Goddard School Fort Worth. Kym Shaw Day, executive director of the Early Learning Alliance, said the organization is proud to stand by the several other entities that signed on to the statement, as the alliance believes that “accessible, high-quality child care to be essential for the development and well-being of our youngest Texans.”

Read this article at Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Subscribers Only

How one Texas sports franchise became the focal point for the entire sports world

Just as ESPN started with not much in September of 1979, something called “Victory +” has even less to offer in October of 2024. ESPN was once the ambitious startup network in the new world of “cable television,” that had little programming to show viewers who had the money to pay for extra channels beyond ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS. In 1979, a lot of people thought the concept of an all-sports TV network was the equivalent of throwing a bag of money into a garbage can. Who is going to watch sports all day? In 1980, Ted Turner started a 24-hour news network, CNN. What are they going to do on a slow news day? In 1981, MTV launched. What is a music video?

While linear TV evaluates hospice care plans, everyone involved in sports watches for the “next ESPN.” Because it’s not Fox Sports. It’s closer to Amazon. It’s the player on the side that no one sees coming. The YouTuber. The TikTok infuencer. The Instagram model who hits it on their own, without the cost. “(Linear TV) is heading for extinction. I think by early 2030, the overwhelming majority of us will be watching TV through streaming,” Dallas Stars president Brad Alberts said in a phone interview. “It is hanging on, and sports, specifically the NFL, is holding it together.” Rather than wait, the Stars became the first major team to cut the cord and jump into streaming exclusively. With a roster that is good enough to reach the Stanley Cup, the Stars both on and off the ice will be one of the most fascinating teams to watch in 2024 and 2025. In any sport. The Stars are either on the ground floor of an industry revolution, and their new TV plan will score; or sports teams, and leagues, will be forced to re-evaluate themselves in a streaming society. The Stars are one of two teams to go with the new app “Victory +” to televise their regular season games that are not carried by national networks.

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Texas Transportation Commission approves historic funding for ship channels

The Texas Transportation Commission said on Oct. 3 it approved historic levels of funding for ship channel improvement projects in that state. The commission approved the $400 million for Ship Channel Improvement Revolving Fund (SCIRF) loans for two projects near Beaumont and Brownsville. The funding comes from a bill passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott last year. Texas ship channels and seaports are vital economic engines for the state, Texas Transportation Commissioner Steven D. Alvis noted. “Ship channel improvement projects are extremely costly, often making it incredibly difficult to make improvements,” Alvis said. “The foresight of the Governor and the Texas Legislature to make Ship Channel Improvement Revolving Fund loans available is critical to ensure Texas ship channels are prepared to accommodate larger vessel sizes, resulting in a more robust and resilient supply chain.”

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Swinerton breaks ground on Texas mass timber office

Concord, California-based Swinerton broke ground on a new mixed-use mass timber office building located in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 2, a structure that the firm will eventually inhabit, according to an Oct. 8 news release. The mixed-use, mass timber building known as Workbench, located in the East Austin neighborhood, will serve as a showcase for potential Swinerton clients interested in mass timber, according to the release. Swinerton estimates the timber used on the project will store 500 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is the equivalent of removing 301 cars from the roadway for a year.

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Ken Paxton’s evasive relationship with the press

502 days ago, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton held a press conference — one of just two he has called in the last year and a half. It was a blockbuster political news event, both because it was meant to preempt his historic impeachment, and because in recent years he has made himself available to journalists almost as rarely as the Texas House has impeached statewide officials. He took no questions. During that long drought of public access to the state’s top attorney, KXAN has submitted dozens of press inquiries to Paxton’s office. They have not responded to one since September 2023. It marks an era of evasion in which Paxton has ignored inquiries and avoided accountability from the press. “Democracy runs on information,” the Texas Press Association’s Donnis Baggett told Nexstar. “The flow of that information — two ways — is essential. But increasingly in this country… (officials) may control the message and their exposure to questioning about that message. That’s not a healthy relationship. That’s a one-way street.”

The OAG’s website shows Paxton’s communications staff has published over 200 press releases since October 2023. Each one includes a media contact email that has proven to be a one-way line of communication. Email data Nexstar obtained through the Texas Public Information Act suggests Paxton’s press team has an extraordinarily low response rate to journalists’ inquiries. From March to September, the Attorney General’s Office received 2,722 emails to their “communications@oag.texas.gov” email account — the main press contact and the only means of contacting their press office that they provide publicly. In the same timeframe, that account sent eight emails — a sent/received ratio of 0.003%. Individual press staffers also show a low response rate. Communications Director Paige Willey received 3,470 emails in the same period. She sent 907 emails, suggesting a press response rate of less than 26%. Lead press secretary Jonathan Richie sent just 197 emails for the 2,112 he received, suggesting a response rate of less than 9%.

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Supreme Court decision on Texas emergency abortions will harm Black women, group warns

After the U.S. Supreme Court this week upheld an order that Texas hospitals aren't required to provide emergency abortion care, a Dallas reproductive justice organization is warning the decision will be especially harmful to Black women. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a lower court’s order to stay in place blocking enforcement of the Biden administration's guidance that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) mandates emergency rooms provide abortions if a pregnant patient's life or health is at risk, even if they violate state bans. In a statement, the Afiya Center said the decision is another challenge for marginalized women, particularly Black women, who are disproportionately affected by lack of health care access.

“No doubt, Black women will suffer unnecessary injuries, risk criminal prosecution, and worst of all preventable deaths due to this ruling” the Afiya Center said in the statement. The Biden administration said that under EMTALA, emergency rooms are required to provide abortions in emergencies, despite state bans. Texas law bans abortions except in cases when the life of the pregnant patient is at risk — but the law doesn’t specify when the exception might apply. “The Texas medical board has refused to specify which conditions qualify for exceptions,” the Afiya Center said, “leaving health care providers to guess whether providing abortion care could put them at risk of criminal prosecution.” D’Andra Willis, deputy director of the Afiya Center, highlighted the existing challenges Black women face in the medical system, where they don’t feel safe and often feel dismissed. She noted the maternal mortality rate for Black women is significantly higher compared to white women, and this ruling may heighten those disparities.

Read this article at KERA - Subscribers Only

Fort Worth to ban game rooms after 9-year legal battle, Texas Supreme Court decision

After a nearly decade-long legal battle, Fort Worth officials are poised to ban game rooms across the city by the end of 2024. Since 2015, the city has been involved in litigation over its attempts to regulate and prohibit game rooms. In June, the Texas Supreme Court denied a game room operator’s request to rehear the case, enabling city officials to make good on their plan to prohibit the controversial rooms. Game rooms, or stores that feature six or more game machines, are found in gas stations and convenience stores across the city. The game machines, which city officials sought to classify as illegal gambling devices, are commonly referred to as eight-liners. Critics, including in Fort Worth’s Northside, say game rooms attract crime to neighborhoods. Chris Mosley, senior assistant attorney for the city, told City Council members during an Oct. 8 work session meeting that game rooms are “going to go.”

The game room debacle ignited in Fort Worth in 2014, when City Council members adopted two ordinances to restrict game rooms to areas zoned for industrial use and at least 1,000 feet from a school, place of worship or residential area. After the ordinances took effect in January 2015, game rooms owners filed lawsuits against the city, alleging that eight-liners are legal in Texas under what’s known as the “fuzzy animal” exception. Although gambling is usually deemed illegal across the state, the “fuzzy animal” exception allows operators to award noncash prizes that are worth less than $5, according to Texas state law. In March 2022, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals ruled that eight-liner machines were not exempt from regulation under the “fuzzy animal” exception because they are considered “lotteries,” or games of chance. The game room owners involved in the lawsuit sought the Texas Supreme Court’s input on that ruling, and in December 2023, the court denied further review of the case. Game room operators requested a rehearing on the denial, but the court ultimately disposed of the request in June, according to court documents.

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Kirk Watson continues to outfundraise opponents in the Austin mayoral race

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has once again outraised his opponents in the race to be the city’s next mayor, adding another $216,000 to his campaign coffers. In total, Watson has raised nearly $1 million since January, which is almost nine times the second highest-earning candidate, according to campaign finance reports filed Monday. This includes cash and non-cash contributions, such as food provided for a campaign event. The current mayor, who is seeking reelection against four challengers, heads into the last month of campaigning with $266,891 on hand. Doug Greco, former director of Central Texas Interfaith, has $45,218 still to spend, while former City Council member Kathie Tovo has $31,713.

Carmen Llanes Pulido, who runs the nonprofit Go Austin/Vamos Austin, has spent nearly all of the $104,679 she has raised thus far. She has just $4,661 on hand. Jeffery Bowen, a construction company owner who entered the race later than the others, has spent less than $2,000 and has nearly $10,000 left. Candidates in Texas running for office are required to file campaign finance reports in the months leading up to an election. The reports detail how much money a candidate has raised, who has contributed and what that money is being spent on, including advertising, labor and office supplies. Campaign finance reports are just one measure of voters’ support of a candidate. More money means more resources – the ability to buy items such as campaign signs, flyers and T-shirts. “Without money you're not competitive and it's very hard to run an effective campaign,” said Kirby Goidel, a professor of political science at Texas A&M who spoke with KUT in July about campaign finance.

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National Stories

The evangelicals calling for ‘spiritual warfare’ to elect Trump

Lance Wallnau, a self-styled prophet in a fast-growing evangelical movement, came down off the stage to lay his hands on people who had requested prayers. Then he explained why re-electing Donald Trump is essential to save America. “Don’t think for a moment that it isn’t possible for this country to veer off course and go over a cliff in November,” Wallnau told about 2,000 people gathered under a tent in late July. “It’s quite possible, and the only thing that can arrest that is an activated, catalyzed body of Christian patriots.” Wallnau, 68 years old, is one of the most important figures in the New Apostolic Reformation, an influential movement in evangelical Christianity that blends direct experience of the Holy Spirit with a call to engage in politics as a form of “spiritual warfare.” He opposes abortion and same-sex marriage, but his main goal is to elevate Christians to greater influence to transform society.

Wallnau’s “Courage Tour” events, equal parts tent revival and political mobilization, are part of his strategy to help put Trump back in the White House. On a recent weekend, JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, appeared at a Wallnau event in the swing state of Pennsylvania. “If Christians aren’t out there voting, Christians aren’t going to have a voice in this country,” Vance told the crowd. Evangelical voters have leaned Republican for many years. George W. Bush, who described himself as a faithful Christian, won nearly 70% support from white evangelical Christians in 2000 and nearly 80% four years later. Other Republican candidates have blended evangelical beliefs with blue-collar populism, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a onetime pastor, in 2008 and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a noted social conservative, in 2012. Yet Donald Trump—with his three marriages, tabloid lifestyle and reality-show background—managed to win the hearts of Republican voters in 2016 over the likes of Huckabee, Santorum and Ted Cruz, the son of an evangelical preacher. Wallnau was an early advocate, offering prophecies that promoted Trump in 2015, when many evangelical voters were skeptical. Matthew Taylor, a scholar who tracks the New Apostolic Reformation, says that no evangelical leader did more than Wallnau to provide a theological rationale for religious conservatives to accept Trump. “Wallnau was already popular,” said Taylor, of the Maryland-based Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies. “But he became a mega evangelical celebrity through his endorsement of Trump and using his ideas to backstop Trump.” Now, Taylor sees Wallnau as presenting a threat beyond his advocacy for a political candidate. “I would call Lance Wallnau a Christian supremacist,” Taylor says. “He wants Christians to be in charge of society and to tear down the wall of separation between church and state.”

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The Tropicana crumbles as Las Vegas goes all in on sports and entertainment

With a flash and a boom, the Tropicana went bust. The iconic casino was torn down in the wee hours Wednesday morning to make way for a baseball stadium, part of an ongoing pivot that Las Vegas officials hope will fuel the city’s economic future as affordability concerns simmer on and off the Strip. The 22-story resort hotel, which opened in 1957 and featured in the 1971 James Bond film “Diamonds Are Forever” and “The Godfather” the following year, closed its doors April 2. But it didn’t go down in darkness: In true Vegas fashion, the city turned the building’s 2:30 a.m. implosion into a party, replete with a drone and a fireworks display. “It’s kind of a celebration of life for all that property has meant to Las Vegas,” said Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

The neighborhood where the Tropicana once stood is quickly becoming the city’s sports district, housing both Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders football team, and T-Mobile Arena, which hosts UFC, WNBA and NHL events. After the rubble is cleared away, officials hope to start building a proposed 33,000-seat ballpark for the Oakland Athletics ahead of the team’s scheduled relocation for the 2028 season. The stadium is projected to cost an estimated $1.5 billion, with taxpayers kicking in at least $350 million. Locals and visitors in town ahead of the Tropicana’s demolition were mostly upbeat about the next chapter for the city. Marco Robinson, who has been tending bar in Las Vegas for four decades, acknowledged the casino’s demise was “hard for a lot of people who worked there.” But he said: “It’s a new era. This is what Vegas is.” “I’m excited about the changes coming to Vegas,” said Jordan McCall, 30, who has lived in the city since 2010 and works at a warehouse. “You just have to embrace it,” he said, carrying a camcorder to document the property’s final hours. Las Vegas has long sought “to make way for the new, and this is a normal part of our evolution,” said Amanda Belarmino, an associate professor of hospitality management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, “but I think what it’s being imploded for is what’s more significant.” The new stadium set to take the Tropicana’s place would add to a growing roster of venues and events offering high-dollar experiences beyond casinos’ card tables and concert halls.

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Lawmakers spending even more in 2024 under receipt-free expense program

House lawmakers expensed at least $2.5 million under a program that allows them to be reimbursed for their spending without submitting receipts through the first five months of 2024, over $120,000 more than they expensed during the same period last year, according to data released by the House as of Oct. 9 and analyzed by The Washington Post. Created at the end of 2022, the program allows House members to use taxpayer funds to reimburse themselves for some lodging, meals and incidental costs while they are in D.C. on official business. It was intended to help members offset the costs of maintaining two households without requiring them to give themselves a politically toxic raise. But critics of the expense program have argued that its lack of receipt requirements and reliance on the honor system open it up for abuse, and expenses have risen for 2024 despite public scrutiny of last year’s spending.

The data released by the House is sourced from expense information submitted by individual congressional offices, which can potentially contain errors or be corrected later. The data that The Post reviewed for this article is probably the last major data release before next month’s elections. The program’s top spenders in the first five months of 2024 include Reps. Jim Baird (R-Ind.), who spent a little over $22,000, and Veronica Escobar (D-Tex.), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) and Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), who all spent more than $16,000. The program has only a few strict rules, including that members cannot seek reimbursement for more than their actual expenses. They also cannot be repaid for principal or interest on their mortgages and can get reimbursement only for days they’re actually working in D.C. or flying to the city. Misuse of taxpayer funds under the members’ allowance could violate not just House rules but also federal law. Mace, one of the program’s top spenders in 2023, came under scrutiny after former staffers alleged to The Post earlier this year that she misused the program by seeking reimbursements that were higher than her actual expenses. Mace, who owns 28 percent of a Capitol Hill townhouse with her ex-fiancé Patrick Bryant, is still a top spender. But the $12,180 she expensed for lodging in the first five months of 2024 is roughly $1,500 less than her spending on lodging during the same period in 2023.

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Is the Trump campaign’s male-dominated culture losing women votes?

Soon after Donald Trump’s campaign team took over the Republican National Committee earlier this year, a senior Trump aide was asked how to combat news stories that the campaign had an insufficient get-out-the-vote operation. “We are going to beat the reporters into retardation!” shouted James Blair, one of the two men now leading the operation, on a call with other advisers, according to two people with direct knowledge of the conversation. Blair did not respond to a request for comment. Such pugnacity has come to define much of the tone and image of Trump’s 2024 campaign, reflecting the personalities of many of the men leading it as well as the candidate. Trump has long valued being viewed as an alpha male who never apologizes or shows weakness.

In many ways, that campaign culture mirrors some of its strategies. Trump and his advisers are calculating that, at a time when polls show voters dissatisfied with the direction of the country, and with turmoil abroad revealing the limitations of America’s global influence, they can win the White House by projecting a particular kind of strength — with a distinctly aggressive vibe not seen in presidential campaigns before. That posture also fits with the campaign’s focus on appealing to young men, who advisers view as a key untapped voting bloc that could help tip the electoral college in Trump’s favor in a closely divided electorate. Polls show he has an edge with this group, and Trump has gone out of his way to appear with celebrities — from Ultimate Fighting Champion chief executive Dana White to controversial YouTuber Logan Paul — popular with many young men. Trump’s lead spokesman, Steven Cheung, is a former UFC staffer who routinely taunts Democrats in crass ways, once publicly comparing the Biden campaign to an injured male organ. One of his favorite insults is a pejorative slang for a weak man derived from the term for a husband who has been cheated on. Cheung also accused an employee at Arlington National Cemetery of having a mental health episode after she complained of being shoved aside by two male Trump aides who wanted to film Trump at gravesites. The aggressiveness of many of his statements has surprised some others on the campaign. Co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita — a combat veteran sometimes jokingly called “Sarge” — has sent profane invectives to people who crossed him, according to people familiar with his communications. Earlier this year he posted an online message to “all my haters”: a photo of fictional mob boss Tony Soprano giving the middle finger that received millions of views. One colleague described him as a person who wakes up at level 10 — and then escalates throughout the day.

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Why Democratic Senate control seems to be slipping away

The math for Senate control is pretty simple. For Democrats, it isn’t adding up. The Democrats have a 51-49 majority in the Senate, but Republicans are expected to flip West Virginia — where Joe Manchin is retiring. Any additional Republican victory in November in seven red or purple states currently held by Democrats would ensure G.O.P. control of the chamber, provided the Republicans hold their own states. This morning’s New York Times/Siena College poll finds Republicans poised to flip that additional seat: Montana Tim Sheehy, a Republican, leads the longtime Democratic incumbent, Jon Tester, by seven percentage points, 52 percent to 44 percent (figures rounded).

Before today, Democrats led nearly every Times/Siena poll of the contested Senate races for months, including in Ohio — where Sherrod Brown led by four points in a state Donald J. Trump won by eight four years ago. A positive Montana result for Democrats would have kept that string going, giving them a path to Senate control. They didn’t get it. Even so, the Montana result isn’t a surprise. Mr. Tester hasn’t led in a public poll since mid-August, and most of the data hasn’t shown an especially close race. His path to victory — and therefore the Democratic path to Senate control — looked daunting even before he fell behind in the polls, as Mr. Trump won the state by 16 points in 2020. The poll finds Mr. Trump ahead of Kamala Harris by a similar 17 points today. Without Montana, the Democratic path to the Senate would require flipping a red state. The Times/Siena polls suggest it won’t be easy. On paper, the two easiest options ought to be Texas and Florida, but the polls find the two Republican incumbents ahead — Ted Cruz by four points in Texas, and Rick Scott by nine in Florida.

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Wisconsin Supreme Court grapples with governor's 400-year veto, calling it 'crazy'

Justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court said Wednesday that Gov. Tony Evers’ creative use of his expansive veto power in an attempt to lock in a school funding increase for 400 years appeared to be “extreme” and “crazy” but questioned whether and how it should be reined in. “It does feel like the sky is the limit, the stratosphere is the limit,” Justice Jill Karofsky said during oral arguments, referring to the governor’s veto powers. “Perhaps today we are at the fork in the road ... I think we’re trying to think should we, today in 2024, start to look at this differently.” The case, supported by the Republican-controlled Legislature, is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long fight over just how broad Wisconsin’s governor’s partial veto powers should be. The issue has crossed party lines, with Republicans and Democrats pushing for more limitations on the governor’s veto over the years.

In this case, Evers made the veto in question in 2023. His partial veto increased how much revenue K-12 public schools can raise per student by $325 a year until 2425. Evers took language that originally applied the $325 increase for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years and instead vetoed the “20” and the hyphen to make the end date 2425, more than four centuries from now. “The veto here approaches the absurd and exceeds any reasonable understanding of legislative or voter intent in adopting the partial veto or subsequent limits,” attorneys for legal scholar Richard Briffault, of Columbia Law School, said in a filing with the court ahead of arguments. That argument was cited throughout the oral arguments by justices and Scott Rosenow, attorney for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Litigation Center, which handles lawsuits for the state’s largest business lobbying group and brought the case. The court should strike down Evers’ partial veto and declare that the state constitution forbids the governor from striking digits to create a new year or to remove language to create a longer duration than the one approved by the Legislature, Rosenow argued.

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Nobel Prize in literature is awarded to South Korean author Han Kang for her "intense poetic prose"

The Nobel Prize in literature was awarded Thursday to South Korean author Han Kang for what the Nobel committee called “her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” Han becomes the first South Korean writer to win the Nobel literature prize. Nobel committee chairman Anders Olsson praised Han’s “physical empathy for the vulnerable, often female lives” of her characters. He said her work “confronts historical traumas and in each of her works exposes the fragility of human life. She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in a poetic and experimental style, has become an innovator in contemporary prose.”

Han, 53, won the International Booker Prize in 2016 for “The Vegetarian,” an unsettling novel in which a woman’s decision to stop eating meat has devastating consequences. At the time of winning that award, Han said writing novels “is a way of questioning for me.” “I just try to complete my questions through the process of my writing and I try to stay in the questions, sometimes painful, sometimes - well - sometimes demanding,” she said. With “The Vegetarian,” she said, ”I wanted to question about being human and I wanted to describe a woman who desperately didn’t want to belong to the human race any longer and desperately wanted to reject being human, (humans) who commit such violence.” Her novel “Human Acts” was an International Booker Prize finalist in 2018. The literature prize has long faced criticism that it is too focused on European and North American writers of style-heavy, story-light prose. It has also been male-dominated, with just 17 women among its 119 laureates until this year’s award. The last woman to win was Annie Ernaux of France, in 2022.

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US Republicans condemn hurricane misinformation spread by their own party

As U.S. officials struggle to push back against misinformation about natural disasters, opens new tab hitting the country, at least three congressional Republicans condemned conspiracy theories repeated by fellow members of their party. Representative Chuck Edwards, who represents a North Carolina district hit hard by flooding caused by Hurricane Helene in late September, called out the "outrageous rumors" spread by "untrustworthy sources trying to spark chaos." The flooding decimated much of North Carolina's inland west, an unexpected outcome in a state which is used to dealing with hurricanes along its Atlantic coast. Florida is now bracing for a direct hit from the powerful Hurricane Milton, headed for its western coast.

One of the sources of misinformation is fellow Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has used both her official congressional social media account and her personal account to spread such misinformation. "Ask your government if the weather is manipulated or controlled. Did you ever give permission to them to do it? Are you paying for it? Of course you are," Greene wrote in one such post on her official account on Monday. Edwards directly called out this falsehood in his statement, without naming Greene. "Nobody can control the weather," he said. "Please make sure you are fact checking what you read online with a reputable source." Greene's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representative Carlos Gimenez, a Florida Republican representing the very southern tip of the state, also condemned the conspiracy theories. "News flash," he said in a Wednesday post on social media, responding directly to Greene's post. "Humans cannot create or control hurricanes. Anyone who thinks they can, needs to have their head examined."

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Lead Stories

ERCOT, renewable energy developers break stalemate on issues to ward off 'catastrophic grid failure'

The operator of the Texas power grid said it’s reached “a reasonable compromise” with renewable energy developers after more than a year of stalemate on technical issues with some solar, wind and battery storage resources it warned could conceivably lead to “catastrophic grid failure.” Clean energy companies fought the initial requirements the Electric Reliability Council of Texas wanted to impose, cautioning they could be forced to shut down large swaths of the fast-growing wind, solar and battery resources on the Texas grid if made to install expensive hardware upgrades. The parties agreed in August that owners of clean energy resources on the ERCOT grid must instead implement all available software and settings changes to meet the new requirements. This proposal is expected to fix the “vast majority” of problems found in three of the worst failures of the past few years, which prompted the rules change in the first place, according to clean energy developers and an industry consultant who studied those events.

The new rule will “improve reliability over time” as resources comply with its terms, ERCOT spokesperson Trudi Webster wrote in an email. The Public Utility Commission of Texas, which regulates ERCOT, issued an order approving the new rule last month. “While this will be an enormous lift for (clean energy resource) owners, it is far better than the alternative,” Eric Goff, an industry consultant who emerged as the lead negotiator for renewable developers, wrote in a social media post. Clean energy resources – particularly solar and batteries – have grown rapidly on the Texas power grid in recent years as the technology becomes less expensive and federal incentives boost domestic manufacturing and development. They’ve been credited with adding a healthy cushion of supply to the grid, especially on the hottest summer days, lowering electricity costs and helping decarbonize electricity generation, the third-largest contributor of climate-warming emissions in Texas

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How Texas business investments could help deter migrants from crossing the border

When Inter-American Development Bank COO Jordan Schwartz traveled to Houston last week to try and sell Texas companies on investing in Latin America and the Caribbean, he had more on his mind than just the bottom line. With the United States facing a flood of migrants coming across its southern border, Schwartz is tasked with trying to bolster economies in Latin America and the Caribbean through expanded incentives and guidance from the IDB, a government-sponsored financial institution in Washington. The bank is pitching companies in certain key U.S. markets, like Houston and Miami, as well as some in Europe, to expand their investments in the region in key areas like clean energy, infrastructure, healthcare and manufacturing. The theory is that more jobs and opportunity could incline migrants to stay in their home countries, and where better to focus than Texas, the state that does the most trade with Latin America, Schwartz said.

With a national election fast approaching in which border security is top of mind for many voters, the Biden administration and the IDB are attempting a long-term strategy of making economies to the south more integrated with the United States. Their goal is both to shift U.S. supply chains away from China, with which the nation has had an increasingly tense relationship over the past decade, and to improve conditions in a region that has struggled under economic crises and the crime that comes with drug trafficking and human smuggling. "It's not about simple top-level geopolitical questions. It's what would be best for the relationship between the U.S. and the region to provide growth and stability," Schwartz said. "Increasingly it's not only the supply chain issue, but looking at the root causes of migration and citizen security and organized crime elements, and trying to find the best and most proactive role." Two years ago, the Biden administration launched the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, a State Department-sponsored initiative to address inequality within the region and the "underlying economic drivers of irregular migration in our hemisphere," a senior administration official told CBS News.

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Trump secretly sent Putin COVID-19 tests during pandemic shortage, a new book reports

Vice President Harris is criticizing Donald Trump following new reporting by the journalist Bob Woodward that the former president secretly shared COVID-19 test machines with Russia’s Vladimir Putin at a moment in 2020 when tests were out of reach for most Americans. The revelation, first reported by CNN and The Washington Post on Tuesday, is detailed in a forthcoming book called War by the famed Watergate journalist, about Trump’s record on the international stage, as well as President Biden’s. According to the book, Trump sent the secret shipment of testing equipment to the Russian leader at the height of the pandemic in 2020, even as the U.S. and other nations were facing crippling shortages of testing kits. “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me. They don't care about me,” Putin told Trump, according to the book. Trump responded, "I don't care. Fine," according to Woodward.

NPR has not independently verified the account, which was based on interviews with unnamed sources. Asked about the report during an interview Tuesday with Howard Stern, Harris said Woodward’s reporting was an example of why Trump cannot be trusted as commander-in-chief, because she said he is easily manipulated by authoritarians he hopes to befriend. “He admires strong men, and he gets played by them because he thinks that they're his friends, and they are manipulating him full time and manipulating him by flattery and with favor," Harris said. “Remember, people were dying by the hundreds, everybody was scrambling to get these kits ... and this guy, who was President of the United States, is sending them to Russia to a murderous dictator for his personal use.” The Trump campaign has dismissed the book as “made up stories” written by a “deranged man,” according to a statement by its communications director, Steven Cheung.

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Healthcare premiums are soaring even as inflation eases, in charts

Inflation is easing across much of the economy. For healthcare? Not yet. The cost of employer health insurance rose 7% for a second straight year, maintaining a growth rate not seen in more than a decade, according to an annual survey by the healthcare nonprofit KFF. The back-to-back years of rapid increases have added more than $3,000 to the average family premium, which reached roughly $25,500 this year. Businesses absorbed this year’s higher premium costs—one of several signals in recent years that employers are sensitive to the limits of what workers can afford, said Matthew Rae, associate director of the KFF healthcare marketplace program and an author of the survey. Employers spent about $1,880 more this year, bringing their average cost for family premiums to $19,276. Workers’ share of the average family premium dropped by roughly $280 from last year, to $6,296.

Businesses can’t keep that up, said Shawn Gremminger, chief executive of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, an employer group. And workers ultimately bear those higher costs in other ways, he said, including smaller raises or job cuts. “That’s adding real stress to the economy,” he said. Stress on the sector is expected to continue, at least for another year. Employers and benefit consultants said health-insurance costs are projected to rise rapidly again in 2025. Healthcare costs don’t change as swiftly as in other sectors of the economy, where inflation has cooled. Prices for health services are typically locked in under multiyear contracts. In addition, hospitals have recently won new contracts with bigger price increases, which they said they need to offset raises for their own workers. Increases in deductibles—the amounts employees must pay out of pocket before health insurance kicks in—was steep for years but eased more recently because the expense might already have been more than workers could afford, Rae said. This year, however, the average deductible for large companies inched higher by 4% for workers with single coverage. Workers in smaller companies were hit harder, with deductibles rising 6%.

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State Stories

Elon Musk jumps into Texas election with $1M donation to pro-business PAC

Elon Musk appears to be jumping back into Texas politics, making the first state-level political donation under his own name in nearly a decade. The Tesla and SpaceX chief gave $1 million to Texas for Lawsuit Reform PAC, the political arm of a powerful pro-business group known for lobbying against what it sees as frivolous lawsuits. The September donation, from the Elon Musk Revocable Trust, was reported in the PAC’s quarterly fundraising report filed this week. Musk’s donation accounted for about a third of the $2.9 million the PAC reported raising, and was the largest gift the group reported. The second largest was from Miriam Adelson, a conservative megadonor who gave $500,000.

The Austin billionaire has moved much of his business empire to Texas and has become increasingly active in Republican politics this election cycle, launching a super PAC supporting Donald Trump and appearing at the former president’s rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend. Musk also gave $289,100 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect House Republicans, in August. The state donation comes after Musk secretly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into an effort to unseat progressive Travis County District Attorney José Garza in the Democratic primary race earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. The paper reported the Musk-backed group that targeted Garza, Saving Austin, is connected to another group now supporting U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s reelection bid, Saving Texas. Texans for Lawsuit Reform is a business-aligned lobbying group co-founded by Dick Weekley, a Houston real estate developer and GOP donor who reportedly helped Musk launch his pro-Trump super PAC.

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Texas A&M is mulling an underground tunnel system to ease campus congestion. Enter, Elon Musk.

Texas A&M University administrators will decide in the coming month whether to pursue an idea that could ask Elon Musk’s Boring Company to build a subsurface transportation system at the College Station campus – part of a broader effort to ease above-ground congestion woes. Construction of the “Aggie Loop” tunnel is far from a reality, even if President Mark A. Welsh III approves a recommendation to explore the up to $350 million option, brought to him in a report assessing the university’s current capacity. A&M officials have conducted a feasibility study with positive results, but they have yet to talk with Musk about the project, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President Peter Lange said. School leaders believe the transit system would be unlike anything seen at American universities. But Lange said a “moonshot” is appropriate for a campus that has grown rapidly over the past decade, hitting 71,000 students without a means to transport them all in 20 minute passing periods between classes.

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GOP demonstrators gather outside Fort Bend commissioners court calling for KP George’s resignation

A group of Republican demonstrators gathered outside the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court on Tuesday calling for the resignation of County Judge KP George. George is facing allegations that the judge used fake social media profiles to send himself racist messages to sway his 2022 re-election campaign. The group organized by the Fort Bend County Republican party also held signs calling for Taral Patel, George's former chief of staff, to withdraw as a candidate for Precinct 3 commissioner. A search warrant issued Sept. 19 alleges that Patel coordinated with George in creating the fake social media profiles to attack themselves with racially charged messages in an attempt to garner support from voters.

George was arrested Sept. 26 and charged with a class A misdemeanor for allegedly posing as Facebook user “Antonio Scalywag” to “injure” Republican challenger Trever Nehls, according to court records filed by the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office. George has said he has no intention of stepping down from his position. George, who arrived at the court meeting in the morning, did not answer questions or address protesters. "Judge George knows if he is guilty or not," said Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers. "If he knows he is, he should apologize and resign." Donna Tucker was among the protesters outside the courthouse. “KP has been absolutely abysmal,” Tucker said. “We are not a racist county. We value each other.” Protester Katie Neely said she is a Republican.

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'Make a hole!' Newly released video shows police chaos during Robb Elementary massacre

Newly released video from the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting shows pandemonium erupting in a hallway packed with lawmen in the moments after Border Patrol agents killed the shooter. The video depicts officers in a fog of confusion as medics rush into a classroom to try to save victims. Some officers bark orders, one cries "Police!" and others yell "Go! Go! Go!" "Make a hole! Make a hole!" officers shout frantically as medics carry one of the victims out of the building on a stretcher. Moments earlier, as the Border Patrol team prepared to breach the classroom, body camera footage shows officers and medics laying stretchers out in the hallway and preparing tourniquets and other life-saving equipment.

One officer's body camera captured him struggling, with trembling hands, to pull on a pair of purple sanitary latex gloves in preparation for tending to the wounded. A fellow officer offers to help him, and he replies, "No, I'm good, I'm good. My hands are so sweaty, I can't get these gloves on." The videos were part of a storehouse of previously unreleased information made public by the city of Uvalde under a legal settlement with the San Antonio Express-News, the Houston Chronicle and other news organizations. The city first made public a large batch of police body camera footage, 911 calls, officials' emails, text messages and other information on Aug. 10. A few days later, however, city officials said they had inadvertantly failed to disclose all the video covered by by the settlement. They promised to release the remaining information, and they handed over additional videos on Tuesday.

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Fort Worth ISD names interim superintendent

An interim superintendent has been chosen to oversee the Fort Worth Independent School District — and it’s not her first time to do the job. Karen Molinar, the school district’s deputy superintendent, will take charge of the district as it searches for a permanent leader, according to a unanimous vote at Tuesday night’s meeting. “Her journey through our district is a testament to her deep commitment to student success and community engagement,” school board president Roxanne Martinez said. Molinar’s appointment comes two weeks after the previous superintendent, Angélica Ramsey, resigned from the post over concerns about the district’s academic performance. Now, Fort Worth ISD will begin its search for a new leader.

Molinar has been here once before: She served as the interim during the search that brought Ramsey to the district. In an email shortly after the meeting, Molinar laid out the basics of a five-point plan she will recommend to the board at the next regular meeting on Oct. 22. “I am pleased and humbled to accept the position of Interim Superintendent for the Fort Worth ISD as we embark on a necessary but meaningful transformation to address the critical shortcomings within the District,” Molinar said. Highlights of the plan include a commitment to improving student achievement and closing performance gaps, a renewed focus on business and community partnerships, budget changes to support student needs, organizational changes aimed at increasing efficiency, and an evaluation of how to consolidate facilities “based on enrollment and academic impact,” Molinar wrote. “Every student in Fort Worth deserves a path to success,” Molinar said. “We are committed to closing achievement gaps and ensuring that every child has the tools and support they need to thrive academically.”

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Texas mayor suggests we nuke Hurricane Milton: ‘It may save more than it can hurt’

As Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida, one Texas mayor has a novel idea about how to deal with it: Nuke the damned thing. In a since-deleted Facebook post, Bobby Lindamood, the mayor of Colleyville (a Fort Worth suburb) wrote: “For the amount of destruction this next hurricane is brining, it’s time to throw a simi nu/ke bo//mb (minus the radiation) at this dude and see if we can stop the rotation. It may save more than it can hurt.” He added, “Just casting thoughts and ideas. This is gonna be bad.” When reached Tuesday, Lindamood said his idea for a NukeNado wasn’t “a literal suggestion.” Lindamood isn’t alone in fearing for the safety of Floridians — especially in Texas, where we’ve seen our own fair share of historic, devastating hurricanes. And Hurricane Milton was receiving international attention after the mayor of Tampa described the situation to CNN late Monday. Speaking about the 10-12 foot tidal surge heading toward central Gulf Coast Florida, she said, “There’s never been one like this.”

“I can say without any dramatization whatsoever, if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re going to die,” Tampa’s mayor told CNN. Meanwhile, in his defense, Lindamood said in a text message to The Barbed Wire that he wasn’t being serious. “After seeing the mass destruction caused by the Helene hurricane, my heart goes out to all the people that may be impacted by one of the largest hurricanes in history,” Lindamood said, in the text. “My post was simply an expression of deep concern for Florida and surrounding states who will be impacted. My comments were meant to convey a desire to use all available resources to protect American citizens not a literal suggestion.” Needless to say, this is a very bad idea. (Though if Lindamood knows how to remove the radiation from a nuclear weapon, we’re all ears.) And it would not be Lindamood’s first terrible idea. To say the least, he’s a colorful character on the far right — and he’s grabbed quite a few headlines for the mayor of a suburb with a population of 25,000 people. He’s shared QAnon memes, along with debunked claims about the attempted insurrection of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Before that, Lindamood’s demolition company made the news for accidentally tearing down the wrong house in Dallas.

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San Antonio Express-News Editorial: Texas House Rep. Philip Cortez should continue representing District 117

We recommend incumbent state Rep. Philip Cortez to continue representing Texas House District 117, which includes portions of the Southwest and far West sides. Cortez, born and raised on the South Side, retired from U.S. Air Force in 2019 after serving for 20 years. Before being elected to the Texas Legislature, he was on the San Antonio City Council from 2007 to 2011. Cortez was first elected to the Texas House in 2012, unseating Republican incumbent John Garza. He then lost his seat to Republican Rick Galindo in 2014 but came back in 2016 to defeat Galindo and has retained his seat since then. The challenger, Republican Ben Mostyn, is a San Antonio-area Realtor and U.S. Army veteran. Mostyn was arrested this summer in San Antonio on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and unlawful carry of a weapon. Court records show his next appearance in Bexar County Court is Nov. 1.

Cortez’s priorities include protecting seniors, supporting veterans and creating better-paying jobs. He is committed to public education and opposes school vouchers. Mostyn agrees that public education should be funded, but he also supports implementing a school voucher system, a dubious proposal being pushed by Gov. Greg Abbott, who has targeted Republican Texas House members who thwarted attempts to pass such a measure during multiple special sessions in 2023. During the most recent legislative session, Cortez sponsored the bipartisan Sergio Lopez Food Allergy Awareness Act, which was enacted and received national attention. The law requires restaurants, among other things, to display a standardized poster with information about food “allergies and responses to allergic reactions.” The effort was in response to the death of a 24-year-old from complications of a peanut allergy. Cortez’s openness to bipartisanship and his firm stances on critical issues make him the best choice for District 117.

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Hearst, OpenAI announce partnership for U.S. newspaper and magazine content

Hearst Corp., one of the nation’s largest information and media companies, said Tuesday it’s the latest major publisher to sign a content partnership with artificial intelligence giant OpenAI. Under terms of the deal, New York-based Hearst will license its vast archives, containing more than 150 years of material, to the San Francisco-based maker of the ChatGPT generative AI tool. OpenAI will be able to integrate Hearst content into its chatbot and other products. Hearst publishes more than 40 U.S. newspapers and 20 domestic magazine brands. Included in the deal will be content from the San Antonio Express-News, Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Runner’s World, Women’s Health and other titles.

“As generative AI matures, it’s critical that journalism created by professional journalists be at the heart of all AI products,” said Hearst Newspapers President Jeff Johnson. “This agreement allows the trustworthy and curated content created by Hearst Newspapers’ award-winning journalists to be part of OpenAI’s products like ChatGPT — creating more timely and relevant results.” “Bringing Hearst’s trusted content into our products elevates our ability to provide engaging, reliable information to our users,” said Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s Chief Operating Officer. Neither Hearst nor OpenAI disclosed the terms of the deal. Hearst said in a statement that content appearing in ChatGPT “will feature appropriate citations and direct links, providing transparency and easy access to the original Hearst sources.” Hearst Magazines President Debi Chirichella said the deal “will help us evolve the future of magazine content,” adding that “this collaboration ensures that our high-quality writing and expertise, cultural and historical context and attribution and credibility are promoted as OpenAI’s products evolve.”

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Bexar Commissioners Court narrowly approves public financing deal for downtown ballpark

Bexar County narrowly approved a public financing deal for a new downtown ballpark Tuesday, the second step in the San Antonio Missions’ owners’ plan to build a new stadium by Opening Day 2028. Commissioners Court voted 3-1-1 to approve a memorandum of understanding and the financing terms of a deal with Designated Bidders LLC, the group that purchased the Double-A team in 2022. The City Council voted 9-2 last month to OK the same deal, a vote that was delayed by a week after a public backlash over the future demolition of the Soap Factory Apartments, a rare affordable complex downtown that sits in shadow of the proposed 4,500-seat stadium. Designated Bidders still has to acquire a 2.3-acre property from the San Antonio Independent School District that it needs for the stadium site — the final parcel it needs to solidify the stadium footprint near the San Pedro Creek Culture Park.

County Judge Peter Sakai and the four commissioners heard from nearly two dozen community members Tuesday, the majority of whom supported the deal. That included representatives from Visit San Antonio, the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and the San Antonio Hotel & Lodging Association, as well as baseball fans. Sofia Lopez, the housing campaign director for the Texas Organizing Project, said those speakers didn't reflect community sentiment. “There’s a much broader community out there that has very strong feelings about this development, even if they can’t be here right now,” Lopez said. Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody said he couldn’t vote for the memorandum of understanding or the financing terms because he wasn’t fully satisfied with the deal. He did not elaborate on the provisions that concerned him, but said he believed there were “some factors that could have further protected the county financially.” Major League Baseball gave Designated Bidders until Oct. 15 to present it with a signed MOU from the city and county.

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School choice advocate admits that’s him in the gay porn

More than a week after he was outed as a former gay porn star, school voucher evangelist Corey DeAngelis is taking on his critics and saying he refuses to be cancelled. DeAngelis appears to have been fired by the American Federation for Children, a conservative advocacy group for private and charter schools founded by Betsy DeVos, after he was identified as the actor “Seth Rose” in the videos that still are available for viewing on the gay porn site GayHoopla. DeAngelis is listed as a “contributor” to Project 2025 and serves as an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. He also is known as a fierce advocate for school vouchers, believes the U.S. Department of Education should be abolished, opposes LGBTQ rights and opposes “left-wing indoctrination” in “government schools.” His new book, The Parent Revolution, claims to teach parents how to “rescue” their children from “the radicals ruining our schools.”

In an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network, DeAngelis admitted he is, in fact, the person seen in the sexually explicit videos. “There are images and videos circulating of me from my college days about a decade ago that I’m not proud of,” he said. “They’re embarrassing.” After more than a week of silence, he emerged to tell about getting involved in porn as a young adult and to declare a warning about the dangers others face today. “If I was able to be lured in to make bad decisions as a young adult in college, just imagine how much worse it could be for younger people,” he said. And he claims his own experience is what drives his fight against public education and government-controlled schools. “So I fought against this kind of material being included in the classroom,” he said. “I’ve been consistent. I’ve changed my life. People change over time.” There is no evidence of gay porn being included in any public school classroom in America.

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Houston Chronicle Editorial: He's a thorn in Harris County's side, but a 'happy warrior' worth reelecting

We’ve called state Sen. Paul Bettencourt a “happy warrior.” He’s not always so jolly. The public got a glimpse of this recently during the hearings following CenterPoint’s bungled Hurricane Beryl response. But he’s also had his moments behind the scenes. “This is a full contact sport,” the Republican lawmaker, who will turn 66 shortly before the election, told the editorial board. Even with members of his own party. In the fight over property tax relief, Bettencourt, who served 10 years as Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and has his own business that helps people protest their property taxes, found himself on the wrong side of Gov. Greg Abbott. “When he vetoed three of my bills," Bettencourt told us, "I literally picked up the phone and called him and said, ‘You know, we’re going to have a very difficult conversation because if you veto any more of my bills, I will do whatever I have to to protect these bills.’”

It was a full-throated battle: “We had 51 bills vetoed in the Senate because we were for a homestead exemption.” We agreed with Bettencourt's version of property tax relief, calling it a fairer way to distribute that relief than a House version that went after appraisal value increases instead. We also found common ground with Bettencourt on his criticism of public facility corporations, a mechanism meant to deliver affordable housing in exchange for taking the properties off tax rolls. And even though we were skeptical, we ultimately judged his legislative push to remove Harris County’s troubled election administrator position a win for the county since it restored elections to the eminently competent county clerk, Democrat Teneshia Hudspeth. Some Harris County officials probably have other nicknames for the happy warrior, who has repeatedly challenged the Democrat-led county. Outside of his legislative efforts, for example, he's used his bully pulpit to blast the county's plan to send out thousands of voter registration applications, claiming it would "likely register non-citizens to vote." And he questioned the legality of the county's proposed guaranteed income program that would have used federal, pandemic-era funds to send monthly payments to a handful of eligible households. When he asked the attorney general to weigh in, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said Bettencourt was "more focused on political games and weaponizing government institutions than making life better for the people of Harris County." Even as he works on statewide concerns, he seems to always have a finger in the Harris County pie.

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City Stories

Austin Opera buys landmark home for $4.5M to house theater, studios, offices

Taking advantage of a soft market for Austin office space, Austin Opera has purchased a landmark building in Southeast Austin. Its interior will be transformed into offices, storage areas, rehearsal studios and social gathering spaces as well as a 195-seat performance venue that will be available to other arts groups 40 weeks out of the year. The opera paid $4.5 million for 16,000 square feet of high-ceilinged space laid out diagonally on a corner lot at Trade Center and Comsouth drives. Since the previous owner, J.D. Abrams L.P., an engineering firm, constructed an expansion of the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge in the 1980s, the opera building, built in 2016, is dominated by a dramatic series of bridge-like arches. The theme continues inside with a series of high barrel vaults.

The opera plans to raise an additional $3 million to finish retrofitting the building, including the 3,600-square-foot theater and four rehearsal studios, under the direction of architect Travis Young, founder of Studio Momentum Architects, and project contractors Liza Wimberley and Tina Barrett, who also serves as opera trustee. A squad of acoustic, lighting and theater design experts will consult on the in-house performance venue. Opera employees moved into the building in September. The new theater and rehearsal studios are expected to be complete in October 2025. Once the building is finished it will be called the Butler Performance Center at Austin Opera. The theater itself will have a separate name.

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3 Laredo city councilmembers object to pay raise council voted for itself

A trio of city councilmembers from the South Texas border city of Laredo are upset over a recent vote by the council to increase council pay by 40%. Laredo City Councilmember Melissa Cigarroa, her niece Councilmember Alyssa Cigarroa and Councilmember Dr. Tyler King are asking Mayor Dr. Victor Treviño to veto the Sept. 16 vote that was approved by 5-3, with the three members above voting against it.

The vote gave the mayor a $25,200 pay bump, making his annual salary $100,200. Each councilmember will get an additional $19,200, bringing their pay to $69,800, including reimbursements. The Sept. 16 vote included a change to the city’s ordinance, but Melissa Cigarroa told Border Report on Monday that during that meeting and the previous Sept. 3 council meeting — when the issue was first discussed — the term “pay raise” was never mentioned. “This was not presented as a salary increase. This was presented as a change in the language of the ordinance to make it more clear and transparent, which is laughable, in my opinion,” Melissa Cigarroa told Border Report. “Our city attorney never told us that our pay would be raised in his presentation. So had myself, Councilmember King and Councilmember Alyssa Cigarroa not spoken up and discussed how this is a de facto salary increase, no one would have been any the wiser.”

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National Stories

Anti-trans ads didn’t work in 2022. Republicans think this time will be different.

An actor playing Democratic Rep. Colin Allred smashes into a female football player, dramatizing how he wouldn’t “stop men from competing in women’s sports.” A narrator warns what would happen if the Allred-backed Equality Act passed: “Boys in girls’ bathrooms! Boys in girls’ locker rooms!” And at campaign stops, with his “KEEP TEXAS, TEXAS” bus parked outside, Sen. Ted Cruz tells supporters of the gender madness coming if Allred beats him and Democrats stay in power. “Do our daughters have any rights?” Cruz asked the crowd at a Tex-Mex restaurant here on Monday, where some supporters waved WOMEN FOR CRUZ signs. “Does a teenage girl have any right not to have a fully naked grown man right next to her in the changing room?”

Republicans are running more ads than ever about transgender rights — an issue that hasn’t previously worked for GOP candidates in swing states. In Michigan and Ohio, attempts to link abortion rights amendments to “sex changes for minors” fell flat. In deep red Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear won two tight campaigns despite ads that linked him to “the transgender industry,” and his veto of LGBTQ-related legislation passed by Republicans. But Republicans see an issue that can break through, especially with Trump voters who’ve been supporting Democratic candidates for Senate. Last month, the Trump campaign ran the first-ever presidential campaign ad on the topic, highlighting Harris’s support of gender surgeries for prisoners and migrants in a 2019 ACLU questionnaire: “Kamala’s for they/them, President Trump is for you.” Last week, the Trump campaign put out another ad on the topic; at the same time, the Senate Leadership Fund backed by Mitch McConnell started running swing seat ads that went after Democrats for the implications of the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity rather than some other definition of sex, and their opposition to the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would prevent student athletes from playing on a team that doesn’t match their sex at birth. Voters in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Montana soon heard that Sen. Tammy Baldwin wanted “women’s shelters to accept biological men,” Sen. Sherrod Brown would “allow children to receive sex change surgery,” and Sen. Jon Tester would “let men use women’s bathrooms.” According to a New York Times analysis, at least $65 million has been spent on these ads. There are no real-world examples in the ads; the claim of Brown supporting gender surgery for minors, which is illegal in Ohio, was based on an interview where he opposed Republican bans on various treatments for transgender youth.

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Fact check: Six days of Trump lies about the Hurricane Helene response

Former President Donald Trump has delivered a barrage of lies and distortions about the federal response to Hurricane Helene. While various misinformation about the response has spread widely without Trump’s involvement, the Republican presidential nominee has been one of the country’s leading deceivers on the subject. Over a span of six days, in public comments and social media posts, Trump has used his powerful megaphone to endorse or invent false or unsubstantiated claims. The chief targets of his hurricane-related dishonesty have been Vice President Kamala Harris, his opponent in the November presidential election, and President Joe Biden.

Monday: Trump falsely claims Biden hasn’t answered calls from Georgia’s governor; Trump cites baseless ‘reports’ about anti-Republican bias in the North Carolina response. Thursday: Trump falsely claims the Biden-Harris response had received ‘universally’ negative reviews; Trump falsely claims Harris spent ‘all her FEMA money’ on housing illegal migrants. Friday: Trump falsely claims $1 billion was ‘stolen’ from FEMA for migrants and has gone ‘missing’. Saturday: Trump falsely claims the federal government is only giving $750 to people who lost their homes; Trump falsely claims there are ‘no helicopters, no rescue’ in North Carolina.

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Scientists who used AI to ‘crack the code’ of almost all proteins win Nobel Prize in chemistry

The 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to a trio of scientists who used artificial intelligence to “crack the code” of almost all known proteins, the “chemical tools of life.” The Nobel Committee lauded David Baker for completing “the almost impossible feat of building entirely new kinds of proteins,” and Demis Hassabis and John Jumper for developing an AI model to predict proteins’ complex structures – a problem that had been unsolved for 50 years. “The potential of their discoveries is enormous,” the committee said as the award was announced in Sweden on Wednesday. The prize, seen as the pinnacle of scientific achievement, carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million).

Proteins, a string of amino acid molecules, are the building blocks of life. They help form hair, skin and tissue cells; they read, copy and repair DNA; and they help carry oxygen in the blood. While proteins are built from only around 20 amino acids, these can be combined in almost endless ways, folding themselves into highly complex patterns in three dimensional space. The committee said Wednesday’s prize had two “halves.” The first went to Hassabis, a British computer scientist who co-founded the Google’s AI research laboratory DeepMind, and Jumper, an American researcher who also works at DeepMind. Hassabis and Jumper were honored for using AI to predict the three-dimensional structure of a protein from a sequence of amino acids, allowing them to predict the structure of almost all 200 million known proteins. Their AI program – the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database – has been used by at least 2 million researchers around the world. It acts as a “Google search” for protein structures, providing instant access to predicted models of proteins, accelerating progress in fundamental biology and other related fields. The pair have already won the 2023 Lasker and the Breakthrough prizes.

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Inside the battle for America’s most consequential battleground state

When Vice President Kamala Harris rolled out her economic agenda, she went to Pittsburgh. When she unveiled her running mate, she went to Philadelphia. And when she had to pick a place for Barack Obama’s first fall rally this Thursday, it was back to Pittsburgh. Former President Donald J. Trump has earmarked the greatest share of his advertising budget for Pennsylvania and has held more rallies in the state than in any other battleground since Ms. Harris joined the race — including two on Wednesday and three in the last week. Welcome to the United States of Pennsylvania. There may be seven main battlegrounds in the race for the White House in 2024, all of which could prove crucial. But Pennsylvania stands apart as the state that top strategists for both Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump have circled as the likeliest to tip the election.

Both candidates are pouring more money, time and energy into the state than anywhere else, with Ms. Harris, Mr. Trump and their allies set to spend $350 million just on television ads in Pennsylvania — $142 million more than the next closest state and more than Michigan and Wisconsin combined. Part of Pennsylvania’s pivotal role is its sheer size: The state’s 19 electoral votes are the biggest prize of any battleground. Part of it is polling: The state has been virtually tied for months. And part of it is math: It is daunting for either Mr. Trump or, especially, Ms. Harris to reach the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win without it. “If we win Pennsylvania,” Mr. Trump said at a recent rally in the state, “we win the whole thing.” What makes Pennsylvania so compelling — and confounding — for both parties is the state’s unusual mix of demographic and geographic forces. It is home to urban centers such as Philadelphia with a large population of Black voters whom Democrats must mobilize. It has fast-growing, highly educated and mostly white suburbs where Republicans have been bleeding support in the Trump years. There are struggling industrial towns where Mr. Trump needs to maximize his vote, and smaller cities booming with Latino immigrants where Ms. Harris aims to make gains. And there is a significant, albeit shrinking, rural population. White voters without college degrees, who make up Mr. Trump’s base, still account for roughly half the vote. “This is almost a microcosm of America,” said Austin Davis, Pennsylvania’s Democratic lieutenant governor. Editors’ Picks How to See the ‘Once-in-a-Lifetime’ Comet Flaring in Our Night Skies 3 Warming Dishes for Crisp Fall Days Grappling With the Talmud in the Midst of Crisis The campaigning in Pennsylvania is fierce and everywhere — the intensity of a mayoral street fight playing out statewide, with consequences for the whole country. Ms. Harris is running online ads targeting voters in heavily Hispanic pockets of eastern Pennsylvania and radio ads featuring Republicans voting for her on 130 rural radio stations. Her team said they knocked on 100,000 doors in the state last Saturday, the first time the campaign had reached that threshold in a day.

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California’s rent control ballot measure could reverberate across the US

Among the many ballot questions American voters will consider next month, housing experts are paying close attention to California and a question known as Proposition 33 — a proposed repeal of the state’s restrictions on local rent control. If passed, the measure would give authority back to local governments to enact or change laws on rent control. For advocates, passing Proposition 33 would be a critical opportunity to address California’s housing crisis head-on. For the real estate industry, defeating Proposition 33 would mean maintaining the status quo in a market that has made billions for corporate landlords. While rent control — caps on rent increases — provides relief to tenants, some economists suggest there are significant trade-offs: Rent control policies can lead to higher rents for uncontrolled units, reduce landlords’ incentive to maintain units, and dampen the creation of new rental housing — exacerbating affordable housing shortages.

Since January 2021, states and localities across the country have implemented more than 300 new tenant protections, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a nonprofit that pushes for housing affordability. And some housing advocates think that if Californians approve the ballot question, other states could follow suit, expanding rent control in the coming years as a way to prevent large rate hikes that can force out low- and middle-income tenants. The ballot initiative could have “a reverberating effect across the country” if it is passed, said Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a liberal-leaning advocacy group. “Renter protections have shown to have a path [to being passed] when put in the hands of voters since the pandemic.” Rent control has a long history in California. Before 1995, local governments were allowed to impose rent controls, as long as landlords were still receiving reasonable financial returns. But that year, lawmakers, with the support of the housing industry, passed the Costa-Hawkins Rental Act. It imposed new mandates: no rent control on condominiums or single-family homes, and no rent control on properties built after 1995.

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Kamala Harris on ‘60 Minutes’ said unemployment is at historic lows for everyone. Half True.

During an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Vice President Kamala Harris faced several pointed questions, including one about how the Biden-Harris administration has handled the economy. “There are lots of signs that the American economy is doing very well, better than most countries, I think,” CBS’ Bill Whitaker said in the interview, which aired Oct. 7. “But the American people don’t seem to be feeling it. Groceries are 25% higher and people are blaming you and Joe Biden for that. Are they wrong?” Harris said, “We now have historic low unemployment in America among all groups of people. We now have an economy that is thriving by all macroeconomic measures. And, to your point, prices are still too high. And I know that, and we need to deal with it, which is why part of my plan — you mentioned groceries. Part of my plan is what we must do to bring down the price of groceries.” We wondered whether Harris was correct that “we now have historic low unemployment in America among all groups of people.”

The short answer is that under the Biden-Harris administration, unemployment for all groups has been low by historical standards; in several cases, unemployment hit record lows. However, Harris said “now,” which could lead listeners to think unemployment is at a record low today. That’s not so for any of those groups, since unemployment has trended upward for nearly two years. We looked at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the federal government’s official source for unemployment rates, for five categories: overall unemployment, white unemployment, Black unemployment, Latino unemployment and Asian unemployment. We’ll address them in that order. The record low overall unemployment rate is 2.5%, set in 1953. The lowest rate during the last seven decades came under Biden’s tenure: 3.4% for two months in 2023. But in the most recent month, September 2024, the rate was 4.1%, or seven-tenths of a point higher than the 70-year low. The record low white unemployment rate is 3%, set three times: during several months in 1968-69, one month in 2020 under President Donald Trump and two months in 2022 under Biden. In the most recent month, September 2024, the rate was 3.6%, or six-tenths of a point above the record. The record low Black unemployment rate is 4.8%, set in April 2023 under Biden and Harris. In the most recent month, September 2024, the rate was 5.7%, or nine-tenths of a point above the record. The record low Latino unemployment rate is 3.9%, a level reached once under Trump in 2019 and once under Biden and Harris in 2022. In the most recent month, September 2024, the rate was 5.1%, or 1.2 percentage points higher than the record.

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The hurricane X-factor in the 2024 election

Any number of October surprises could affect the 2024 election, but right now, none loom larger than the fall hurricanes. Hurricane Helene is already the deadliest mainland hurricane since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, ripping through the swing states Georgia and North Carolina after tearing up parts of Florida. And now Hurricane Milton — currently a Category 5 storm — is bearing down on Florida in a way that officials believe could be even more catastrophic than Helene. Milton is due to make landfall Wednesday. The immediate concern is the devastation these storms have and will wreak. But the political fight over them isn’t waiting, in large part because of Donald Trump. And the impact on the fast-approaching election is obviously a huge emerging subplot, with major implications for the future of the country.

What’s clear is that we are largely in uncharted territory so close to a presidential election and with this many key states bearing the brunt of these storms. But what does history suggest that could mean? The first thing to note is just how crucial these states could be — and how much even slight shifts could change the overall race. Georgia and North Carolina, in particular, are polling extremely close. Trump leads by two points in Georgia and by less than one in North Carolina, according to The Washington Post’s polling averages. They combine for more than one-third of the electoral votes in the seven key swing states. Red-leaning Florida is more of an afterthought in the 2024 campaign; it’s generally been thought that Democrats would win there only if they’re already well on the way to winning the presidency. But the former swing state went for Trump by only three points in 2020, and some on the Democratic side have pushed for more investment in a key U.S. Senate race there and possibly even the presidential race. If Vice President Kamala Harris somehow won Florida’s 30 electoral votes, she would very likely be elected president.

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Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida, could be one of most destructive storms on record

Milton forecast to grow in size: Milton has strengthened back into a Category 5 hurricane. Even though it is forecast to weaken before it makes landfall, it will double in size — meaning its disastrous impacts will be felt over a much larger area. Over the past 24 hours, the tropical-storm force winds expanded from 80 miles to 140 miles from its center.

Where will Milton hit? The storm is forecast to make landfall Wednesday night as a major hurricane somewhere on Florida’s Central Gulf Coast, where it could be one of the most destructive storms on record. Its dangerous eye and eyewall could come ashore in the Tampa area and unleash record storm surge while tropical-storm force winds are expected to cover the entire width of the Florida peninsula. The opportunity for people on Florida’s west coast to get out before the effects of Hurricane Milton are seen is rapidly closing, according to the sheriff of Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa. “This is the 11th hour. If you’re in an evacuation zone, the time to get out is now,” Sheriff Chad Chronister told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on Wednesday morning. “We already saw some flooding out here early this morning,” said Chronister. “That’s only going to get worse. As this storm wobbles, we don’t know what kind of storm surge (we will see).” The sheriff said more than 1,000 rescues were conducted in his county after Hurricane Helene, and they’re preparing for more. “We only have to look back two weeks ago. We’re still healing from this storm and recovering,” he said. Dangers left from Helene: Despite frenzied efforts to clean up after Hurricane Helene, mounds of rubble – including sheet metal, cinderblocks and large appliances – remain in neighborhoods. Officials worry Milton’s winds will turn that debris into dangerous projectiles that could hit people or homes.

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Lead Stories

US Supreme Court sides with Texas, against Biden administration in emergency abortion case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to intervene in a clash between Texas' near-total abortion ban and federal guidance, letting stand a lower court's ruling that the state's hospitals cannot be compelled to provide emergency abortions. Without stating their reasoning, the justices kept in place a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order from January that said Texas hospitals cannot be required to provide abortions that would violate state law. The state prohibits abortions except when a woman faces "a life-threatening condition," with penalties for providers including fines of at least $100,000 and up to life in prison. The 5th Circuit order also states that hospitals never have to terminate pregnancies, including when a patient risks death without one.

The Biden administration had asked the high court to affirm its 2022 guidance stating that the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requires hospitals to terminate pregnancies when a patient's life or health is at risk, preempting state abortion bans with more narrow exceptions. The law at issue, known as EMTALA, was enacted in 1986 largely to prevent hospitals from turning away uninsured and indigent patients, particularly women in labor. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Director Xavier Becerra enacted the guidance in July 2022, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the federal right to an abortion established in Roe v. Wade. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that the federal government overstepped its authority with its interpretation of EMTALA, saying the law does not require any specific procedures. Paxton also stated in a news release that the federal guidance's allowance of abortions to "stabilize" a patient would "transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic" and argued that the Health and Human Services Department should have given time for comment and a notice period before issuing the regulation. The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists and Christian Medical & Dental Associations joined Texas as plaintiffs in the 2022 lawsuit Paxton filed against the Biden administration's guidance.

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Texas lawmakers are worried about liberal cities defunding police. This deep-red county just did

When activists demanded cuts to police budgets in the wake of George Floyd’s 2020 death at the hands of Minneapolis police, Texas lawmakers reacted swiftly, passing a law financially penalizing municipalities that reduce their law enforcement spending. "Texas remains a law-and-order state,” Gov. Greg Abbott said then. “These new rules will prevent cities from making reckless and downright dangerous decisions to defund the police." The 2021 law applied only to large, typically left-leaning metropolitan centers that saw the loudest anti-police protests. No one could have foreseen that the state's most politically charged police-defunding battle would actually be waged in deep-red Texas, in the country’s least-populated county. Two weeks ago, commissioners in Loving County — pop. 75, more or less — approved a 2025 budget eviscerating local law enforcement. On January 1, Sheriff Chris Busse’s salary will be slashed in half, making his paycheck smaller than those of the part-time county commissioners’. The commissioners also eliminated two of six deputy positions, and zeroed-out salaries for two support clerks.

The five-member Commissioners Court next took its budget knife to the county’s sole elected constable. Brandon Jones’ 2025 salary was hacked from $126,000, the standard for all full-time elected Loving County officials, to just $30,000 — the federal poverty level for a family of four, a statistic of particular concern as the constable’s wife also holds one of the eliminated clerk jobs. The Texas Municipal Police Association has protested the deep cuts, vowing to take the dispute to Austin when state lawmakers convene early next year. What’s happened in Loving County — sudden and drastic reductions in law enforcement spending because of apparent political differences – “is the definition of defunding,” said the association’s Tyler Owen. The cuts definitely weren’t about money. Situated in the heart of the petro-soaked Permian Basin, Loving County is one of the richest jurisdictions in the state. Engorged by oil and gas taxes, its budget has more than tripled since 2022. In fact, most employees will see a raise next year. Nor was the defunding for a lack of work. About 1,500 oil field workers temporarily live in the county on the New Mexico border, and police warn about drug trafficking and thefts. The endless stream of heavy equipment has made local roads among the most dangerous in the country. Loving County’s six sheriff’s deputies logged more than 2,700 hours of overtime last year, Busse said.

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Tampa Bay hasn’t been hit directly by a major hurricane since 1921. Milton may be the one

Florida’s Gulf Coast braced Tuesday for the impact of Hurricane Milton’s winds and expected massive storm surge, which could bring destruction to areas already reeling from Helene’s devastation 12 days ago and still recovering from Ian’s wrath two years ago. Almost the entirety of Florida’s west coast was under a hurricane warning early Tuesday as the storm and its 155 mph (250 kph) winds crept toward the state at 12 mph (19 kph), sucking energy from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm water. The strongest Atlantic hurricane on record is 1980’s Allen, which reached wind speeds of 190 mph (306 kph) as it moved through the Caribbean and Gulf before striking Texas and Mexico. Milton was downgraded early Tuesday to a Category 4 hurricane, but forecasters said it still posed “ an extremely serious threat to Florida.” Milton had intensified quickly Monday, becoming a Category 5 storm at midday with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (285 kph) before being downgraded.

Milton’s center could come ashore Wednesday in the Tampa Bay region, which has not endured a direct hit by a major hurricane in more than a century. Scientists expect the system to weaken slightly before landfall, though it could retain hurricane strength as it churns across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean. That would largely spare other states ravaged by Helene, which killed at least 230 people on its path from Florida to the Appalachian Mountains. Tampa Bay has not been hit directly by a major hurricane since 1921, and authorities fear luck is about to run out for the region and its 3.3 million residents. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida, and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said 7,000 federal workers were mobilized to help in one of the largest mobilizations of federal personnel in history. “This is the real deal here with Milton,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor told a Monday news conference. “If you want to take on Mother Nature, she wins 100% of the time.”

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Texas AG Paxton asks feds to check citizenship status of nearly a half million registered voters

Monday was the last day for Texans to register to vote in the November election, which means procrastinators will likely cause the state’s voter rolls to grow by the thousands as the clock ticks down toward midnight. At the same time, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is hoping the federal government will help him identify noncitizens so that he can stop them from voting. Paxton sent a letter on Monday to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services requesting the federal government confirm the citizenship status of more than 450,000 of Texas’ registered voters. That group is made up of people that did not use a state-issued driver's license or ID card when they registered to vote (The state accepts several forms of identification when people register to vote beyond just state IDs).

Paxton’s move comes on the heels of a request to Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson that her office provide a list of these voters. The AG gave Nelson a deadline of last Friday to provide the list. What Paxton will do if the federal government is unable to confirm the citizenship status of some of the voters on that list is unclear. Under federal law, the state can no longer remove people from the voter rolls because it is less than 90 days before a federal election. This is Paxton’s latest attempt to find ineligible voters, with an emphasis on noncitizens — a common focus amongst Republican leaders across the country this year. Bethany Albertson, a political scientist at UT Austin, recently told The Texas Newsroom that “talk around voter fraud doesn’t match the reality.” “When politicians push messages suggesting that voter fraud is rampant,” she said, “it sows distrust in elections.” The Brennan Center for Justice researched claims of illegal voting from politicians during the 2012, 2016 and 2020 elections. That study found that most allegations of fraud were baseless or due to clerical errors and other forms of election misconduct.

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State Stories

Texas oil companies among those targeted by Russian lawsuits challenging sanctions

Two years after some of Texas’ largest oil companies withdrew from Russia because of U.S. sanctions over the country’s invasion of Ukraine, they and other U.S. corporations are under threat of Russian litigation claiming they are in breach of contract. The legal claims are largely being heard behind closed doors by arbitration panels in Europe and Russia, keeping the proceedings confidential. But U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, a Texas Republican leading bipartisan legislation to block the Russian effort, said Texas oil companies were among those being targeted. “I can’t name them directly, but there are several,” the Houston lawmaker said. “American companies should never be sued by Russian assets for complying with U.S. sanctions.”

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. Russian courts and foreign arbitration panels already have awarded close to $1 billion in damages to Russian firms, which are soon expected to try and force payment by suing companies in U.S. courts, said one lobbyist for the American companies. Last week, the House Judiciary Committee approved legislation that would bar lawsuits from being filed in U.S. courts seeking compensation for losses sustained due to U.S. sanctions — similar to provisions already in place in Europe and the United Kingdom. Hunt and his co-sponsors, including U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the Democrat who serves as ranking member on the judiciary committee, are trying to get a House vote on the bill by the end of the year. Among the hundreds of companies that halted their business dealings with Russia in 2022 are at least five oil companies based in Texas: San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp. and the U.S. arms of European oil giants BP, Shell and TotalEnergies. None of them would comment for this report.

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San Antonio-built satellite headed to space aboard Texas-built rocket

Southwest Research Institute’s new QuickSounder satellite has its ticket to space set aboard a Cedar Park company’s rocket. NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace Inc. a contract to carry the nonprofit research hub’s craft to orbit aboard an Alpha rocket sometime in 2026 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. QuickSounder will be the first in a series of small satellites set to fly in low-Earth orbit to monitor the environment for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The future satellite constellation — NOAA’s Near Earth Orbit Network, or NEON program — is a collaboration between NOAA and NASA to provide data for weather forecasting, climate monitoring and environmental observations.

SwRI landed a $54.9 million deal from NASA to design, build and operate QuickSounder as a prototype for future NEON satellites. The quick-moving contract gave SwRI less than three years to design and build the craft, a process that traditionally takes up to 10 years, SwRI said. About the size of a household washing machine, the 465-pound craft will carry NOAA’s Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder instrument that will measure properties such as temperature and moisture in Earth’s atmosphere. Jason Kim became Firefly’s new CEO in July after its previous boss, Bill Weber, stepped down amid allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a female employee. Firefly “is honored to support this critical pathfinder mission for the NEON program that will transform our nation’s weather forecasting and climate models,” Kim said in a statement.

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Permanent daylight saving time? Texas politicians are in favor, experts are against it

If state politicians get their way, when Texans set their clocks back Nov. 3, it could be the last time they must complete the chore — recently passed legislation aims to exempt the state from the biannual daylight saving time change. State Rep. Will Metcalf from Conroe presented House Bill 1422 during a meeting of the 88th Legislative Session on April 11, 2023. The bill that would keep Texas on daylight saving time year-round passed 136-5. Metcalf did not respond to a request for comment, but while explaining the bill he said he believes Texas should, “stick to a time without switching twice a year which allows for maximum amount of daylight in the evenings and I know countless others feel the same way.”

As of May 2023 the bill remained in the Senate, and Texas would need federal approval before it could shift to permanent daylight saving time. For now, states can opt-out daylight saving time but require federal approval to observe it year-round, which is the goal of Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's Sunshine Protection Act. Daylight saving time was established in the U.S. during World War I to save electricity, according to the National Sleep Foundation. When Americans change their clocks every March and November altering the timing of light exposure, Candice A. Alfano, director of the Sleep and Anxiety Center of Houston, said it can stress a person's biological and psychological health. Not only is falling asleep and waking up harder after a clock change, Alfano said a growing body of research suggests that the risk of heart attacks, traffic accidents, job-related injuries, suicides and even miscarriages in pregnant women also increase.

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Kelly R. Damphousse: At Texas State enrollment grows, and so does student success

(Kelly R. Damphousse is president of Texas State University.) When Texas State University’s most distinguished alumnus, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, returned to his alma mater in 1965 to sign the transformative Higher Education Act, he said that the most important door to open for America’s youth was the door to education. Keeping that door open is more important today than ever before, especially in Texas, where 70% of jobs will require a post-secondary credential by 2036. Unfortunately, only about 36% of Texans currently earn a college degree or credential within six years of graduating from high school. Texas has the eighth-largest economy in the world, but we rank 36th in the nation in post-secondary educational attainment. As Texas State University celebrates its 125th anniversary, we are making strides to close that gap. This fall semester, Texas State, where I serve as president, reached its highest enrollment ever of more than 40,000 students.

Texas State’s number of new students (more than 12,500) this fall exceeds the total enrollment at more than 20 other public universities in Texas. But our mission extends beyond enrollment — student success is at the heart of everything we do. As a result, more sophomores than ever before returned after their freshman year. With more than 8,300 degrees and certificates awarded last year, our students graduate ready to pursue rewarding careers and to lead fulfilling lives. Our growth is strategic, serving not only our students, but the entire state of Texas. With 95% of our students hailing from 230-plus counties across the state and 86% of our alumni remaining in Texas after graduation, Texas State is a critical workforce and economic engine for Texas. Texas State is aligned with the state’s goal to “Build a Talent Strong Texas” by ensuring 60% of Texans receive a post-secondary credential by 2030. Over the past year, we worked to expand access to these credentials through the development of 41 new online graduate and undergraduate degree programs, 11 new doctoral programs, strategic partnerships with community colleges, and an unwavering commitment to meet students where they are. Simply put, we believe that anyone with the desire and determination should have access to higher education.

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Bridget Grumet: She was sick of divisive politics. So Kodi Sawin decided to run for Texas House

Behind a tree-shaded table at the Pedernales Farmers Market, sandwiched between a fresh-roasted coffee stand and a vendor selling jars of habanero dill okra, Kodi Sawin pitched her own unconventional offering: A staunchly nonpartisan campaign that aims to reboot our political discourse. “Would you like to hear about my independent run for state representative?” Sawin asked people passing by her campaign table on a warm September Sunday. “My top issues are water, wastewater and land use." Not taxes. Not guns. Not the border. Not abortion. It’s not to say those issues don’t matter. But Sawin sees a Texas Legislature that is consumed by hot-button, national political issues — fights over drag queens and DEI — instead of addressing the pressing concerns facing some Hill Country residents whose wells are running dry while new housing developments are being approved.

“One thing we all love is the water and the land. It’s why we live here,” Sawin told Briarcliff resident Hunter Hale, while a guitarist a few tents over played an earthy, acoustic version of “Purple Rain.” “I’m trying to make politics local again and get more of our voice back at the Capitol,” Sawin said. Hale smiled. Finally, someone was talking about water, his top worry as more pastures become rooftops. “Where do I sign up?” Hale asked. Texas House District 19 contains a piece of western Travis County and all of Burnet, Blanco, Kendall and Gillespie counties. With Republican Rep. Ellen Troxclair carrying the district two years ago with nearly 73% of the vote, it doesn't seem ripe for flipping. All the more reason to run, Sawin said. “My win is something different,” she told me. “Winning, to me, is giving us all hope that there is a way to change the way we communicate about politics.” Specifically: Focusing on local issues in which people have a common interest. Avoiding national political topics and heated partisan rhetoric. And refusing to bad-mouth others when there's disagreement. Raised in “the belt buckle of the Bible belt” in the Panhandle town of Canyon, and most recently living in Lakeway as a consultant on infrastructure and water issues, Sawin has crisscrossed enough patches of red and blue turf to see that Texans have more in common than our partisan fights suggest. Talk to just about anyone, she said, and you’ll find that people care about their kids, their neighbors and the livability of their community.

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Delta Airlines commits to investment in Texas with 5 new routes; here's where they go

Delta Airlines reaffirmed its commitment to the Lone Star State this week, announcing that the company would add five nonstop routes from Austin. According to a news release, Delta will add daily nonstop service to Panama City, Fla., beginning in March. Additionally, the airline said it will add nonstop service to Indianapolis; Memphis, Tenn.; San Francisco; and Tampa, Fla. Delta said that starting these routes will provide Austin customers “more options than ever before.” For Delta, which has seen its stock fluctuate recently, the additions symbolize stability as many airlines are trying anything to cultivate profits.

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Why Texas A&M may cut LGBTQ+ studies minor, and what GOP lawmakers are targeting next

After months of growing pressure from conservative Republicans demanding that Texas A&M University drop its LGBTQ+ studies minor, the university announced late last month that it plans to end the program due to low enrollment. "In June 2023, inquiries around the LGBTQ minor that had only a few enrolled students prompted the university to examine its programs and identify 70 certificates and minors that had no or very few graduates or enrollees," said a university statement shared by spokesperson Kelly Brown. In January, state Rep. Brian Harrison, a Republican from Midlothian, about 165 miles north of the university, publicly decried Texas A&M's LGBTQ+ studies minor on X, promising that he "will be demanding answers" on why it was being offered and "why my constituents should be forced to subsidize this." The next month, in another post on X, Harrison said he spoke with Texas A&M leaders, who told him the school was spending state resources on the program.

"Outrageous," he wrote in his Feb. 15 post, before promising to find "legislative remedies." Then on Sept. 26, he helped break the news that Texas A&M had decided to stop offering the minor. "After months of calling for A&M to end this absurd program, I was pleased to learn from Chancellor (John) Sharp they plan to end it. Proud to have helped deliver this victory for Texas taxpayers, who should never be forced to fund liberal indoctrination," he said. On Wednesday, however, 30 faculty members unanimously voted to oppose the sudden inactivation request for the LGBTQ+ studies minor from their dean. Faculty members told the American-Statesman that the inactivation request was initiated top-down, putting into question what will happen when the action is in conflict with the shared governance procedures inscribed in the university's standard administrative policy.

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Texas judge converts Turkey Leg Hut's Chapter 11 bankruptcy to Chapter 7, citing violations of order

Turkey Leg Hut owner Nakia Holmes' Chapter 11 bankruptcy has officially been converted to Chapter 7 bankruptcy by order of Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Eduardo V. Rodriguez. Filing under Subchapter V of Chapter 11 bankruptcy had allowed Turkey Leg Hut co-founder Holmes to continue running her business until all parties involved agreed on a fair and equitable plan to repay creditors. Now, that the case has been converted to Chapter 7, the bankruptcy proceedings will focus on liquidation versus reorganization. In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a trustee sells the debtors' assets to pay creditors.

After initially denying a request to convert the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, Rodriguez, of the Southern District of Texas, ordered the conversion to Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Holmes, formerly Nakia Price, had filed for bankruptcy back in March to resolve nearly $5 million in debt. In his 17-page opinion, Rodriguez cited multiple violations of the court's May 3 order, including failure to file post-petition tax returns, as reasons for the conversion. Rodriguez addressed subchapter V trustee Brendon Singh's motion to convert or dismiss with prejudice based on “five grounds.” Singh had alleged Holmes “grossly mismanaged the estate,” “failed to maintain appropriate insurance that poses a risk to the estate,” “failed to comply with court orders,” “failed to file any of (her) monthly operating reports timely” and “failed to attend the UST’s first two scheduled initial debtor interviews.”

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New ‘4/5 Bridge’ conditionally approved for South Texas border

President Joe Biden has approved the construction of a new international bridge connecting the U.S. and Mexico south of Laredo, Texas. South Texas officials are praising the go-ahead by the Biden administration for what locals are calling the long-awaited “4/5 Bridge.” The bridge would be the fourth international bridge connecting the Mexican state of Tamaulipas with Laredo, and the fifth bridge in Webb County, one of which leads to the neighboring Mexican state of Nuevo León. Biden signed the presidential permit on Thursday. It is subject to certain environmental conditions but allows the project to start.

His approval comes nearly four months after the president issued construction and expansion permits for three other international bridges in South Texas. Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina called the signing of the 4/5 Bridge “a moment that will be etched in the annals of Webb County’s history.” The project has been in the works for nearly two decades and Tijerina called it a “significant milestone” to improve trade and relations between Mexico and the United States. “With this signing, we herald the establishment of Tamaulipas’s fourth international bridge and Webb County’s fifth, symbolizing a new era of connectivity and collaboration,” Tijerina said in a statement. “This is just the beginning of a brighter future for our people.” The bridge is to be built southeast of Laredo near the small towns of Rio Bravo and El Cenizo and will be designed to accommodate commercial, vehicular and pedestrian traffic to and from Mexico.

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Texas’ new poll watcher protections will be put to the test in 2024 election

Republicans have enlisted legions of poll watchers in Texas and across the country ahead of the Nov. 5 election, a move they say will safeguard against potential election fraud. The situation reflects a national debate in which Republicans warn about the need to combat election fraud, while Democrats say there is no evidence of the kind of widespread cheating that would affect the outcome of a presidential contest. A Republican National Committee spokesperson said the RNC is “working closely” with the Dallas County Republican Party to “deploy poll watchers and fill local poll worker spots” this fall. Republicans and former President Donald Trump’s campaign have “built an unprecedented election integrity operation,” Claire Zunk, the RNC’s election integrity communications director, told The Dallas Morning News. “Securing the vote” is Trump’s top priority, she added.

“We will have thousands of poll watchers in Texas ensuring every vote is counted legally and fairly,” she said in a statement. Some Democrats say they are particularly concerned about relatively new legal protections for poll watchers in Texas and Trump’s assertions that the 2020 election was stolen from him. “We all worry that this is going to be a big disruption because of what the Trump campaign has said,” said Dallas County Election Judge David Fisher, a Democrat who has been an election judge in Dallas County for every presidential contest since 2008. Increased poll watcher protections come from Senate Bill 1, which was passed by the Texas Legislature along party lines in 2021. The legislation makes it more difficult for election workers to remove poll watchers who have broken the law. It also grants poll watchers “free movement” in a voting location, driving worries of potential intimidation of voters and election workers. Under SB 1, election observers are still barred from witnessing how an individual votes. Also, all poll watchers must undergo training administered by the state.

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San Antonio's plan to fight back in Texas' next legislative session

As the City of San Antonio gears up for Texas’s 89th legislative session, city leaders have nearly finalized a plan to push back against policies affecting their utilities and regulatory power — both of which gave city officials heartburn the last time lawmakers convened in Austin. But after three City Council work sessions spent hammering out the city’s lobbying agenda, some critics say the strategy they mapped out still overlooks the bigger picture of protecting local residents from steadily eroding civil liberties. The Texas Legislature meets every other year for 140 days, with its next session ramping up in January 2025. Bill-filing for that session opens mid-November, so the San Antonio City Council plans to approve a formal lobbying plan before the end of the month.

On Wednesday, the full council got its first look at the city’s plans so far, focused broadly on promoting housing affordability, supporting access to child care, addressing food insecurity and health care needs, ensuring resilience against extreme weather events, safeguarding military installations and protecting residents from firearms and domestic violence. While the state is again likely to have plenty of money available in its budget, past sessions have been more about playing defense than fighting for spending priorities. Texas closed the last regular session after allocating only about half of a $33 billion surplus, due in part to a stalemate over Gov. Greg Abbott’s plans for school voucher program. “It’d be far easier for us if they met every 140 years for two days instead of the opposite,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who has has become a growing critic of Texas GOP leaders throughout his eight years as mayor.

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Cy-Fair ISD board approves use of disaster pennies to increase tax rate, bringing in $34M in revenue

Cypress-Fairbanks ISD trustees approved a disaster provision Monday that allows for a one-time, 2-cent tax rate increase that will help the state's third largest school district offset a budget deficit. The tax increase, allowed after tornadoes hit the region in January 2023, will generate $33.9 million in revenue for the district, which made drastic cuts to librarians and busing to balance its budget for the 2024-2025 school year. “We cannot wait on the state to solve this problem. This board has already put all of CFISD’s eggs in Gov. Abbott's basket, and look how that turned out,” parent Tara Cummings said.

Superintendent Douglas Killian said the tax rate increase would save the district from facing more cuts for the 2025-26 school year. Still, two trustees on the seven-member board, which serves 118,000 students in northwest Harris County, voted against the increase. Trustee Natalie Blasingame said she would only vote for the increase if busing to all students returned as a result. “I cannot support raising taxes… unless we are able to meet an immediate need for safety for our school district this year,” Blasingame said. “I would support raising the taxes to the full two pennies of disaster pennies, if the $4 million or so could be taken out of the $33.9 million... to provide transportation.” Board President Scott Henry said the extra revenue is necessary. “As a fiscal conservative, I feel the discomfort as well, but it's an unfortunate reality... it's not about taxes, it's not about numbers,” Henry said. “It's not Democrats, not Republicans. I'm conservative. It transcends all that. It's about humanity. It's about doing the right thing.”

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County Stories

15 Tarrant County jailers now named in Anthony Johnson Jr. wrongful death lawsuit

Ten more Tarrant County jailers were added Monday to a lawsuit filed by the family of Anthony Johnson Jr., who died in county jail custody in April — marking a total of 15 people now named in the wrongful death suit. The suit initially named former detention officer Rafael Moreno and his supervisor Lt. Joel Garcia along with up to 10 unnamed detention officers listed as "John Doe" as responsible for Johnson's April 21 death. Now court records filed Monday list a total of 15 people, alleging each failed to intervene as Moreno restrained Johnson. Detention officers Tyrone Caldwell, Royce Moody, Kimberly Nobles, Phylicia Hollie, Angel Sanchez, Jevon Stubbs, Steven Gil, Kyle Longo, David Pitcock, and Robert Russ are now named in the suit.

Attorney information for the 10 newly added detention officers was not available Monday. KERA News reached out to the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office to confirm if the officers were still employed, and will update this story with any response. If Tarrant County did seek legal counsel for all 10 officers, that expense would have to be approved by county commissioners at a future meeting. Johnson family attorney Daryl Washington told KERA he expects the county would have to pay for separate legal counsel for each of the detention officers. "We plan to take this case to trial," Washington said. "I mean unless something just crazy happens." Deaths and allegations of mistreatment in the Tarrant County Jail have cost the county millions of dollars in settlements since 2022. The latest was a $750,000 settlement for the family of a woman who died of suspected dehydration in county jail custody in 2021.

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Bexar County officials address rising rate of domestic violence homicides

The judge, sheriff, and district attorney of Bexar County led a joint news conference on Monday to discuss the rising number of domestic violence homicides in unincorporated areas. There have been nine such homicides so far this year, compared to four in all of last year, and they represent more than half of all homicides in unincorporated areas. District Attorney Joe Gonzales said his office works to prosecute all domestic violence cases, even when survivors have difficulty coming forward. "We will continue to use all efforts to hold abusers accountable, even when victims cannot be present. Fighting domestic violence is not just our job — it's our duty." Sheriff Javier Salazar said abuse often starts with threats and continues to escalate. County Judge Peter Sakai called domestic violence in Bexar County unacceptable.

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City Stories

Audit into Fair Park First donations, expenses to be released amid budget concerns

An audit into Fair Park First's donations and expenses is set to be released to the public Wednesday following months of financial concerns and the resignation of former CEO Brian Luallen. Fair Park began an investigation into a possible mismanagement of funds by Oak View Group earlier this year. Malnory, McNeal & Co. PC, a consulting firm, conducted the audit to review transactions from March 2021 through April 2024. The audit was mentioned during Monday's city council Parks, Trails, and the Environment Committee meeting, but committee members were unable to ask questions about the audit or the scope of the contract between the city and Fair Park First because it was not part of the agenda. Council member Chad West, who’s on the committee, said it was frustrating they could not ask questions ahead of its release to the public at Wednesday’s full Dallas City Council meeting.

After back and forth between committee members and the city attorney over what could be asked in order to comply with the Open Meetings Act, committee chair Kathy Stewart said the briefing was limiting, especially since she felt the committee had some accountability. "In light of everything that has happened up to this point, we knew we would have these questions," Stewart said. "We're all feeling the weight of that accountability. So it's very difficult for us to not ask these questions." Committee member Carolyn King Arnold said she felt "bound and gagged" because she was not allowed to ask questions. "We should have weighed in on it before it was posted,” Arnold said. “We might have had a better opportunity to kind of shape this conversation this morning, because it's been a long conversation and we've not gotten far.”

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Arlington to bring Indycar racing to entertainment district in 2026

Arlington plans to bring another big sporting event to the city, launching the INDYCAR Grand Prix of Arlington in March 2026. The race, which will take drivers along a 2.73-mile closed road track passing AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field, comes as the result of a partnership between the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers and Penske Entertainment, according to a Monday news release. The race will be a part of the NTT Indycar Series, which touts itself as North America’s “premier open-wheel racing comeptition,” according to the release. The NTT Indycar Grand Prix, which puts on the Indy 500 each year, had 17 stops this year, with all but one host city being in the U.S. Other 2024 races were held in in cities like Nashville, Tennessee, Portland, Oregon and Toronto, Canada.

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National Stories

John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton awarded Nobel Prize in physics

John Hopfield, Princeton University, and Geoffrey Hinton, the University of Toronto. “For foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.” Machine learning refers to the development of computer systems that can learn and adapt without being given explicit instructions. The laureates figured out how to create systems that process data similar to how the brain processes information. Their work has found applications across fields, including astrophysics, medical diagnostics and climate modeling. Hinton, a British-Canadian scientist who last year quit his job at Google amid concerns about advances in artificial intelligence, reiterated his warnings Tuesday. Reached by phone from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Hinton said the impact of AI on civilization will be akin to the industrial revolution, for better or worse.

“We have no experience with what it’s like to have things smarter than us,” Hinton said. “It’s going to be wonderful in many respects …. It’ll mean huge improvements in productivity. But we also have to worry about a number of possible bad consequences, particularly the threat of these things getting out of control.” He said he was “flabbergasted” to be honored with a Nobel. “I was going to get an MRI scan today, but I think I’ll have to cancel that,” he said. The academy explained the prize in a news release: “Machine learning has long been important for research, including the sorting and analysis of vast amounts of data. John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton used tools from physics to construct methods that helped lay the foundation for today’s powerful machine learning.” Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier won the Nobel Prize in physics last year for developing super short laser pulses that can be used to study how electrons move. Electrons are part of the building blocks of our universe, so understanding how they behave is important to many fields. Knowing how electrons carry and exchange energy can enable the development of new electronics and help us study other tiny things, such as molecules, advancing diagnostic capabilities in medicine.

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In landmark move, EPA requires removal of all U.S. lead pipes in a decade

The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule Tuesday requiring water utilities to replace all lead pipes within a decade, a move aimed at eliminating a toxic threat that continues to affect tens of thousands of American children each year. The move, which also tightens the amount of lead allowed in the nation’s drinking water, comes nearly 40 years after Congress determined that lead pipes posed a serious risk to public health and banned them in new construction. Research has shown that lead, a toxic contaminant that seeps from pipes into the drinking water supply, can cause irreversible developmental delays, difficulty learning and behavioral problems among children. In adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lead exposure can cause increased blood pressure, heart disease, decreased kidney function and cancer.

But replacing the lead pipes that deliver water to millions of U.S. homes will cost tens of billions of dollars, and the push to eradicate them only gathered momentum after a water crisis in Flint, Mich., a decade ago exposed the extent to which children remain vulnerable to lead poisoning through tap water. “All Americans, no matter where they come from, should have access to their most basic needs, including being able to turn on the tap and drink clean drinking water without fear,” Natalie Quillian, a White House deputy chief of staff, told reporters in a phone call. The groundbreaking regulation, called the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, will establish a national inventory of lead service lines and require that utilities take more aggressive action to remove lead pipes on homeowners’ private property. It also lowers the level of lead contamination that will trigger government enforcement from 15 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 ppb.

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Israel expands ground offensive in Lebanon

Hezbollah supports efforts by Lebanon’s parliament speaker at achieving a ceasefire with Israel, the group’s Deputy Secretary General said Tuesday, the first time the group has publicly endorsed the negotiations since the war started. “We support the political efforts led by (Parliament Speaker Nabih) Berri under the banner of achieving a ceasefire. Once the ceasefire is firmly established and diplomacy can reach it, all other details will be discussed and decisions will be made collaboratively,” Naim Qassem said. Berri is the leader of the predominantly Shiite Amal party allied to Hezbollah, and has been a key figure in negotiations for a ceasefire. Hezbollah previously said it would only stop firing at Israel once a ceasefire is reached with Hamas in Gaza. Israel, however, insisted that Hezbollah separate its conflict with Israel from the ongoing war with Hamas. Much of Qassem’s speech on the anniversary of Hezbollah’s escalated conflict with Israel carried a defiant tone, emphasizing Hezbollah’s readiness and capability to continue its fight against Israel.

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The local diner is totally fine if candidates skip the campaign stop

The thin, crispy pancakes at Pamela’s Diner in Pittsburgh have long attracted attention from candidates across the political divide. George W. Bush visited one of the restaurant’s locations, as did Barack Obama, who described the hot cakes to a local newspaper in 2008 as among the best he had tasted—so good, they didn’t need syrup. The Obama administration later invited the restaurant’s co-owners to cook at the White House in 2009. But when Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, stopped by Pamela’s last month, a photo of the Minnesota governor’s visit shared on the restaurant’s Facebook page quickly drew vitriol. “Won’t eat there anymore,” one commenter noted. “I’m done,” another wrote. (Others said they appreciated Walz’s visit and would welcome the empty seats if some diners stayed away.)

The reaction highlights a reality in the final weeks of an already tense election season: Even the most routine campaign activities, such as a visit to a beloved local business, can get blowback, leaving owners to contend with criticism, or in more extreme cases, boycotts and threats. Wary of such disruptions, some companies are refusing to host any political candidates or related events this season. Businesses “want to stay under the radar,” said Daryl Brewster, who is regularly in touch with executives across industries in his role as head of Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, a nonprofit of more than 200 companies focused on social impact. “The upside value is minimal.” When his organization surveys companies on what they are doing to engage in this political season, many are reluctant to respond—even if the answer is nothing. The sense Brewster gets from many executives: “I don’t even want to communicate what I’m not doing.” One reason campaign visits during this political cycle feel different is that, during the last presidential election, held in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, politicians made fewer retail stops, instead hosting events via Zoom or in large outdoor rallies. This time, both the Harris and Trump campaigns are popping in at local businesses again.

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Ron DeSantis is refusing to take Harris' call on Hurricane Helene

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is not taking calls from Vice President Kamala Harris about storm recovery just over a week after Hurricane Helene hammered parts of his state. A source familiar with the situation said he was dodging the Democratic presidential nominee’s calls because they “seemed political,” according to a DeSantis aide. “Kamala was trying to reach out, and we didn’t answer,” the DeSantis aide told NBC News. DeSantis has been in direct contact with Federal Emergency Management Director Deanne Criswell. At a press conference Monday afternoon, DeSantis denied that he refused to take Harris' call. "I didn't know that she had called," he said. "I'm not sure who they called. They didn't call me. Their characterization of it was something that they did. It wasn't anything that anybody in my office did, in terms of saying it was political."

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Zillow adds climate risk data to home listings as threats rise

Insured losses for Hurricane Helene are now estimated at over $6 billion, but the uninsured losses are far higher. That’s because the vast majority of homes impacted by the storm, especially in hard-hit North Carolina, did not have flood insurance. New risk-assessment technology is designed to help change that for the future. Most homeowners in North Carolina do not have flood insurance, because they are not in flood zones designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Government-backed mortgages require flood insurance in those designated areas. Just 4% of North Carolina homes are in a FEMA flood zone. But climate risk firm First Street, which incorporates the effects of climate change into its property risk scores, shows nearly 12% of homes in the state at flood risk.

First Street just launched a suite of climate risk data for every for-sale property listed on Zillow. “Climate risks are now a critical factor in home buying decisions,” said Skylar Olsen, chief economist at Zillow, in a release. “We’re providing buyers and sellers with clear, property-specific climate data so they can make informed decisions. As concerns about flooding, extreme temperatures, and wildfires grow, this tool also helps agents inform their clients in discussing climate risk, insurance, and long-term affordability.” A house along the Broad River in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on October 1, 2024 in Bat Cave, North Carolina. Each for-sale listing on Zillow now displays First Street risk scores for flood, fire, wind, air and heat. They also show those same risk percentages estimated 15 years and 30 years into the future — the standard lengths for fixed-rate mortgages.

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Lead Stories

The war that won’t end: How Oct. 7 sparked a year of conflict

Yaniv Hegyi, an Israeli community organizer, fled his home last Oct. 7, after terrorists from Gaza overran his village in southern Israel. “I was sure that by January we would go back,” Mr. Hegyi said. Mohammed Shakib Hassan, a Palestinian civil servant, fled his home on Oct. 12, after the Israeli Air Force responded by striking his city in northern Gaza. “We thought it would be two months — at most,” Mr. Hassan said. Instead, the war in Gaza has dragged on for a year, with no end in sight. It is the longest war between Israelis and Arabs since the end of the conflict that set the boundaries of the Israeli state in 1949. It is also by far the deadliest. More than 1,500 Israelis have been killed, mostly during Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7, and roughly 250 others were abducted. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s counterattack, which began with one of the most intense bombardments ever recorded in modern warfare.

A wider, multifront war between Israel and Hamas’s regional allies is now unfolding — most recently with Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and Iran’s bombardment of Israel — but the core of the conflict remains the original battle between Hamas and Israel, and the almost Sisyphean challenge of ending it. Inside a deeply traumatized Israel, that conflict has magnified long-running social schisms and set off bitter debate about whether to prioritize Hamas’s destruction or a deal to free the hostages. Outside Israel, it has spurred horror at the Israeli military response to Hamas’s atrocities, accusations of genocide and war crimes, and widespread protests in the United States and beyond. The war in Gaza has also highlighted the limits of American influence, with the Biden administration unable or unwilling to exert the pressure needed to broker a truce. And on the ground, it has displaced millions of people, mostly in Gaza but also in Israel. Mr. Hegyi is living in a stranger’s house, 100 miles from his hometown, wary of returning to his half-ruined village while fighting flares nearby. Mr. Hassan is living in a tent in central Gaza, his third makeshift shelter since fleeing his now destroyed apartment nearly a year ago.

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Big Oil urges Trump not to gut Biden’s climate law

Oil companies are conveying an unlikely message to the GOP and its presidential candidate: Spare President Biden’s signature climate law. At least the parts that benefit the oil industry. In discussions with former President Trump’s campaign and his allies in Congress, oil giants including Exxon Mobil, Phillips 66 and Occidental Petroleum have extolled the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act. Many in the fossil-fuel industry opposed the law when it passed in 2022 but have come to love provisions that earmark billions of dollars for low-carbon energy projects they are betting on. Some executives in the largely pro-Trump oil industry are worried the former president, if re-elected, would side with conservative lawmakers who want to gut the IRA. They fear losing tax credits vital for their investments in renewable fuel, carbon capture and hydrogen, costly technologies requiring U.S. support to survive their early years.

At a Houston fundraiser for Trump in May, Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub took her case directly to the candidate, saying tax credits propping up the company’s huge investments in technology to collect carbon directly from the air should be preserved, people familiar with the matter said. The company is building its first $1.3 billion direct-air capture plant in West Texas and aims to erect dozens more in the coming years. Exxon has also told the Trump campaign it wants to preserve portions of the IRA. It and Chevron, the two largest U.S. oil companies, have promised to pump more than $30 billion combined into carbon capture, hydrogen, biofuels and other low-carbon technologies, virtually all of which rely on tax credits in the IRA to be viable. Meanwhile, company officials at Phillips 66, a $58 billion U.S. oil refiner, have told members of Congress the IRA’s tax credits are important for its business, people familiar with the matter said. Instead of crude oil, the company’s renewable fuels are made from used cooking oil, vegetable oil, fats and the like, which qualify it for large tax credits.

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Millions of Texans woke up to a Blue Alert. DPS didn't appear to follow its own guidelines.

Millions of Texans were jolted awake Friday when a state police alert blared through their phones around 5 a.m. The message, known as a Blue Alert, warned residents of an at-large gunman who'd shot the police chief of Memphis, Texas. It was a rude awakening for folks in Austin, and left plenty wondering why the state solicited their help in tracking down a suspect in a small Panhandle town six hours away. The Texas Department of Public Safety hasn't responded to KUT's questions about the timing and radius of the emergency alert. Established in 2008, the Blue Alert system is similar to the Texas AMBER Alert, which warns residents of a child abduction. Unless you've opted out, the system sends statewide notifications to your phone in the event a law enforcement officer is killed or injured.

Martin Ritchey, head of homeland security for the Capital Area Council of Governments, helps coordinate emergency communications in the 10-county area in Central Texas – including emergency text notifications. He said the statewide system is effective, but the barrage of alerts in far-flung corners of the state could lead to "message fatigue." "There's certainly an issue ... when communications take place anywhere where the receivers don't feel that the message was really necessary, and you're not going to find that in Rhode Island when they send out a statewide message," he said. "You will find that in in Texas." But Ritchey said it's important to not opt-out altogether. Local entities like CAPCOG regularly send out alerts for everything from flooding to boil-water notices to SWAT standoffs, and those notifications could be live-saving. He doesn't want this Blue Alert to be "the boy who cried wolf." "We've seen firsthand what it looks like when folks don't get messaged when, you know, folks are in harm's way," Ritchey said, "and we want to do whatever we can do to mitigate that.

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In final stretch, Biden faces some of the biggest crises of his presidency

President Biden was in the White House Situation Room on Tuesday morning, watching on video monitors as Iran fired waves of ballistic missiles at Israel. The wider war in the Middle East, which Mr. Biden had spent much of his presidency trying to avert, had arrived. But so had another crisis, closer to home. Even as he discussed military options with his foreign policy advisers, a White House staffer handed him a succession of notes about Hurricane Helene, the deadliest storm to strike the U.S. mainland in nearly two decades. The time Mr. Biden spent inside the ultrasecure facility that morning, described by a senior administration official who asked for anonymity to discuss a confidential meeting, was a vivid example of the final months of Mr. Biden’s presidency. Even as he yields much of the spotlight to Vice President Kamala Harris, he is finishing out his term managing an array of major crises, all of them playing out more or less simultaneously.

It is a reminder that even as Mr. Biden recedes from view, some of the most consequential days of his presidency may lie ahead. And no occupant of the White House has ever had the luxury of focusing on one crisis at a time. Aside from the conflict in the Middle East and the catastrophic hurricane, Mr. Biden is dealing with war in Ukraine; Russia threatening nuclear escalation; a short-lived but serious dockworkers’ strike; and former President Donald J. Trump within striking distance of the White House once again. (Not to mention fears of foreign election interference and the prospect of an October Surprise — the list goes on.) “It’s unusual,” Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist, said of the chaotic nature of Mr. Biden’s final months as president. Mr. Begala recalled Colin Powell’s comment during his last national security briefing to then-President Ronald Reagan: “The world is quiet today.” Mr. Biden’s national security adviser may not have a moment like that. “Jake Sullivan is not going to President Biden’s Oval Office and saying, ‘The world is quiet today,’” Mr. Begala said. With just weeks to go before the election, Mr. Trump and his allies have seized on the various crises to claim that the world has grown more turbulent under Mr. Biden.

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State Stories

Texas DWI suspect won't have to say where he got the booze before crash, justices rule

An accused drunk driver in Austin doesn’t have to reveal which bars he visited the night of a crash that hospitalized two brothers because he’s protected by the Fifth Amendment, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday. All but one of the high court’s justices wrote in an opinion that Taylor Brock Peters has the right not to divulge the names and locations of the two bars he went to on May 19, 2021, before he allegedly rear ended Constantino Palma Jr. and his younger brother — a minor, according to court documents — on the northbound frontage road of Interstate 35 and Stassney Lane. Peters didn’t have to share the information because it could potentially help prosecutors figure out what and how much Peters drank, whether he drove between bars and other potentially self-incriminating information, the justices ruled.

“And there is nothing imaginary about Peters’ fears that his compelled responses might be used against him in a criminal case,” the opinion reads. “The State of Texas is prosecuting him on the very same facts that underlie this civil case.” Peters is accused of hitting the brothers from behind at a red light, shoving the tailgate from their Toyota 4 Runner through the cargo department and into the car's backseat. The brothers were hospitalized with multiple fractures, internal injuries and a brain hemorrhage. Peters was also hospitalized. On his hospital bed, he told Austin police he had three beers and was “buzzed,” but he couldn't recall the names of the two bars was coming from the night of the crash, according to court documents. His blood alcohol content was well over the legal limit, and Peters was charged with two counts of intoxication assault with a motor vehicle, the suit says.

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Texas A&M International president dies unexpectedly

The president of Texas A&M International University in Laredo died unexpectedly on Thursday, according to a university announcement. No cause of death was given for Pablo Arenaz, the university’s sixth president, who had served in the role since 2016. TAMIU first hired him as provost in 2008. “Pablo was an excellent president and an even better person,” said Bill Mahomes, chairman of the Texas A&M System Board of Regents. “Warmhearted. Student centered. His legacy is an affordable, accessible and exceptional university that students love to attend. It was a pleasure knowing him. He will be missed by all of us.” The university said Juan Castillo, vice president for finance and administration, will handle day-to-day operations “per Dr. Arenaz’s wishes” until an acting president can be named.

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APD chief: Christopher Taylor conviction 'raises questions that must be addressed'

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis and top department brass began an urgent review Sunday to prevent future similar incidents that led to conviction of Officer Christopher Taylor in the shooting death of a mentally ill man who had a knife, according to an internal memo. Davis said in a department-wide email that, "This decision deeply affects all of us. It is unsettling, and it raises questions that must be addressed by APD leadership. We must ensure that all APD officers feel confident and prepared to encounter unpredictable and dangerous situations." "Together, we will develop a strategic plan to address this verdict," she added. "We value your input, and it will help direct us as we take action to prevent similar tragedies in the future."

Davis began her job as Austin's police chief about four weeks ago after arriving from the Cincinnati Police Department and has not yet been officially sworn in. She takes over a department has never seen one of its officers convicted for an on-duty fatal shooting. A Travis County jury on Saturday found Taylor guilty of deadly conduct in the death of Mauris DeSilva, a Sri Lankan researcher and scientist with a history of mental health issues. When officers arrived to his downtown condo building, police took an elevator to a communal floor to confront him. The doors opened, and as officers instantly yelled commands, DeSilva moved toward them with a knife, prompting police to shoot. Taylor faces up to 10 years behind bars. A sentencing date has not been set. Davis said in her email that she encouraged officers to "take care of yourself and each other. I know that our department has been through so much in the last several years. As we address (the) verdict, we will do so together."

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Driest stretches without measurable rainfall in Austin

Texas climate often leaves us dry for numerous weeks at a time. The summer months can be cruel with blazing temperatures and little-to-no rain relief. The phrase “heat dome” is when high pressure traps hot temperatures over an area for an extended period of time. Austin has seen multiple periods without rain for more than 50 days. These long stretches without rain can lead to significant drought levels. Abnormally dry conditions affect our water levels, vegetation, energy production, livestock, and can increase the risk of wildfire outbreaks across our area.

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Texas Longhorns regain top spot in AP poll after chaotic Saturday in college football

The college football world descended into chaos this weekend with several ranked teams going down, allowing the Texas Longhorns to regain the top spot in the Associated Press top 25 rankings while idle. The latest rankings were released Sunday, and the Longhorns earned 52 first-place to move up from No. 2 after Vanderbilt sent shockwaves through the nation with a 40-35 win over former No. 1 Alabama. The Crimson Tide dropped six spots to No. 7 following the loss. Texas will enter the Red River Rivalry game against Oklahoma as the AP’s top-ranked team for the first time since 1965. The Sooners are ranked No. 18 this week. Texas is also No. 1 in the USA Today coaches poll. Ohio State moved up a spot to take over No. 2 while Oregon and Penn State each moved up three places to Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. Georgia held its position at No. 5.

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Why are national progressives campaigning in Texas?

The Kamala Harris campaign hasn’t spent money campaigning in Texas this election season. It hasn’t spent much time here, either. Outside of a quick rally in San Antonio with second gentleman Doug Emhoff in late September before a fundraiser, there’ve been no further public campaign events. The reason for her absence is obvious: History suggests that she hasn’t got much chance of winning here. The last Democrat to claim Texas’s electoral votes was Jimmy Carter, nearly fifty years ago. The idea of a blue—or at least purple—Texas has tantalized national Democrats for at least a decade, but the real measure of how competitive they see the state is in where they’re spending their time and money. Progressive politicians appear to see it a little differently. This week, Congressman Greg Casar from Austin, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Senator Bernie Sanders—joined at times by Texas Dems’ perpetual ex-boyfriend, Beto O’Rourke—rallied voters at a series of events on the explicit premise that Democrats could finally score a statewide win in November.

In front of a majority Gen Z audience at the University of Texas at Austin’s Hogg Auditorium on Tuesday evening, the group laid out a familiar proposition: Texas isn’t a red state but a voter-suppression state, and the power to overcome that rests in the hands of young folks. It’s the same case Democrats have been making for at least a decade, when national political strategists launched Battleground Texas to help flip the state in the 2014 midterms. The results there speak for themselves, and talking to actual nonvoting Texans doesn’t really bear out the claim that there are vast, untapped reserves of Democratic voters simply waiting to be activated, but it seemed to resonate with the young voters present. It makes sense why this would be: They haven’t spent a decade or more watching the theory get tested and come up short. “I came here to make sure that Kamala Harris wins the state and that Colin Allred becomes your next senator,” Sanders declared at Tuesday’s rally. Allred, notably, was nowhere to be seen along the Interstate 35 corridor during the progressives’ Texas tour. It may seem unusual that a candidate in a tight senate race would skip the four rallies held, in part, on his behalf by several of the most prominent politicians in the country, but it’s consistent with Allred’s strategy. His campaign is focused on portraying him as a moderate, maverick-style Democrat who bucks his own party on issues that poll well among traditional GOP voters who may be a bit Dem-curious. For those voters, it’d do Allred no favors to be photographed with AOC, Bernie, Casar, or Beto “Hell Yes, We’re Going to Take Your AR-15” O’Rourke. While the progressives were busy rallying voters, the candidate was finalizing the announcement of a “Republicans for Allred” coalition chaired by former GOP representative and newly minted Texan Adam Kinzinger, who once singled out the trio of AOC, Bernie, and Beto as “a disease that has infected the Democratic party.”

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Law firms are expanding in downtown Houston, leasing more office space and outpacing energy companies

Law firms are leasing more office space in downtown Houston, helping to fill vacant space and outpacing energy firms in the process. In a string of recent deals, Houston and national law firms have announced full-floor leases downtown, representing expansions, relocations and an entry to the market. They’re taking the opportunity to upgrade their workspaces in the process, often in 1980s-era buildings that have been updated by landlords to compete with newer offerings. Through September, law firms have leased 154,000 square feet in downtown Houston, according to commercial real estate firm Savills. That compares with about 89,000 square feet for the energy sector. Downtown office leasing overall totaled 358,000 square feet.

Law firms represent 43% of the total downtown square footage leased in 2024 compared with 25% for energy firms. In 2022, law firms made up 26% of the total compared with 56% for energy companies. The firms' leasing activity has helped downtown's highest class of buildings increase net occupancy by 91,400 square feet in the third quarter, said Steve Triolet, senior vice president of research at commercial real estate firm Partners. Downtown is popular among law firms, in part because of its proximity to courthouses, according to Triolet. Still, downtown’s overall office availability rate hovers at around 32% and leasing for legal and energy sectors is moving lower, according to Savills. Law firm leasing topped 400,000 square feet in 2022, when Baker Botts announced a major lease renewal. Energy leasing totaled 876,000 square feet that year.

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Former Anglican bishop dies at 75, remembered as the ‘lion of Fort Worth’

The Rev. Rt. Jack Iker, also known as the “lion of Fort Worth,” died Oct. 5 at the age of 75. Iker is survived by his wife, Donna Iker, their three daughters and four grandchildren. Born Aug. 31, 1949, Iker was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He served as a Rector of the church of the Redeemer in Florida before being consecrated as bishop coadjutor, someone who assists a diocesan bishop, for the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth on April 24, 1993. Iker became the third bishop to serve the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth on Jan. 1, 1995.

The lion of Fort Worth nickname derives from Iker’s middle name, Leo, said Fr. Randall Foster from St. Johns Church, an Anglican parish in Fort Worth. “He was quite instrumental in leading the traditionalist elements in the Episcopal Church during our separation from that body 15 years ago,” Foster said. On Nov. 13, 2008, after 13 years in the role, Iker left the Episcopal Church. He became the face of the split within the local diocese that made Fort Worth a focal point in the widening national schism among Episcopalians with opposing viewpoints on ordaining women and gay priests and blessing same-sex unions. “We are taking a stand for the historic faith and practice of the Bible, as we have received them, and against the continuing erosion of that faith by [the Episcopal Church],” Iker wrote in a 2008 newsletter. Some parishioners decided to stay with the national church. About 15,000 congregants from 48 churches followed Iker’s lead and later aligned with the Anglican Church of North America.

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Ron Kirk and Colin Allred, campaigning 2 decades apart, show what’s changed, what hasn’t

With Republicans on the cusp of taking control of Texas politics, then-Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk launched a 2002 campaign for an open U.S. Senate seat in hopes of helping Democrats stop an eight-year drought in statewide elections. As mayor, Kirk enjoyed strong support from Dallas’ Republican-dominated business elite. For his Senate run, he cast himself as a moderate pro-business Democrat who would “stop the blame game” and work across the aisle to get results. He hoped to appeal to the Democratic Party base, independents and business-minded Republicans. Twenty-two years later, Dallas Democrat Colin Allred is running a Senate campaign with similar themes.

The three-term congressman is challenging Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in an underdog mission that would give Democrats their first statewide win since 1994. Like Kirk, Allred is running as a moderate who stresses bipartisanship, though Cruz is arguing that the Democrat is more in line with party leaders like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Allred also has support from some Republicans in a state that has more Republican voters. And like Kirk, a victory would make Allred the first Black senator elected in Texas. The campaigns of Kirk and Allred bookend how Texas politics has changed over the past two decades and reflect the tightness of the conservatives’ grip on power. Their campaigns showcase the type of candidate many Democrats believe is needed to win in Texas — and illustrate how Republicans have met those threats to their dominance. Allred is the latest in a line of great hopes for Democrats, and his campaign comes at a time when voter registration rolls have swelled beyond 18 million. The state is much different than it was at the dawn of the century, when Kirk made his unsuccessful bid. The key difference between Kirk and Allred is their opponents. Kirk was running for the open seat vacated by Republican Phil Gramm against John Cornyn, a former Texas attorney general and state Supreme Court justice who campaigned on helping President George W. Bush push judicial nominees through the Senate. Cornyn had a vanilla, uncontroversial image and looked straight out of central casting as a senator.

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Kenneth Goldberg: Here’s how Texans are fighting antisemitism

(Kenneth Goldberg is the former president of Dallas’ Jewish Community Center and chairman of the Texas Holocaust, Genocide and Antisemitism Advisory Commission.) Today marks one year since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. On the deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust, the terror group raped and kidnapped hundreds of Israelis, Americans and foreign nationals, slaughtered 1,200 and launched a regional war that is still raging. One year later, the trauma is still real. Israel continues to fight for survival against Hamas, which uses its own people as human shields, and against Iran, which crossed a red line last week by launching hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities and towns. Meanwhile, Jewish communities globally face a torrent of hate: Vicious antisemitism that has become synonymous with anti-Zionism, which denies Jewish people the right to self-determination in their historic homeland. But today should not just be a call for outrage, anger and heartbreak. It must be a call to action — including in Texas.

Nationally, antisemitic incidents jumped 140% between 2022 and 2023, with 2024 on pace at similarly historic levels, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Sadly, Texas has not been immune. On college campuses like the University of Texas at Austin and UT Dallas, anti-Israel protests crossed the line into harassment and intimidation, leaving many Jewish students feeling vulnerable. At city councils, activists screamed for a ceasefire with language that targeted Jews, and sometimes the activists had to be forcibly removed from council chambers. Dallas Council Member Cara Mendelsohn’s home was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti, slurs, and dolls representing dead babies. And in communities like Flower Mound to our north and Godley to our south, white supremacists have maintained their own recognizable brand of antisemitism, distributing flyers laden with swastikas and conspiracy theories about Jewish control.

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Tony Quesada: USAA banking subsidiary’s HQ move no cause for hand-wringing

(Tony Quesada is an Express-News columnist.) I’m bemused by the degree of angst that followed the news that USAA Federal Savings Bank has moved its headquarters from San Antonio to Phoenix. One reader wrote a letter to the paper that he is cutting ties with USAA. It’s a knee-jerk reaction that belies the reality that not all headquarters are created equal. USAA Federal Savings Bank has about 4,300 employees in San Antonio and about 775 in Phoenix, and it says no bank services, operations or employees are moving to Arizona as a result of changing headquarters. A spokesman described the change as administrative, calling it a “paper move” meant to “simplify our operations.” I don’t know what that means, and I don’t care.

It’s not that corporate headquarters are meaningless. Fortune 500 company headquarters bring more than city bragging rights. They bring a degree of economic stability from large employee counts and often are key corporate philanthropic contributors in their communities. They also, in many cases, lend to a city’s identity. Think Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Target Corp. in Minneapolis and Amazon in Seattle. Sometimes, though, people get hung up on being corporate headquarters of companies that don’t really have much of an impact on one’s community. For example, iHeartMedia Inc. is headquartered in San Antonio, according to its corporate filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. So why is New York City listed in the dateline on all its press releases? It’s because the CEO’s office is there, in a 75,000-square-foot space, along with the company’s executive leadership and sales force. So what goes on in its headquarters on Stone Oak Parkway? Again, I don’t care. Japan-headquartered Toyota, North Carolina-headquartered Six Flags Entertainment Corp. and Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., among others, are much more important to San Antonio. USAA Federal Savings Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of USAA Capital Corp., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of USAA, which remains headquartered in San Antonio and isn’t going anywhere. Consider that its headquarters building off Interstate 10 on the Northwest Side is nearly a mile long. That’s a lot of commitment.

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National Stories

Truth Social users are losing ridiculous sums of money to scams

Donald Trump launched Truth Social in 2022 as a social media platform where the MAGA faithful could hang out without any liberals to spoil the fun. The biggest selling point? It was the only place where Trump was personally posting his unhinged screeds after getting banned from Twitter over that whole coup attempt. But new documents obtained by Gizmodo reveal the site has also been flooded with scammers who are swindling users out of enormous sums of money. We’re talking about people who’ve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in a relatively short period of time. Gizmodo submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FTC for consumer complaints about Truth Social filed in the past two years. The complaints to the federal agency include some stories from people who’ve been banned from the site (unjustly, they claim) and others who say they got signed up for mailing lists they never wanted to be on in the first place. But the complaints about scams are the most shocking, if only because there are such large sums of money involved. And we’re publishing a sample of the full, unedited complaints below.

One person who says they lost $170,000 explained they were initially scammed on a different site but met someone on Truth Social who claimed they could help get their money back. That turned out to be a scam as well. But more often, the victims are first contacted on Truth Social before being told to take the conversation somewhere else, like WhatsApp. Truth Social seems to be a target-rich environment for people who are easy to con. Another thing that sticks out about the complaints filed with the FTC is that they seem to involve plenty of elderly fans of Donald Trump. One 72-year-old man who reported chatting with a “beautiful” woman on the site was scammed out of $21,000. His complaint ends with, “I haven’t told my wife about this blunder. She still doesn’t know about it.” Another person in their 60s said they lost $500,000 to scammers on Truth Social and seemed to think there might be a way they could get their money back, telling the FTC, “After I pay this they promise there will be no more fees and I will receive my assets.” Many of the people don’t seem to understand that any amount they might see on their end that’s supposedly sitting in an account is completely fictitious. The scammers will often give the victim access to a website that shows a certain dollar amount in “their” account but the money is long gone. It’s not sitting there for them to withdraw. It’s simply a ruse for the victim to see their imaginary money grow, luring them into “investing” even more.

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American duo win Nobel Prize for Medicine for pioneering gene discovery

Two American scientists were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology on Monday for their groundbreaking work on how genes behave. Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun discovered microRNA, which the Nobel Assembly describes as "a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated." The tiny microRNA molecules play a crucial role in determining how different cells — which have the same chromosomes, essentially their instruction manual — have different characteristics. The pair sought to explore how nerve cells and muscle cells, for example, have very different characteristics despite having the same genetic information.

"The answer lies in gene regulation, which allows each cell to select only the relevant instructions," the Nobel announcement said. And the newly discovered microRNA is essential for all multicellular organisms to do this, including humans. "Their surprising discovery revealed an entirely new dimension to gene regulation. MicroRNAs are proving to be fundamentally important for how organisms develop and function," the Nobel committee said. Working in the 1980s, Ambros and Ruvkin studied a 1mm roundworm, which contained many specialized cell types. Although now seen as trailblazing, their published results were "initially met with almost deafening silence from the scientific community," the Nobel announcement said, with many other scientists concluding it was not relevant to humans and complex animals.

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Donald Trump’s favorite Bible might be on the way to Oklahoma schools

The state of Oklahoma is in the market for some Bibles. They might get some help from Donald Trump. The state’s education department is on the hunt for 55,000 copies of the Scriptures, bound in leather or a similar material and including a mix of religious and historic documents like the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. While the Bible remains one of the most popular books for sale, few versions fit Oklahoma’s requirements, according to Oklahoma Watch, which contacted Mardell, a major Christian retailer where none of the 2,900 Bibles on sale reportedly fit the bid criteria.

Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction, has championed teaching the Bible in public schools and has mandated that it be taught in grades 5-12. That mandate seems to have prompted the quest to buy the Bibles. One Bible that might fit is country singer Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” Bible, which President Trump endorses. That Bible has the right translation and historic documents and is available in leather for about $60. “The supplier must provide only the King James Version Bible for historical accuracy and contain both the Old and New Testaments,” according to a bid description for the Bibles, published by Oklahoma Watch, a nonprofit investigative publication. “The supplier’s Bible must include copies of The United States Pledge of Allegiance, The U.S. Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution, and The U.S. Bill of Rights.”

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Trump and Harris’ proposals would both increase the national debt but Trump’s plan would add $4 trillion more, study finds

Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are rolling out ever-growing lists of promises to voters — from making housing and health care more affordable to supporting manufacturers to providing tax relief to millions of Americans. But those proposals come with hefty price tags, and the candidates have not laid out how they would fully cover the costs, a new analysis has found. As a result, the national debt would soar by trillions of dollars more regardless of who wins the election, further compounding the country’s fiscal problems. Harris’ plan would boost the debt by $3.5 trillion over the next decade, while Trump’s platform would cause it to spike by $7.5 trillion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s report, released Monday.

The watchdog group’s analysis is the latest in a series of reviews of the candidates’ plans, which generally find that Trump’s proposals would have a bigger impact on the national debt than Harris.’ The committee notes that its estimates contain a wide range of uncertainty and include many assumptions since neither candidate has issued detailed proposals. Its analysis draws on official campaign announcements and websites, white papers, social media posts, speeches, discussions with campaign staff, similar proposals in presidents’ budgets and other sources. The committee provided a range of cost estimates in its analysis because of the lack of detailed platforms. It found that Harris’ measures could have no significant impact on the debt or could increase it by $8.1 trillion. And Trump’s proposals could balloon the debt by between $1.5 trillion and $15.2 trillion. Also hard to determine is how Americans and companies could alter their behavior if these policies were to take effect. Nearly all require congressional approval. Neither Harris nor Trump has talked about reducing the nation’s heavy debt load, even though both congressional Republicans and Democrats have repeatedly said they want to rein in the debt, which currently stands at $35.7 trillion. But the federal government continues to spend more money than it collects in revenue, causing the debt to keep climbing swiftly. An array of experts, including Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, have said the nation is on an unsustainable fiscal path.

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China’s economy is in bad shape. Can its ‘whatever-it-takes’ stimulus effort turn things around?

After four miserable years, a soaring stock market has brought relief for Francis Lun, who runs a small 10-person brokerage in Hong Kong. Since the beginning of 2020, he’s seen the city’s lifeblood, its Hang Seng Index, experience an unprecedented consecutive decline due to economic woes and pandemic restrictions, both in the semi-autonomous region and in mainland China. But the benchmark’s fortunes were unexpectedly turned around in late September when China’s top leaders announced a raft of measures to support the country’s flailing economy. The index has since rallied more than 18%, its biggest two-week gain in nearly 20 years. The stimulus measures should have come far sooner, says Lun, but better late than never.

“Before (the announcement), we were just counting our fingers every day,” he told CNN in his office in the Causeway Bay neighborhood, referring to the lack of business. “But now, we’re getting calls. Things are picking up.” Hong Kong and China markets are on a roll. But whether the rally continues and, more importantly, whether benefits from the stimulus measures spread beyond stock investors and into the real economy, which is suffering from a potential deflationary spiral and is at risk of missing its own 5% target growth rate, depends on what hasn’t yet been said. So far, the measures announced have focused on monetary policy, which typically refers to decisions made by central banks to influence the cost of borrowing and control inflation. Beijing has largely held back on unveiling fiscal measures, which can include the use of taxation or other measures to impact public spending. “The elephant in the room seems to be a lack of consumer confidence,” economists at Nikko Asset Management wrote in a research note on Thursday. “What is really needed is for the authorities to deploy the proverbial ‘big guns’ to push out more fiscal policies. Such a move could address this crisis of confidence, improve risk appetite and reflate the economy.”

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Mike Johnson won't commit to bringing House back before the election for more hurricane relief

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday did not commit to calling Congress back into session before the election after President Joe Biden pressed congressional leaders about potential funding shortfalls in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Johnson was asked about Biden’s letter to congressional leaders on Friday requesting more money for federal disaster recovery efforts and after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned that the department doesn’t have enough money to get through the rest of hurricane season. In his letter, the president urged Congress to restore funding to the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program, which was facing potential funding shortfalls even before Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the Southeast. The president noted that the White House requested more funding for the program as Congress prepared a short-term funding bill that passed last month to avert a government shutdown.

Pressed on whether he would call Congress back into session before the election, Johnson replied, “We’ll be back in session immediately after the election.” “That’s 30 days from now. The thing about these hurricanes and disasters of this magnitude is it takes a while to calculate the actual damages, and the states are going to need some time to do that,” Johnson said, adding that determining “specific needs and requests based upon the actual damages” from natural disasters takes time. Johnson noted that before Congress went on recess, the day before Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida, Congress appropriated $20 billion additional dollars to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to address immediate needs. “Then after that, Congress always takes its the due approach of providing what is necessary,” he said. “Congress will provide. We will help people in these disaster-prone areas. It’s an appropriate role for the federal government, and you’ll have bipartisan support for that, and it’ll all happen in due time, and we’ll get that job done. There shouldn’t be any concern about that.”

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Lead Stories

Texas judge halts $116 billion Medicaid proposal that could affect 1.8 million

A state judge Friday halted a $116 billion Medicaid contract proposal that would have excluded three Texas children’s hospital plans — including one run by Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth — and forced 1.8 million low-income Texans to change their health coverage. District Judge Laurie Eiserloh of Travis County blocked Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Cecile Erwin Young from finalizing a set of contracts that would have displaced nearly half the Texans who receive Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Plan coverage from six managed care organizations across the state, switching them to new plans next year. The judge granted the temporary injunction sought by four health plans that have lost billions of dollars after 12 years in the program. Eiserloh found the proposed changes violated state law and exceeded the state agency’s authority.

“The intended contract awards will impose significant harm and confusion on millions of Texas’s STAR & CHIP members,” the judge wrote in a 10-page order. The ruling came after a week of testimony from health plan officials and leaders of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Eiserloh set a Nov. 3 trial on a permanent injunction. The ruling can be appealed before then, or Young could opt to cancel the procurement and start the agency’s fourth attempt to renegotiate the contracts in the past six years. In addition, state lawmakers concerned with the proposal have said they plan to revisit procurement laws next spring. Officials with Cook Children’s Health Plan in Fort Worth, which would have been eliminated under the proposal, celebrated the ruling. “This decision is a major win for the 125,000 children and families who rely on CCHP for their health care coverage,” plan officials said in a statement. “We believe this ruling will help ensure that our Members continue to have access to the care they need, when they need it.” Officials at Texas HHS did not return emailed requests for comment.

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Trump urges his supporters to deliver victory in his return to scene of first assassination attempt

Donald Trump returned on Saturday to the Pennsylvania fairgrounds where he was nearly assassinated in July, urging a large crowd to deliver an Election Day victory that he tied to his survival of the shooting. The former president and Republican nominee picked up where he left off in July when a gunman’s bullet struck his ear. He began his speech with, “As I was saying,” and gestured toward an immigration chart he was looking at when the gunfire began. “Twelve weeks ago, we all took a bullet for America,” Trump said. “All we are all asking is that everyone goes out and votes. We got to win. We can’t let this happen to our country.” The Trump campaign worked to maximize the event’s headline-grabbing potential with just 30 days to go and voting already underway in some states in his race against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Musician Lee Greenwood appeared on stage and serenaded him with “God Bless the USA,” frequently played at his rallies, and billionaire Elon Musk spoke for the first time at a Trump rally. “We fought together. We have endured together. We have pushed onward together,” Trump said. “And right here in Pennsylvania, we have bled together. We’ve bled.” At the beginning of the rally, Trump asked for a moment of silence to honor firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died as he shielded family members from gunfire in July. Classical singer Christopher Macchio sang “Ave Maria” after a bell rung at the same time that gunfire began on July 13. Several of Comperatore’s family members were in attendance, including his widow, Helen, who stood during Trump’s remarks next to the former president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump. Standing behind protective glass that now encases the stage at his outdoor rallies, Trump called the would-be assassin “a vicious monster” and said he did not succeed “by the hand of providence and the grace of God.” There was a very visible heightened security presence, with armed law enforcers in camouflage uniforms on roofs.

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The surprising European links to a $95M Lotto Texas win

In the year and a half since an anonymous player engineered a $95 million Texas lottery jackpot win by buying virtually all of the 25.8 million possible number combinations, two mysteries have persisted: Who did it? And how did the small group of outlets conducting the operation process so many tickets in only 72 hours while still following the strict rules the Texas Lottery Commission places on its sales? Now there are some answers — one of which raises new questions about the Texas Lottery Commission’s role in abetting the operation, which, while controversial, did not violate any state laws or game rules, according to the agency.

After seven months without a player correctly picking all six numbers, the April 22, 2023, Lotto Texas jackpot had climbed to the third-highest in state history. The single winner took advantage of a state law allowing big winners to remain anonymous. In June, the one-time payout of $57.8 million was claimed by Rook TX, a limited partnership identifying only a New Jersey lawyer as its registered agent. According to three sources, however, the Texas lottery operation was orchestrated by a gaming entrepreneur operating out of Malta, a Mediterranean island nation that is a hub for the online gaming industry. There is evidence the enterprise was funded through a large London betting company with connections to similar lottery buys. A Florida investor said the Malta businessman told him he had orchestrated the big Texas payday. Late last year, Philip Gurian, owner of Honey Tree Trading, lent an online lottery sales company called Lottery.com $1.3 million, according to allegations in court documents. The Austin-based Lottery.com played a central role in the April 2023 Lotto operation; it and an affiliate in Waco processed nearly 7 million of the tickets for the draw.

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Dan Patrick calls for CenterPoint CEO to resign and for audit of company operations

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has joined calls for CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells to resign after the company botched its response to Hurricane Beryl, telling the utility’s regulators in front of Wells and more than a hundred Houstonians: “This is not the CenterPoint that I know from the past.” “I believe at this point, the board of CenterPoint should ask for Jason Wells’ resignation, or I believe he should submit it,” Patrick said. “It’s not personal, Mr. Wells, we’ve had good discussions. But CenterPoint needs to have a strong leader who will have foresight, not look back in the rearview (and say), ‘Oh, we’ll fix it now.’” Patrick told the five-member board of the Public Utility Commission of Texas he expects the state agency to audit CenterPoint’s business operations to ensure the utility is not overcharging customers. He said CenterPoint must continue with a required review of its rates, which cities and consumer advocacy groups say is their avenue to fight for a rate decrease.

The lieutenant governor also reiterated his stance that ratepayers shouldn’t pay for CenterPoint’s $800 million lease for massive generators – most of which have never been used. “If the PUC allows CenterPoint to get away and try to PR their way through this, that will show the commission is not accountable,” Patrick said. The five commissioners were appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott. Two commissioners, Chairman Thomas Gleeson and Courtney Hjaltman, have yet to be confirmed by the Senate, which Patrick leads. Patrick’s comments kicked off the PUC’s Saturday meeting in Houston hosted as part of the agency’s ongoing investigation into CenterPoint's response to Beryl and the May derecho. The commission is also taking online feedback through Wednesday and is supposed to deliver its final report with suggestions for new legislation to the governor and the legislature by Dec. 1. A record 2.26 million CenterPoint customers lost power after Beryl, many for multiple days. More than 40 deaths have been connected to Beryl, including 10 from overheating and one from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a generator.

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State Stories

Houston was the 4th worst region for power outages before Hurricane Beryl, Census says

Before deadly power outages from Hurricane Beryl left more than 2 million Houston-area customers without electricity, federal data shows that the region was already struggling more than other cities with power loss. U.S. Census Bureau figures suggest that among the country's 15 largest metropolitan areas, Houston ranked fourth in the percentage of households that had power outages lasting six hours or more in the year leading up to a 2023 Census survey. About one-in-four households in the Houston region — 25.7 percent — reported suffering a power outage. That's slightly higher than the national average of 25.4 percent.

The Census Bureau's survey was conducted before Hurricane Beryl struck Houston on July 8 and caused widespread power outages that lasted more than a week, sparking outrage against local power distributor CenterPoint. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences attributed at least eight area deaths to "environmental heat exposure due to loss of electricity during and after Hurricane Beryl," and the toll of the power loss has also mounted in surrounding counties. Experts suggest the true number of heat-triggered deaths during the widespread outages were even more common than medical examiners could track. Beryl was not the first 2024 storm to force Houston to confront the frailty of its electrical distribution system. In May, heavy flooding and a devastating straight-line "derecho" left some residents without power for weeks. "The failure of power companies to provide power to their customers is completely unacceptable," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said during a visit to Houston less than a week after Beryl hit. "Because of extreme heat, because of the lack of power, there are lives at risk every single day." The storms prompted lawsuits and an ongoing Public Utility Commission investigation into CenterPoint's practices, as well as new 2025 resilience promises from the company.

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Cy-Fair ISD’s focus on libraries followed flood of book challenges by two trustees’ inner circles

Books and libraries have been a focus of the Cy-Fair ISD board since politically conservative members won a majority last November. For two of those trustees or those with close ties to them, they were a concern well before last year's school board election. Records obtained from the Houston-area district show that of the 58 book reconsideration requests submitted during the 2022-23 school year, a total of 52 were made by new board member Todd LeCompte, his wife Patti LeCompte, his campaign treasurer Monica Dean and Bethany Scanlon, the wife of trustee Lucas Scanlon, who already was on the board at the time. A total of six books were challenged during the previous three school years combined, and no reconsideration requests have been received since March 2023, according to a district representative.

Still, trustees for the third-largest district in Texas have since voted to eliminate about half of the district's librarians as part of budget cuts, which have resulted in campus libraries being open only part of the time this year. They also implemented a policy in which proposed library materials must be posted online for a 30-day period of public review before they are purchased, along with removing 13 chapters from a series of state-approved science textbooks that touch on topics such as climate change and vaccines. "When you do an analysis to make a decision as a board member or as a superintendent or as a leadership team to change a policy, I think you need to look at what drove that change," said Duncan Klussmann, a former Houston-area school superintendent who now is an assistant clinical professor of education at the University of Houston. "And if 58 requests came in, mainly from four people, is that really an issue for the whole community?"

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Supreme Court taking up case on Texas nuclear waste site

The US Supreme Court will consider reviving a plan to store as much as 40,000 tons of highly radioactive waste at a temporary west Texas site, accepting a case that could be a turning point after decades of wrangling over spent fuel from the nation’s commercial reactors. Agreeing to hear appeals from the Biden administration and the joint venture that would build and run the facility, the justices said they will review a federal appeals court ruling that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission lacked authority to issue a crucial license. The above-ground site outside the town of Andrews in the Permian Basin oil field would be the first of its kind, designed to take waste from commercial reactors around the country until a long-running fight over a permanent storage location is resolved.

The plan has the backing of the nuclear power industry. It’s opposed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and a coalition of landowners and oil and gas operators who call the planned facility a public-health hazard. In its appeal, the Biden administration said the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals upended more than 40 years of NRC practice by concluding the Atomic Energy Act didn’t authorize the license. The decision put the 5th Circuit, perhaps the country’s most conservative federal appeals court, in conflict with other appellate panels. The ruling “disrupts the nuclear-power industry by categorically prohibiting the commission from approving offsite storage of spent fuel, despite the agency’s longstanding issuance of such licenses,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued. She also contends that Texas and other opponents lack the legal right to challenge the decision in court. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged the justices not to hear the case. He said federal law expressly requires the nation’s nuclear waste to be stored at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, where efforts to build a facility have been scuttled by local opposition. “Congress specified that the nation would dispose of its nuclear waste at a government-owned facility at Yucca Mountain,” Paxton argued. “By no means can the commission solve its Yucca Mountain problem by disregarding clear statutory language.”

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Dallas Morning News Editorial: We recommend Democrat Detrick DeBurr in the race for Texas House District 65

The state GOP is mid-schism, and the race to represent House District 65, a narrow strip of southern Denton and Collin counties, signifies that split like few places. The seat is now occupied by Kronda Thimesch, a longtime Lewisville community servant who rose from high school booster club to school board to Legislature. But Thimesch was defeated in the GOP primary by her one-time campaign treasurer Mitch Little. Little, for those who don’t recall, was the most effective lawyer representing Attorney General Ken Paxton in what turned out to be a rigged impeachment trial. Thimesch’s sin was looking at the facts and voting to impeach Paxton. We don’t fault Little for representing a client. Our problem is that he parlayed that into politics against a friend and fellow conservative while embracing the sort of absolutist worldview common now of the far right.

A Harvard and University of Texas-educated lawyer, Little, 45, is too smart for the brand of Republicanism he’s adopted, which sees every speck in the eyes of opponents but is blind to the plank in its own. The current GOP power structure brooks no dissent and, from all we can see, Little has fallen in line in exchange for a seat at the table of power. On the other hand, we found ourselves pleasantly engaged with the Democrat running. Detrick DeBurr, a cheerful onetime planning and zoning commissioner in The Colony, described himself as a MATH candidate, not a MAGA candidate. He said he likes to add things up and that he’s ready to work with anyone to reach solutions. He’s got the record in local government to prove it. A software engineer, DeBurr, 54, is a former board member of St. Philip’s School and Community Center in Dallas. He strongly favors increasing funding for public schools as his primary concern. This is a conservative district, and DeBurr has an uphill campaign. Were Thimesch the candidate, we would recommend her. But she isn’t.

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Some Republicans like Allred. Some Democrats back Cruz. Not a new theme in Texas politics

No sooner did U.S. Rep. Colin Allred wrap up the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in March than Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz released a list of Democrats backing his own reelection. Now, as the campaign enters the final month, Allred, 41, is out with a handful of names of Republicans who've joined his team. On its face, this sounds like a classic case of dueling "man bites dog" stories. But actually, both candidates are keeping alive a Texas tradition that not only began long before each started his political career, but dates back several years before either was born. Allan Shivers was a Democrat in his first full term as governor in 1952 when he gave the cold shoulder to his party's presidential nominee, Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, and lined up behind Dwight Eisenhower, the architect of World War II's D-Day invasion who retired as a five-star general to enter politics.

Like most of his fellow southern Democratic governors of his time, Shivers was conservative and hardly a champion of harmonious race relations. Stevenson was a Midwestern liberal and sometimes was referred to as an elitist "egghead," which did not compare well with his war hero rival all those decades ago. Shivers' decision to publicly join the Eisenhower ranks added a new term to the political lexicon: Shivercrats. And there were enough of them that year to yank Texas out of the Democratic column for the first time since 1868, the Reconstruction-era election that the state opted to sit out. The defection caused Shivers no near-term political harm. In fact, both parties nominated him for governor in 1952, back when the term of office was two years, and he breezed to reelection. Shivers would, however, get a comeuppance four years later when then-U.S. Sen. Lyndon Johnson defeated him for control of the Texas Democratic Party heading into the 1956 national convention. A behind-the-scenes strategist in the Johnson-Shivers skirmish was LBJ prote´ge´ John Connally, who later would gain international fame as Texas governor when he was seriously wounded by gunfire as President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

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How Texas A&M QB Conner Weigman ripped Missouri, coach Drinkwitz in SEC beatdown

Texas A&M football quarterback Conner Weigman returned to the starting lineup and orchestrated an ambush, the likes of which these parts haven’t seen in at least a decade. If Saturday was any indicator, add the Aggies to a growing list of SEC title contenders.

It’s never too early to talk about the resumption of the blood feud that will be Texas-Texas A&M on Turkey Day weekend and surely there were more than a few eyeballs in the 512 glued to their flat screens Saturday, including those of Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian, who always plans ahead. In case you’re wondering, many of the 97,049 at Kyle Field didn’t pass up an opportunity to flash the Horns Down on the video board. Good times. It was a real clunker of a game for anybody hoping to see a competitive matchup, one of those dominant wire-to-wire beatdowns that was shockingly even more one-sided than the final score indicated, made even sweeter by Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz’s headline-grabbing miscalculation regarding A&M's quarterback situation. More on that later. The might of Saturday's win was reminiscent of the night Kenny Hill threw for 511 yards and three touchdowns in a 52-28 blitz over Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina Gamecocks to open the 2014 season, even if Weigman didn’t throw a TD pass. Back in the saddle after injuring his shoulder in a Week 2 win over McNeese, the redshirt sophomore completed 18-of-22 passes for 276 yards on a balanced offensive day that featured another 138 yards and three touchdowns from running back Le’Veon Moss. First-year coach Mike Elko came to the defense of his quarterback in the postgame interview for what he termed fictitious personal shots written about Weigman amid a slow start to his second season as a starter.

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New South Texas Water Working Group looking for sustainable water solutions

Not even a month after retiring from his position as McAllen city manager, Roel “Roy” Rodriguez has taken on a new role heading a powerful group of leaders and lawmakers to come up with solutions to dwindling water supplies in the Rio Grande Valley. Rodriguez has been named chairman of the South Texas Water Working Group. It’s a group formed in August by U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas, as the region’s two local reservoirs have hovered at historic low water levels, and as the region struggles from a lack of water payments from Mexico to the Rio Grande. On Thursday, Rodriguez met with Border Report on South Padre Island where he pointed to alternative sustainable options, like desalination from the Gulf of Mexico, which he says will be needed in order to meet future water needs in the region.

“That source of water right next to us someday is going to be used for drinking water. There is just very little doubt in my mind,” Rodriguez said. “What I continue to hear is it’s very expensive to treat seawater. I know that. But at what point is ‘too expensive’ too expensive? Is it when we run out of water? And so we have to be looking at all of the alternatives.” In retirement, Rodriguez has swapped the suits and ties he wore for a decade as city manager for colorful fishing shirts and shorts. He and his wife have property on the island and he says he looks to the sea as one very viable solution. For over a decade, the Gulf Coast city of Corpus Christi has been designing and planning a desalination plant. The city has already has secured over half a billion dollars in state funds for the project. And Rodriguez says their model is something he hopes the South Texas Water Working Group will look to as they plan solutions. “Good for them, because, we need a proven model, and there’s no doubt that it works. It’s just that the energy costs are exponentially higher, and so we have to figure out a way that’s going to be acceptable,” he said. But he doesn’t believe desalination is the only solution, but rather part of it. “You’re not going to use only water from the from the sea, but blend the water with groundwater, with the water from the river, and so that the impact is lessened. So I hope it works. I’m very confident that it will,” he said.

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New no-fly zone surrounds an oilfield geyser. Kinder Morgan now works to control the West Texas site

Kinder Morgan is leading emergency operations at the site of a 100-foot saltwater geyser erupting from a well outside Toyah, where a new no-fly zone extends as high as 8,000 feet, according to an air traffic notice issued Friday by the Federal Aviation Administration. The Houston-based pipeline giant said Saturday in a statement that it was working to contain the release and control the well “while we continue to work to determine the current ownership and responsibility.” Hazardous gas was the reason for the flight restriction, according to the FAA’s website. It was still unclear Saturday what kind of well was spewing a saltwater tower. A Texas Railroad Commission map showed a dry hole in the area of the geyser.

The salty, oily geyser was still shooting at least 100 feet into the air Saturday, three days after initial reports of the eruption, said Reeves County Emergency Manager Jerry Bullard. He said representatives from Kinder Morgan were onsite working to stop the flow. The smell of oil and rotten eggs — a telltale sign of poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas — wafted through the area near Interstate 20 Wednesday afternoon. A first responder on scene at the time said he measured 250 parts per million of the gas. Recent earthquakes linked to oilfield wastewater have rattled this section of West Texas. The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, has been working to limit oilfield wastewater injection there in response to the seismic activity. In December, it told operators that it plans to suspend permits allowing wastewater injection deep underground. The Commission could not be immediately reached Saturday.

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Austin police officer found guilty of deadly conduct

A jury has found Austin Police Department officer Christopher Taylor guilty of deadly conduct in the 2019 shooting death of Mauris DeSilva, a man suffering mental illness and armed with a knife. Taylor was initially indicted for murder in connection DeSilva's death, but the charge was downgraded to deadly conduct shortly before his trial began. Jury selection kicked off on Sept. 23, with closing statements delivered Oct. 2. The jury began deliberations on Wednesday before returning its verdict on Saturday morning. The conviction of Taylor marks the first time ever in Travis County a police officer has been found criminally liable in an on-duty fatal shooting. Taylor faces up to 10 years in prison.

The judge will decide the sentencing date for Taylor on Oct. 15. “We hope this outcome continues to help the DeSilva family with their healing process,” said Travis County District Attorney José Garza in a statement. “Our office is grateful to our dedicated staff who worked tirelessly to hold the defendant accountable and seek justice for the victim and their family. We further hope this verdict allows the community to heal and that we can move forward together.” APD also issued a statement after the guilty verdict on Saturday afternoon. "The Austin Police Department respects the criminal justice process and understands this is a difficult time for all who have been impacted," the department said.

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Mano DeAyala: Texas law protects kids from Internet harm. Tech companies are trying to wriggle free.

As our children spend more time on their phones and tablets, navigating social media and digital platforms, parents are growing increasingly worried about what they are being exposed to online. Despite how commonplace screens have become in our homes, it’s harder than ever for parents to keep up with the dangers that the latest online trends, apps and social media sites pose to our children. Meanwhile, the companies responsible for developing dangerous apps and promoting harmful content have made the issue worse for parents by prioritizing ever-increasing engagement over safety. As online threats evolve, the responsibility of protecting children from inappropriate and harmful content has shifted disproportionately to parents, who are often left struggling to keep up with the rapidly changing virtual landscape. Thankfully, last legislative session, my colleagues and I stepped in to stop companies from providing and promoting dangerous and inappropriate content to our children.

Last summer, Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation designed to limit minors’ access to harmful social media platforms, as well as a bill requiring websites that display pornographic content to verify users’ ages. These laws represent significant steps toward keeping Texas children safe from online threats. But concerningly, the companies responsible for putting kids in danger on the internet are trying to find ways around the rules and push accountability onto others. Take Facebook, for example. For years, Facebook has come under fire for misusing children’s private data and engaging in unethical advertising practices targeting kids. However, instead of taking steps to make its products safer for children, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is trying to convince lawmakers to hold other companies accountable for children’s exposure to harmful and dangerous content on Facebook, Instagram and its other social media platforms by making those other companies responsible for keeping minors off of their apps. Of course, shifting the blame to others for Facebook’s actions doesn’t make much sense. And their solution includes major loopholes that would allow children to easily access extremely inappropriate and dangerous content.

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Keeping the faith: How UH ended its offensive drought and stunned TCU for first Big 12 win

The University of Houston held a final walk-through Thursday before departing to the airport for the short flight to play TCU. Coach Willie Fritz was not happy. “I stay on these guys pretty hard,” Fritz said. “I got after them. I didn’t think we had a very good walk-through, and I was upset about it.” When Fritz arrived inside the visitor’s locker room at Amon G. Carter Stadium on Friday, there was no loud music. Barely a sound. “Guys were locked in and ready to go,” Fritz said. “I thought to myself, ‘We’re either going to play real good or real bad. Let’s see what happens.’ We went out and played real good.” With a 30-19 win over TCU, the Cougars could finally exhale, the weight and frustration of two straight shutout losses lifted off their shoulders. They took a knee on the final play of the game, the Victory formation that had been missing from the playbook most of the season.

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks,” Fritz said of consecutive shutout losses by a combined 54-0 to Cincinnati and Iowa State. “I’m proud of the resilience and how they kept fighting, scratching and clawing.” They made a change at quarterback, opting for backup Zeon Chriss over incumbent Donovan Smith. Chriss led the Cougars to three touchdowns and a field goal on the first five drives as the Cougars took 17-0 and 24-6 leads in the first half. The defense harassed TCU quarterback Josh Hoover throughout the game and forced four turnovers, including back-to-back interceptions by safety A.J. Haulcy. With the Horned Frogs still within striking distance late, the Cougars forced two fumbles, the last on a sack by Zykeius Strong that was recovered by Michael Batton with 48 seconds left. TCU’s 299 yards total offense was its fewest at home in nearly five years. UH limited the type of penalties that had been drive-killers the first month of the season. They were perfect in the kicking game, with Jack Martin converting field goals of 34, 28 and 27 yards.

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Former Republican Tarrant judge endorses Allred for Senate

A Republican former Tarrant County judge said he will support U.S. Rep. Colin Allred’s campaign for Senate. Glen Whitley, who served as the Tarrant County judge from 2007 to 2022, made the announcement Oct. 5 during a campaign event for Allred in downtown Fort Worth. In explaining his decision, Whitley cited Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s loyalty to former President Donald Trump, as well as what Whitley called a “total lack of character” in Cruz. That lack of character, Whitley said, was evidenced through Cruz’s actions during the Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol and Cruz’s trip to Cancun during the 2021 winter storm.

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Do Fort Worth students have a constitutional right to read?

Seventy years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separating students on the basis of race was unconstitutional, overturning the “separate but equal” doctrine that served as the underpinning for state-enforced school segregation in many states, including Texas. Although the court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark moment in American history, the decision only touched one part of the question of students’ educational rights — the right of equal access to public schools. More than a half-century later, there’s little guarantee, at least at the federal level, that students will actually get a quality education at school. “There are some states that provide a pretty robust right to education, particularly guaranteeing a high-quality education, and others merely guarantee the right to get into a school building,” said Kimberly Jenkins Robinson, director of the Education Rights Institute at the University of Virginia School of Law. “It doesn’t matter if the school building is crumbling and who’s teaching in the classroom or other things.”

Robinson will be the keynote speaker Oct. 8 at a panel discussion on reading as a civil right, organized by the Star-Telegram’s Crossroads Lab and a number of other community sponsors. The notion that access to education should be protected as a civil right has been gaining traction among parents since the beginning of the pandemic, Robinson said. When schools shut down and parents became more heavily involved in their children’s education, many became more aware of where their school districts fell short, she said. But although the conversation around education as a civil right has grown in the public at large, it largely hasn’t translated into policy changes, Robinson said. Over the past few years, a number of states, including Texas, have passed laws dealing with how reading is taught in public school classrooms. But Robinson said there’s been little momentum toward laws either at the state or federal level that would enshrine access to a high-quality education among other protected rights like voting or access to public facilities. Robinson argues that there should be federal protections requiring states to ensure that all students get an education that prepares them to be active participants in society after high school. School districts report the number of students who graduate from high school ready for college, careers or the military, but that preparedness also needs to include civic engagement and participation in the political process, she said.

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What kinds of religious activities are OK at public schools?

When he learned that his son had been forced to attend a religious meeting at his high school, Jon Luna immediately went to the school to take him home for the day. His son had received an email from a Mansfield Lake Ridge teacher saying that his class was to attend a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The student recorded audio of a pastor leading students in prayer and asking if they accepted Jesus. His son, who is not Christian, was confused about what was happening and why he was told to be there, Luna said. A spokesperson for the school district told the Star-Telegram that it reviewed the communication the students were sent, and they did not include the words “mandatory” or “required.”

“Participation in FCA is a voluntary activity for Lake Ridge students who choose to attend,” the district said in an emailed statement. “The opportunity to attend FCA during advisory is a recent scheduling change at the campus. Going forward, the teacher will ensure that students understand their attendance at such a meeting is entirely optional, and alternatives will be made clear.” Still, his son was told to go to the assembly, and he did not feel as though he was free to leave, despite his discomfort with the situation, Luna said. He also questioned why a person who to all appearances was a Christian pastor was allowed to give what sounded like a sermon to students on a public high school campus. The district spokesperson said that the person leading the event was “an adult with FCA,” but did not specify who it was or if he was an ordained minister. The event obviously prompts questions of legality and the issue of the separation of church and state. What kinds of religious activities are allowed on public school campuses? Are pastors allowed to lead students in prayer and ask them to accept Jesus on school property?

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Dallas Morning News Editorial: No recommendation in the race for Texas House District 63

Texas House District 63 spans a stretch of Denton County that includes parts of Fort Worth, Flower Mound, Lewisville and Carrollton. The district, redrawn in 2021, is more competitive today than its previous iteration. The 2024 race pits two familiar faces: the incumbent, Republican Ben Bumgarner, and Democrat Michelle Beckley, a former state representative. Neither one is a good choice in this politically mixed district, and so we offer no recommendation. Bumgarner won the seat in 2022. The former Flower Mound town council member expressed extreme views at the time, such as wanting to eliminate property taxes. He appears to have moderated that position, stating on his website that he wants to “lower taxes.” He gets credit for passing a bill to create wellness programs for peace officers and one that makes it easier to crack down on illegal spas.

But Bumgarner’s tone is far from bipartisan. He says on his website he won’t let “anyone’s radical agenda threaten our children’s future,” whatever that means. We don’t know his views on important policy matters because he didn’t fill out our Voter Guide or attend our candidate interview. Beckley was drawn out of her seat in House District 65 during the last round of redistricting. She told us she is running for increased funding for public schools, an issue with consensus across party lines. She also wants a return to the Roe vs. Wade standard on abortion, though she said she would support incremental improvements to Texas’ abortion ban, such as exceptions for victims of rape and incest. But we failed to hear Beckley make a broader case for how she would appeal to conservative voters. During her tenure in the state Legislature, she was rated one of its most liberal members. And she failed to distinguish herself in policy debates or legislative achievements.

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National Stories

One month out, Democrats say they are expanding House field

Democrats are expressing increasing optimism that regaining control of the House is within the party’s grasp. “We have opportunities everywhere,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene, a Democrat from Washington state and chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “We’re making sure we pick up seats in presidential battleground states like Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan, but I want to point out how vast and geographically diverse the House map is. We’re going on offense in states like New York, California and even Iowa … and Alabama. Those are places that don’t get much national attention, but they illustrate how broad our map is.” DelBene joined Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison and Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, at a remote news conference Friday, one month out from Election Day.

The GOP gained control of the House in 2022, powered largely by gains in New York and California, states that heavily favor Democrats, particularly in a general presidential election. Democrats are hoping to regain those seats and are also going on the offensive in Iowa, where races featuring Republican Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in the 1st District and Zach Nunn in the 3rd were recently shifted from Tilt Republican to Toss-up by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales. And Democratic Rep. Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico’s 2nd District saw his race shift from Toss-up to Tilt Democratic. However, not all changes in the House map favor Democrats. In Maine’s 2nd District, held by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, the race has shifted from Tilt Democratic to Toss-up. A spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee dismissed the Democrats’ optimism.

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Melinda French Gates’s new life: Abortion politics and Kamala Harris

When Melinda French Gates was running the world’s biggest philanthropy with her husband, Bill Gates, she insisted on staying on the sidelines of politics. She was half of one of America’s most celebrated couples, and she did not want to invite backlash from governments around the globe, to say nothing of getting crosswise with Washington by endorsing someone who could lose. Then, in 2021, that well-ordered life blew up. Her divorce from Mr. Gates was a bombshell — and its consequences still ripple three years later. She suddenly came into her own billions of dollars, with which she could do whatever she chose. This year, she decided to resign from her namesake foundation, which meant she could set her own agenda. And, after decades of carefully scripted neutrality, she did what she had wanted to do ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade: She dove headfirst into politics.

At 60, Ms. French Gates has reinvented herself, surprisingly, as an ascendant Democratic megadonor. She has endorsed political candidates, given more than $13 million to groups supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, had her team talk to Ms. Harris’s advisers about a joint event, and publicly championed abortion rights, an issue she downplayed for decades because it was too politically fraught. Ms. French Gates’s transformation, people close to her say, is due less to a eureka moment and more to a response to the changing circumstances in her home and in the world. Her split from Mr. Gates and the foundation gave her independence, and the overturning of Roe spurred her to act. “Now I do get to make whatever decision I want to make about endorsing or not endorsing on my own,” she said in a brief interview last month. She downplayed the role of the divorce, but she conceded that beforehand, “there were more considerations because I was the head of a foundation.”

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As Oct. 7 approaches, synagogues and mosques bolster security

Making one’s way into the Chicago Loop Synagogue isn’t merely a matter of opening the front door. First, visitors must ring a doorbell and talk to a receptionist at an office desk. After making their way into the foyer, they buzz another doorbell for entrance. Then, they have to pass through a metal detector scan. “We have people from all over the world who come here. When they're downtown and they want a place to pray, they come to us,” synagogue President Lee Zoldan said. “You never know who's going to show up. That's why we're here, is to serve them.” In order for the synagogue to focus on that mission of service and remain a spot of refuge in this city’s busy downtown, Zoldan said she has to keep a watchful eye.

Jewish, Muslim and Arab American communities have experienced increased threats since the beginning of the war in Gaza. As the one-year mark since the Hamas-led attack on Israel approaches, American Jews and Muslims are preparing special services and memorials to honor lives lost and pray for an end to the violence. Across the country, mosques and synagogues are paying special attention to ways they can strengthen security for their members heading into Oct. 7. “Virtually every synagogue has been in touch with local police,” said Nathan Diament, public policy director of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. “They're going to have increased patrols, both by police and also by volunteers. We just want to make sure that everybody's safe.” On Oct. 4, the FBI issued an alert, warning that “violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators” may view Oct. 7 “as an opportunity to conduct an attack or other high-profile, illegal activity.” “Online messaging associated with (foreign terrorist organizations) and other violent extremists highlighting the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks could motivate threat actors across ideologies, including those who espouse violent anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, to engage in violence,” the FBI warned.

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Israel signals an escalation of military activity in Gaza

The Israeli military carried out airstrikes in the Gaza Strip early Sunday and signaled that it was stepping up operations in the enclave as it pressed on with its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The apparent escalation in Israeli military activity — against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah — comes amid rising concern over a broadening war in the Middle East on the eve of the anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. That attack prompted Israel to bombard and invade Gaza to fight Hamas.

Early on Sunday, the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for nearly all of northern Gaza, saying this was in preparation for “a new phase” in the war. That came hours after Israeli warplanes attacked Jabaliya, in the northern part of the enclave. The Israeli military said it had surrounded an area where it had identified Hamas fighters and “efforts by Hamas to rebuild its operational capabilities.” The military also said that it had struck a mosque and a school-turned-shelter in the central Gaza city of Deir al Balah overnight. It described the two locations as Hamas “command and control centers” nestled among civilians, without providing evidence of its claims. The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said 26 Palestinians had been killed and dozens more were wounded. In recent weeks, Israel has been simultaneously intensifying attacks against Hamas’s allies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israeli airstrikes hit just south of Beirut overnight, sending an orange fireball and thick black smoke into the sky. The attack came less than an hour after the Israeli military issued new evacuation warnings for parts of the area known as the Dahiya, where Hezbollah holds sway and where heavy bombardment in recent days has already forced many residents to flee. It also ordered the residents of 25 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate and head north.

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Democrats try ‘Trump-proofing’ their states ahead of Election Day

Washington and Massachusetts are stockpiling abortion pills. California is cutting climate deals directly with automakers. Colorado is rushing to protect the right to same-sex marriage. And attorneys general across the country are marshaling legal resources and privately plotting courtroom strategies. From the West Coast to the East, blue states are preparing for the possibility that former president Donald Trump wins reelection in November by attempting to shield their policy priorities from the reach of a future Trump administration. This preemptive strategy — “Trump-proofing” — encompasses a wide range of issues and programs that Democratic leaders fear could be targeted in another Trump presidency, based on his previous actions and his current campaign promises.

Even as they pursue such safeguards, Democrats are projecting confidence in their nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, but they say it would be irresponsible to go into Election Day without a backup plan for their worst-case scenario. The approach so far remains more concurrent than coordinated, with different states pursuing their own measures, but the country’s most liberal leaders forged close ties during Trump’s first term as they allied in opposition to him. Now they appear poised to unify again. The effort provides a striking contrast to the 2016 election, when Trump’s victory took Democratic officials by surprise and sent them scrambling to respond. Much has changed in the eight years since, however, and experts say that even with the early Democratic organizing, the reach could be limited by the conservative transformation of the federal judiciary and the Supreme Court in Trump’s first term.

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Ghost guns, transgender care on Supreme Court agenda as election looms

The Supreme Court wades back into hot-button issues including gun control, the death penalty and gender-affirming care for minors in the term that begins Monday, even as the fast-approaching presidential election could end up dominating the docket. Last term was marked by blockbuster rulings on the scope of former president Donald Trump’s immunity from prosecution and place on the 2024 ballot, as well as federal agency power, social media regulation and abortion pills. The cases on the court’s calendar so far pose other significant questions for the justices: Can states prevent transgender adolescents from obtaining certain gender-affirming medical treatments? Can the Biden administration regulate homemade “ghost guns” in the same way as other firearms? Do age-verification requirements to protect minors from online pornography violate the First Amendment rights of adults?

Looming in the background is the November contest between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris — and the likelihood that a slew of lawsuits over counting ballots and voting access will draw the Supreme Court into election-related disputes. That would put the justices in a pivotal position reminiscent of their role in the 2000 election, when the Supreme Court’s decision assured victory for George W. Bush over Al Gore and bitterly divided the nation. “I don’t think the court wants to get involved, but it may be forced to,” David Cole, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said during a term-preview discussion led by Georgetown Law’s Supreme Court Institute. If the current court, with a conservative 6-3 majority, were to intervene after a close election and vote along ideological lines to determine the winner, Cole said, it would be a disaster because of the public’s low opinion of the court. “This court has to understand that its institutional legitimacy has been challenged,” Cole said. “It would be like what they did in Bush versus Gore except where the country is already primed to be very critical of this court as partisan.” Polls show a dramatic decline in public confidence in the Supreme Court after the majority, bolstered by three Trump nominees, eliminated the nationwide right to abortion in 2022 after nearly 50 years.

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How the border shapes US politics, Mexico relations

Immigration has been at the forefront of the political debate with just four and a half weeks before Election Day. For voters, it remains a key issue this election cycle. According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 6 in 10 people say immigration is “very important” to their vote. During Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, JD Vance and Tim Walz sparred over immigration policy, at one point prompting the moderators to interject and mute the microphones. While arguing that Haitian immigrants had overwhelmed the city of Springfield, Ohio, Vance erroneously said those individuals were in the country illegally and arrived using the CBP One app, which migrants use to schedule an appointment to request asylum at one of several designated ports of entry.

Many of the Haitian immigrants in Springfield are in the U.S. legally under Temporary Protected Status, which is granted to individuals from countries with ongoing armed conflict, such as civil war; an environmental disaster, such as earthquake or hurricane; or an epidemic. Individuals whose country is designated for TPS can work in the U.S. and are protected from deportation. The CBP One app, on the other hand, is a key part of President Joe Biden’s June 4 proclamation that restricts asylum and deems migrants who try to enter the country illegally ineligible. The initial rule would cut off asylum when migrant encounters along the southern border exceeded an average of 2,500 a day during one seven-day period. The restrictions would lift when encounters fell below a daily average of 1,500 during one seven-day period. This week, however, the Biden administration expanded the restrictions, requiring migrant encounters to average less than 1,500 a day for 28 days before they are lifted. So far, the asylum restrictions have been in place since they were enacted. Another major change affecting immigration between the U.S. and Mexico is that both countries will have new leaders.

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Lead Stories

Port strike ends as workers agree to tentative deal on wages and contract extension

A major union for U.S. dockworkers and the United States Maritime Alliance agreed on Thursday to a tentative deal on wages and have extended their existing contract through Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract. The move ends a strike that had snarled East Coast and Gulf Coast ports since the beginning of the week and threatened U.S. supply of fruits, automobiles and other goods. “The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues,” The ILA and the the USMX said in a joint statement.

During the week, the strike had already started to stress the U.S. supply chain. Thousands of containers had been dumped at the wrong ports, and billions of dollars in goods were anchored offshore because ports were not operational, CNBC previously reported. Shipping costs had already started to rise. The strike was the first by the ILA since 1977, and it impacted operations at 14 different ports. About 50,000 of the union’s 85,000 members were on strike this week. In a statement on Tuesday, ILA President Harold Daggett said the union was asking for an increase of $5 per hour for each year of the six-year contract. ILA wages will increase 61.5% over six years under the tentative agreement, sources told CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco. A central conflict over port automation is still under negotiation.

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Stock futures rise slightly as Wall Street awaits September jobs report

US stock futures climbed on Friday as investors braced for a key monthly jobs report, with the Middle East crisis and a return to work at US ports also in high focus. S&P 500 futures (ES=F) put on 0.3%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) added roughly 0.2%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) moved 0.4% higher. Investors are marking time for the release of the September jobs report, expected to provide further evidence the labor market is cooling but not collapsing. A rapid weakening could prompt the Federal Reserve to once again lower interest rates by an outsized 0.5% in November.

Friday's report, set for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, is expected to show nonfarm payrolls rose by 150,000. But Wall Street is likely to focus less on hiring and more on the unemployment rate, where a gain could boost bets on a larger rate cut. While stocks are on track for weekly losses, the markets have shown some resilience in the face of a rough week of worrying headlines. The major gauges were off 1% or less as of Thursday's close, with the S&P 500 and Dow still within striking distance of record highs. In recent days, a huge ports strike, devastation from Hurricane Helene, and the prospect of a wider Mideast conflict brought the potential to lift prices and fan inflation. That in turn cast doubt on the Fed's preferred 0.25% rate cut. In a welcome move, the US dockworkers strike ended after a tentative wage deal was agreed late Thursday, though some issues remain to be settled by later this year. On the downside, a barrage of strikes by Israel on Beirut kept alive the Mideast worries that have driven up oil prices. Western leaders warned about "uncontrollable escalation" as investors waited to see whether Israel will attack Iran's oil facilities — a move President Biden said is under discussion. Oil is on track for its biggest weekly gain in two years as tensions mount. Brent crude (BZ=F) and West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) futures rose over 1% on Friday morning, coming off a 5% gain the previous day.

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Helene leads to push for disaster relief funding in Congress

Members of Congress saw Hurricane Helene coming. Last week, they had planned to be in Washington through Friday, and then recess for the month of October to focus on the election. But as Helene strengthened while approaching Florida, they announced an early dismissal to get home ahead of the storm. Now, lawmakers from the states devastated by Helene are asking for help from congressional leadership, including the possibility of coming back in October to fund the relief efforts. And costs could be high.

“I’ve heard numbers in the $150 billion range, particularly in North Carolina,” said Sen. Ted Budd, a Republican from Davie County, who spoke to McClatchy Tuesday night. “If you consider the volume and the velocity of water in the mountains, it’s devastating.” Both Budd and Sen. Thom Tillis signed a letter Tuesday to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Appropriations Chair Patty Murray and Vice Chair Susan Collins asking for help. “Although the true level of devastation is still unfolding, it is clear that Congress must act to meet the unmet needs in our states and address the scope and scale of destruction experienced by our constituents,” the senators wrote. “This may even require Congress to come back in October to ensure we have enough time to enact legislation before the end of this calendar year.” Congress recessed Wednesday and instead of passing 12 appropriation bills to fund the government, members approved a continuing resolution to keep the government operating at its current levels until Dec. 20. Congress isn’t scheduled to return until after the election to take up the budget again. The CR included an increase in funding for the Secret Service after two attempts on the life of former President Donald Trump. But multiple lawmakers raised concerns about the lack of emergency relief aid in the the bill. And they were forced to vote on the bill or risk a government shutdown after Sept. 30.

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Texas just hit 18M voters. Surging registrations could reshape the election

Texas has surpassed 18 million registered voters for the first time as an increasingly urban and diverse population reshapes the state’s political landscape and pushes the GOP to retool its decades-old playbook to keep a grip on the state. The state’s voter registration rolls are expanding at a quicker pace than other fast-growing southern states like Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. And they're surpassing the state’s population growth, a sign that more than just new Texans are signing up to vote. Since U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz was last on the ballot in 2018 and narrowly won reelection by just 215,000 votes, Texas has added nearly 2.6 million voters — the size of Connecticut’s entire voting rolls. The biggest growth has come in Harris County and along the I-35 corridor, areas that have trended blue in recent elections. While transplants from other states make up a good portion of that rise, voter advocacy groups say it is also a product of their work in places like Houston and San Antonio to find and register Texans who don't typically participate in elections.

Also fueling the rise is the state's booming youth population coming of voting age. Many high schools have programs to help sign up new voters and people can also register when getting a driver's license. The shifting demographics are forcing both parties to lean on advanced analytics to help them identify who these new voters are, where they came from, how likely they are to vote in November and which party's platform they gravitate more towards. While some Republicans have convinced themselves Texas will always be red, top strategists in the party warn Texas is at risk of following other Southwestern states like Arizona and Nevada, once solid Republican states that started turning blue in the last two decades and helped put Joe Biden in the White House in 2020. “We are in a competitive state and we are not going to win just sitting on our laurels,” said Dave Carney, a veteran Republican strategist who has helped Gov. Greg Abbott and former Gov. Rick Perry dominate Texas politics for the last 25 years.

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State Stories

Cruz curse? Democrats hope senator's streak carries into politics after Astros loss

The Ted Cruz curse strikes (no pun intended) again. Allegedly. The Texas senator’s attendance at sporting events across the state is famously dreaded, for reasons beyond politics. His appearance at ballparks, football fields and basketball courts has been frequently associated with various Texas teams’ ensuing losses. And the phenomenon seemingly continued this week, after Cruz was spotted at Minute Maid Park Tuesday and Wednesday for both games of the Houston Astros’ back-to-back losses, which put a quick end to the baseball team’s postseason. The “Cruz curse” was also the basis for a social media ad last month by Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who is running to unseat Cruz this November. “Sports fans from across Texas are suffering from the same affliction,” the commercial's narrator says, going on to blame Cruz for major losses including the University of Texas football team’s defeat in January’s Sugar Bowl and the Houston Rockets’ dashed playoff dreams back in 2018.

“Want to win? Lose Cruz,” the 30-second video concludes. The race between Allred and Cruz has intensified, as some polls heading into the fall show a near tie between the pair. No Democrat has won statewide office in the deep-red Lone Star State since 1994. Cruz has been in office since 2013. Cook Political Report Tuesday shifted their rating of the Senate race from “likely Republican” to “leans Republican,” signaling momentum for Democrats, who nationally are in a contentious battle to hold onto control of the upper chamber. Allred and Cruz are set to face off in a debate Oct. 15. Democrats that evening may hope the supposed “Cruz curse” goes beyond just sports competitions. Cruz’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the advertisement or the Astros’ loss this week.

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Why Grand Prairie guns keep turning up at crime scenes in Mexico

Guns purchased from a single ZIP code in Grand Prairie, Texas, have been popping up in Mexico in significant numbers over the past several years. From 2015-2022, the 75051 ZIP code was the source of more confiscated guns – roughly three dozen per year – in Mexico than from any other Texas ZIP code not located on the border. Furthermore, a recent federal firearms report shows Texas is the nation’s leading supplier of illicit guns to Mexico’s drug cartels and other criminal organizations, representing 43% of the total. Those are among the revelatory findings culled from a federal gun tracing database obtained by a nonprofit organization and analyzed recently by The Dallas Morning News.

At first glance, the data might suggest Grand Prairie is a hub for international arms trafficking. Dig a little deeper, however, and a more nuanced story emerges – one that not only reveals the challenges of firearms tracing as a tool against gun traffickers, but also illuminates the ongoing national debate between gun rights groups and gun safety advocates over whether such data should be made public. Tracing can be helpful to agents, revealing patterns used by criminals and identifying possible suspects. And it can be used to alert gun sellers. But the data also can be of limited value when a gun’s serial number is filed off, when the sales paperwork is missing or when the firearms are old. Those guns from Grand Prairie are a prime example. The 275 Grand Prairie confiscated guns, it turns out, are very old. Some were bought so long ago that the North Texas gun store owners who sold them are long dead.

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Some North Texas gun stores sold many guns later used in crimes. Should public be told?

Gun tracing not only is a way to help identify and capture those who purchase guns illegally, it also is used to identify and alert gun sellers. U.S. gun stores and other licensed dealers associated with a high number of crime gun traces are notified of this by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under a special regulatory program. The “Demand Letter 2? notice is sent to dealers that had 25 or more crime guns traced to them the previous calendar year that were used in a crime within 3 years of original purchase, a concept called “time-to-crime.” Such dealers are then required to periodically supply ATF with additional information. The notice doesn’t necessarily mean the dealer did anything improper. It’s intended to add extra layers of scrutiny to licensed gun sellers that are being targeted by criminals.

Several North Texas gun stores received the notices in 2023, including large chains and independent stores, according to a batch of ATF notices released to USA Today. One such store is WEG’s Guns in Farmers Branch. A Houston man bought a .50-caliber rifle at WEG’s in 2022 with more than $8,600 in cash, court records show. Mexican authorities recovered it more than three months later in Matamoros, Mexico. The buyer pleaded guilty to a charge related to gun straw purchasing and was sentenced in September to time served in a North Texas court, court records show. WEG’s website says it’s a family-run business. Store representatives did not respond to a request for comment. Some dealers say handling a high volume of gun sales naturally leads to more traces. Indeed, national chain stores were among the dealers that received notices in 2023 of crime guns traced to them from Mexico, including at least two Bass Pro Shops stores in North Texas, according to the ATF information obtained by USA Today.

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Texas gets $5.7 billion in federal funding for infrastructure projects

Texas is getting more than $5.6 billion from the Department of Transportation for infrastructure projects across the state. The Biden-Harris administration announced the funding on Tuesday as part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It's the fourth year of funding under the law, which funds improvements for highways, bridges and air quality improvement programs. A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Transportation told KERA the money hasn’t been allocated to specific projects yet, but the largest share, about $3 billion, will go to the National Highway Performance Programs. There’s also more than $115 million for bridges and more than $201 million for air quality improvements. About $86 million goes to building electric vehicle infrastructure. TXDoT added that the money can go to federally eligible projects identified in its annual Unified Transportation Program over the next four years.

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Concussions, bruises, bite marks: San Antonio special education teachers say they often get hurt at work

When Margo Jimenez got a message from her husband’s school telling her to go to the hospital in February, the possibility that he might be hurt enough to die never entered her mind. Her husband Alfred Jimenez Jr. worked for the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio as an instructional assistant in a self-contained classroom for special education students who need more support than they can get in a general education classroom. “I just grabbed my purse, and I left,” Margo Jimenez said. “And I finally get there, and, you know, I'm thinking it's not a big deal. He's maybe broken a leg or something.” Even after she arrived at the hospital and the doctor told her Fred needed emergency surgery to try to stop the bleeding in his brain, Margo thought he’d recover. She was still struggling to believe he might not wake up when he took his last breath ten days later.

School is supposed to be a safe place for both students and staff. Even though that sacred ideal has been shaken by the horror of Uvalde and Sandy Hook and Parkland and Santa Fe, it’s still difficult to comprehend that trying to calm down an upset teenager with an intellectual disability could lead to a push strong enough to kill a 73-year-old man. But after Fred’s death, his colleagues and his wife said they realized that there were warning signs: the bruises and workplace injuries they’d come to accept as just part of the job. “One day, he came home with a black eye, his glasses were broken, and he had bites on his arm,” Margo Jimenez told TPR in an interview at her home six months after Fred’s death. “I said, ‘Well, did you report it?’ He said, ‘no.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ He said, ‘Margo, because it happens all the time, every day, every day.’ It's just a different teacher. It happens all the time.” A 77-page grievance obtained by TPR alleged that the death of Fred Jimenez was part of a widespread pattern of student-caused injuries at Northside ISD, especially in self-contained special education classrooms. In exhibits full of photos and email exchanges between teachers and administrators, the document made the case that Northside’s special education teachers and instructional assistants, usually called IAs, don’t have enough district support to keep them safe and that insufficient staffing and training leads to regular injuries.

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Around Dallas, the church scandals seem to have no end

On a Sunday morning, the pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, took the stage with his wife to reassure their congregation. “Lisa is the only woman I’ve ever been with, and I’m the only man she’s ever been with — and I say ‘been with’ in a biblical sense,” said Ed Young, who founded the church in the late 1980s. About 4,000 people were in the room, with thousands more watching online. The pastor added, “We don’t have to worry about any sexual skeletons in our closet coming from the past.” In normal circumstances, it was the kind of claim that many churchgoers would hope went without saying. But in the Dallas-Forth Worth area this year, a pastor with a clean reputation is not to be taken for granted. The Youngs’ joint sermon came in late June, days after Robert Morris, the founder of the nearby Gateway Church, resigned as senior pastor after being accused of sexually abusing a child in the 1980s.

The week before, another local pastor with a national profile, Tony Evans, shocked many evangelicals by stepping away from the pulpit over an undisclosed “sin.” Gateway is one of the largest churches in the metro area, which is known for its many and mammoth-size congregations. Mr. Evans’s predominantly Black church in South Dallas, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, claims a membership of about 10,000 people. The drumbeat of downfalls, surprise departures and even arrests continued all summer and into the fall. An associate pastor at Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco (3,700 attendees) was fired in July for a “moral failure.” The lead pastor of Cross Timbers Church in Argyle (5,000 attendees) resigned over “inappropriate and hurtful” actions. Another local pastor with a national profile, Steven J. Lawson, fell in mid-September, when leaders of Trinity Bible Church of Dallas announced that they had removed him over an “inappropriate relationship that he has had with a woman.” A running list of local pastors “involved in controversies this year” maintained by the local television station WFAA now contains 17 names, including five involving criminal charges. This week, a leader at Revival City Church in McKinney was arrested on a domestic violence charge.

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Ex-Houston cop Gerald Goines rushed to hospital ahead of felony murder sentencing

Gerald Goines, convicted of felony murder, was rushed to a hospital Thursday on the cusp of jurors beginning their deliberations for his punishment. The former Houston police officer, who turned 60 on Wednesday, appeared unsettled around 10:50 a.m. after prosecutor Tanisha Manning declared him shameful and looked directly at him during her closing arguments in the felony murder trial. He placed his hands firmly on the attorney’s table, catching the attention of one of his attorneys. The lawyer flagged down a bailiff, prompting the judge to excuse the jury. Another attorney, Mac Secrest, and a bailiff helped Goines into a holding room after inmates as jurors filed out of the courtroom.

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Plan to connect the Texas grid with high-voltage line across the South gets a boost from Energy Department

A project linking the Texas power grid with those in the Southeast will receive a federal grant of up to $360 million — if it can overcome obstacles that has stalled it for years. The DOE's investment is a drop in the bucket compared with the $2.6 billion cost of Pattern Energy’s Southern Spirit transmission line that would span 320 miles through Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. The high-voltage, direct current line would carry nuclear power from Mississippi to Dallas when needed and allow Texas to send wind and solar eastward when it has extra. The grant is among four awarded by the Department of Energy on Thursday with a total value of $1.5 billion. The projects are expected to improve power transmission across the country, but most notably in Texas, where the power grid nearly collapsed during a deadly 2021 winter storm. The grid also continues to be tested as Texas' population has exploded and more extreme temperatures boost power consumption.

Southern Spirit will allow the Texas grid, managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, to remain free of federal regulation while providing insurance against blackouts. It also is expected to will create 850 construction jobs and 305 permanent positions, the Energy Department said. But a complicated permit process as well as opposition from landowners and lawmakers in Louisiana and Mississippi have held up the project, which has been in the works for more than a decade. It got a boost this month with approval by the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

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Texas lawsuit alleges conspiracy to inflate insulin prices, seeks restitution

Attorney General Ken Paxton sued major pharmaceutical makers and other companies Thursday, alleging they violated Texas’ consumer protection law and unjustly enriched themselves by conspiring to spike insulin prices by up to 1,000% over the past decade. The complaint says the consequence of the companies’ actions has been “devastating” for Texas diabetics who were overcharged millions of dollars a year. The lawsuit seeks restitution “and other equitable relief that may be owed to” affected Texans. “Unable to afford the drugs their doctors prescribe, many diabetics in Texas ration or under-dose their diabetes medications, inject expired insulin, reuse needles, and starve themselves to control their blood sugars,” the lawsuit says. “This behavior is extremely dangerous and has led to serious complications or even death.”

Insulin helps manage blood sugar levels and prevent serious complications from diabetes, a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure and lower-limb amputations in Texas. More than 3 million Texans have diabetes, and an additional 7 million have prediabetes, putting them at greater risk of developing diabetes. The lawsuit targets Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, which collectively manufacture the vast majority of insulin and other diabetic medicine available in Texas. Texas also sued CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRX — pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, that serve as middlemen for insurance providers and drug manufacturers — and affiliated companies, including CVS Healthcare, CVS Pharmacy, Evernorth Health, Medco Health Solutions, ESI Mail Pharmacy Service, UnitedHealth Group and OptumInsight. The PBMs have “near complete control” of pricing for diabetes medication and affect “nearly every diabetic drug transaction in Texas,” the lawsuit says. The complaint says PBMs “worked in coordination” with the insulin manufacturers “to distort the market for diabetic treatments to their benefit at the expense of Texas diabetics and payors.”

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AG Ken Paxton accuses TikTok of violating Texas’ parental consent law

Attorney General Ken Paxton sued TikTok on Thursday, alleging the social media giant is violating Texas’ parental consent law. The lawsuit said TikTok collects, stores and processes minors’ personal identifying information when they interact with the platform. The information — birth dates, email addresses, phone numbers, device settings and other data and metadata — is shared with third parties, such as service providers and business partners, and sold to advertisers, the lawsuit said. That’s in violation of Texas’ Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act, which bars digital service providers such as social media companies from sharing, disclosing or selling a minor’s personal information without consent from a parent or guardian. The law also requires providers to offer tools letting a parent or guardian manage a minor’s privacy and account settings.

“In contravention of the SCOPE Act, Defendants have failed, and continue to fail, to create and provide parents and guardians with the tools legally required to protect minors’ privacy and safety,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants have failed to develop a commercially reasonable method for a known minor’s parent or guardian to verify their identity and relationship to a known minor.” The lawsuit, filed in state district court in Galveston County, requests civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation and a court order blocking TikTok from “any further violation of the SCOPE Act.” A TikTok spokesman rejected the allegations. “We strongly disagree with these allegations and, in fact, we offer robust safeguards for teens and parents, including family pairing, all of which are publicly available,” spokesman Jason Grosse said.

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Texas lawmakers told most people accused of smuggling migrants into state are U.S. citizens

As Texas continues its multi-billion-dollar effort to stop what Republicans call an “invasion” of foreigners, state lawmakers were told this week that most of the people charged with smuggling immigrants during a recent 12-month period aren’t from outside the country. The assessment came during a border-focused meeting of the Texas House Committee on State Affairs, where lawmakers also discussed how much more money Gov. Greg Abbott was going to request from the state legislature to continue Operation Lone Star, the governor’s state-led border security mission, when lawmakers return to Austin in January. On the smuggling charges, Megan LaVoie, the administrative director for the Texas Office of Court Administration, told lawmakers Monday that data from May 2023 to April 2024 showed that 72% of those accused of smuggling immigrants were U.S. citizens. Less than 10% were from Mexico, she added.

“Man, that's just incredible. I guess I haven't really seen that. I didn't see this number before,” said state Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, who asked for the information. LaVoie said those statistics reflect defendants who have been processed through the central magistration, a process available to state and local officials to process defendants arrested under Operation Lone Star. Of those accused of human smuggling, U.S. citizens account for 1,038 while 140 were from Mexico. That was followed by 88 Hondurans, 43 Cubans and 35 Salvadorans. Exactly who has been arrested for smuggling is noteworthy because of recent actions by the Texas Legislature. During a special session in late 2023, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 4, which increased penalties for human smuggling to at least 10 years in state prison in most cases. The legislation went into effect in February, but it’s unclear how many of the cases LaVoie referenced fall under that bill as that information wasn’t sought by lawmakers. (The SB4 smuggling bill is separate from Senate Bill 4 passed in a subsequent special session. That law makes unauthorized entry into Texas a state crime and is currently in litigation.)

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Police accuse Brite Divinity professor at TCU of child porn

Law enforcement authorities have arrested on suspicion of possession of child pornography a man who was a Brite Divinity School professor and theological librarian when police allege he obtained illicit images. Charles Bellinger, 62, was taken into custody on Oct. 2 after Fort Worth police Internet Crimes Against Children Unit detectives, TCU police officers and United States Secret Service special agents served a search warrant at Bellinger’s house in Arlington and at his office on the TCU campus. Bellinger was a professor of theology and ethics. References to Bellinger on the divinity school’s webpages appear to have been removed, but the pages are archived. TCU and the divinity school share resources but are separate institutions. The Rev. Stephen Cady, Brite Divinity School’s president, wrote in a Oct. 3 statement that the alleged behavior is repugnant.

“When Brite administration was made aware of this situation, we immediately initiated our own investigation, cooperated with law enforcement, shut down his access to school technology, personnel, and facilities, and placed him on immediate administrative leave before terminating his employment shortly thereafter,” Cady wrote. “He did not teach a single class after we learned of the concern.” “I am mindful of the ways that some faith institutions have failed in the wake of these situations and am determined that Brite handle this situation consistent with our values and be a part of a more faithful narrative,” Cady wrote. “We will, as a community, get through this difficult moment as we have difficult ones in the past, prayerfully and together. Please do be in prayer for Brite.” Brite spokesperson Vanessa Daley responded to a question that asked on what date Bellinger was hired with an excerpt of President Cady’s statement. Holly Ellman, a TCU spokesperson, wrote in a response to questions that “Mr. Bellinger was an employee of Brite Divinity School, which is located on our campus but is not a unit of TCU. He does not presently have any employment relationship with TCU.”

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City Stories

What’s the value of a city’s nature? San Antonio pilots tool to find out.

San Antonio is piloting an online tool to see how potential land use changes could result in benefits for carbon sequestration, urban cooling and residents’ access to nature. The Urban Online web application simplifies the process of accessing a suite of software models created by the Natural Capital Project. This Stanford University-based group helps leaders incorporate the value of nature into decision-making. Urban Online aims to allow those with no technical training to take advantage of the models, saving its users “hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars that might be spent hiring experts to collect data and run the models,” a press release says.

Cities are increasingly looking to technology and data to address real-world issues from traffic safety to law enforcement. As the impacts of climate change, from frequent heat waves to stronger storms, bear down on U.S. communities, many cities are looking to leverage nature to protect people and infrastructure. The growing interest in taking advantage of nature to boost climate resilience is reflected in a Regional Plan Association analysis from earlier this year. It found that among dozens of public agencies’ climate adaptation plans, nature-based approaches to reducing flood risk made up the largest number of listed strategies. The Natural Capital Project, or NatCap, says on its website that it advocates for more stakeholders worldwide to see the world’s ecosystems as “capital assets.” “Relative to other forms of capital, living natural capital is poorly understood and undergoing rapid degradation,” the organization says.

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National Stories

Election-denying ex-county clerk sentenced to 9 years for tampering with election equipment

A former Colorado county clerk who promoted 2020 election conspiracy theories was sentenced Thursday to nine years behind bars after being convicted of charges including official misconduct in connection with a security breach of Mesa County’s voting system. Tina Peters was convicted of four felony and three misdemeanor charges in August for using another person’s security badge to allow someone associated with MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, a prominent election denier and ally of former President Donald Trump, access to county election equipment involving Dominion Voting Systems. The county’s machines had to be replaced afterwards when data, including passwords for the machines, was posted online. Peters claimed she didn’t know the information would become public.

“Your lies are well-documented and these convictions are serious,” Judge Matthew Barrett told Peters before he handed down his sentence for the 2021 security breach, calling her a “charlatan” who used her time in office “to peddle snake oil.” The judge told Peters she had no consideration for how her lies had harmed her county and her colleagues. "The damage is immeasurable," Barrett said. "I'm convinced you would do it all over again if you could." He said every time one of her conspiratorial claims "gets refuted, shown to be false, another tale is weaved." "You're as defiant a defendant as I've ever seen," Barrett said.

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As search for Helene’s victims drags into second week, sheriff says rescuers ‘will not rest’

The search for victims of Hurricane Helene dragged into its second week on Friday, as exhausted rescue crews and volunteers continued to work long days — navigating past washed out roads, downed power lines and mudslides — to reach the isolated and the missing. “We know these are hard times, but please know we’re coming,” Sheriff Quentin Miller of Buncombe County, North Carolina, said at a Thursday evening press briefing. “We’re coming to get you. We’re coming to pick up our people.” With at least 215 killed, Helene is already the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005, and dozens or possibly hundreds of people are still unaccounted for. Roughly half the victims were in North Carolina, while dozens more were killed in South Carolina and Georgia.

In Buncombe County alone, 72 people had been confirmed dead as of Thursday evening, Miller said. Buncombe includes the tourist hub of Asheville, the region’s most populous city. Still, the sheriff holds out hope that many of the missing are alive. His message to them? “Your safety and well-being are our highest priority. And we will not rest until you are secure and that you are being cared for.” Now more than a week since the storm roared onto Florida’s Gulf Coast, lack of phone service and electricity continues to hinder efforts to contact the missing. That means search crews must trudge through the mountains to learn whether residents are safe. Along the Cane River in western North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, the Pensacola Volunteer Fire Department had to cut their way through trees at the top of a valley on Thursday, nearly a week after a wall of water swept through. Pensacola, which sits a few miles from Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi River, lost an untold number of people, said Mark Harrison, chief medical officer for the department.

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Filing in Trump case details remarkable schism with Pence over rejecting 2020 election loss

Days before rioters roamed the halls of the U.S. Capitol threatening to “hang Mike Pence,” Donald Trump told his vice president that people are going to “hate your guts” and “think you’re stupid” if he failed to stop the 2020 election certification. The New Year’s Day warning wasn’t the first time Trump pressured Pence to overturn the election results. Nor was it the last. In what came to be known as “Operation Pence Card,” Trump spent weeks publicly and privately pushing his vice president to help him stay in power after losing. “You’re too honest,” Trump berated his vice president in that Jan. 1 morning call. After they hung up, the president tweeted a reminder for his followers to come to Washington for the “BIG Protest Rally” just days away — what would become the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.

The exchanges between the president and his vice president, detailed in special counsel Jack Smith’s court filing this week, show the extraordinary lengths Trump went to overturn the 2020 election, even as he lays the groundwork to challenge this year’s contest, if he loses. Pence is no longer standing beside Trump, and has refused to endorse the Republican nominee’s bid to return to the White House. Trump and his new vice presidential running-mate, JD Vance, still refuse to accept the 2020 election results that delivered the presidency to Joe Biden. At a pivotal moment during this week’s debate between Vance and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, Vance declined to say whether he accepted the results of the last election. In a stark retort, Walz said, “That’s why Mike Pence isn’t on this stage.” Much of the special counsel’s filing recounts the tumultuous months after the November election, when Trump — surrounded by allies including Steve Bannon, his former campaign manager turned podcast host, who is now in jail after a contempt of Congress conviction — directed his team to fight to keep him in office. The former president, indicted on criminal charges in the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, called the new filing “election interference” and has sought to have the case dismissed.

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Garth Brooks accused of sexual assault and battery in lawsuit from hair-and-makeup artist who worked for him

Country music star Garth Brooks has been accused of sexual assault and battery in a lawsuit from a “Jane Roe” who says she worked as a hairstylist and makeup artist for the award-winning singer. The complaint, filed in a state court in California on Thursday and obtained by CNN, states the alleged incidents occurred in 2019. She claims she was once raped by Brooks during a work trip. In a statement to CNN later on Thursday, Brooks said, “For the last two months, I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars.” “Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. In my mind, that means I am admitting to behavior I am incapable of — ugly acts no human should ever do to another,” he added. “We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character. We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on both sides.”

Prior to Roe’s filing and as first reported by CNN, an anonymous celebrity plaintiff – now disclosed to be Brooks – had tried to block Roe from publicly repeating her allegations and fiercely denied the claims, according to a previous complaint he had filed as a “John Doe.” Roe began handling hair and makeup services for Brooks in 2017, according to her suit, which states that she was first hired to do hair and makeup for his wife, Trisha Yearwood, in 1999. CNN has reached out to representatives for Yearwood for comment. In addition to sexual assault and battery, the suit accuses Brooks of repeatedly exposing his genitals and buttocks; talking about sex and sharing sexual fantasies with Roe; regularly changing his clothing in front of Roe; and sending sexually explicit text messages. In her filing, Roe claims that during one alleged incident in 2019, when she was at Brooks’ home for work, he walked out of the shower naked, “grabbed her hands and forced them” onto his genitals, while speaking to her with sexually explicit and vulgar language.

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Melania Trump passionately defends abortion rights in upcoming memoir

Melania Trump made an extraordinary declaration in an eagerly awaited memoir to be published a month from election day: she is a passionate supporter of a woman’s right to control her own body – including the right to abortion. “It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government,” the Republican nominee’s wife writes, amid a campaign in which Donald Trump’s threats to women’s reproductive rights have played a central role. “Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.

“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.” Melania Trump has rarely expressed political views in public. Her book, Melania, which reveals the former first lady to be so firmly out of step with most of her own party, will be published in the US next Tuesday. The Guardian obtained a copy. Her decision to include a full-throated expression of support for abortion rights is remarkable not just given her proximity to a Republican candidate running on an anti-abortion platform, but also given the severe deterioration of women’s reproductive rights under Donald Trump and the GOP. In 2022, in the supreme court case Dobbs v Jackson, three justices installed when Donald Trump was president voted to strike down Roe v Wade, the ruling which had protected federal abortion rights since 1973. Republican-run states have since instituted draconian abortion bans.

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Study: Conservative users' misinformation sharing drives higher suspension rates, not platform bias

71 Twit Share Email Home Other Sciences Social Sciences Home Other Sciences Political science October 2, 2024 Editors' notes Study: Conservative users' misinformation sharing drives higher suspension rates, not platform bias by MIT Sloan School of Management Social media users who supported Trump and/or were conservative shared links to lower-quality news sites than users who supported Biden and/or were liberal. Credit: Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07942-8 A new paper, "Differences in misinformation sharing can lead to politically asymmetric sanctions," published today in Nature suggests that the higher quantity of social media policy enforcement (such as account suspensions) for conservative users could be explained by the higher quantity of misinformation shared by those conservative users—and so does not constitute evidence of inherent biases in the policies from social media companies or in the definition of what constitutes misinformation. Written by researchers from MIT Sloan School of Management, the University of Oxford, Cornell University, and Yale University, co-authors of the paper include Mohsen Mosleh, Qi Yang, Tauhid Zaman, Gordon Pennycook and David G. Rand.

The spread of misinformation has become an increasing concern, especially as the 2024 presidential election in the United States approaches. Many Americans who disagree on political issues agree that the sharing of false information is a substantial problem; sixty-five percent of Americans say that technology companies should take action to restrict the spread of false information. However, there is great dissension as to whether tech companies are actually moderating platforms fairly. "Accusations of political bias are often based largely on anecdotes or noteworthy cases, such as the suspension from Twitter and Facebook of former President Trump," said MIT Sloan professor Rand. "This study allows us to systematically evaluate the data and better understand the differential rates of policy enforcement." The asymmetry of conservative sanctions versus liberal sanctions should not be attributed to partisan bias on the part of social media companies and those determining what counts as misinformation, Rand and the co-authors noted.

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Helene has become one of the deadliest hurricanes of the modern era

Hurricane Helene has become one of the deadliest hurricanes in the United States, at least since the emergence of modern weather forecasting. There have been at least 213 deaths in six states as a result of the storm, whose flooding, wind and storm surge inundated communities from the southeast to the southern Appalachians. Many people may still be unaccounted for. Officials say they expect the death toll to rise as search and rescue efforts continue. The current death toll ranks third highest among hurricanes that have made landfall in the United States since 2000, trailing Maria in 2017 and Katrina in 2005. It has surpassed the devastating Hurricane Ian in 2022, as well as the death toll from 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, which was not classified as a hurricane by the time it made landfall.

Many of the deaths have occurred in the mountains of western North Carolina, which suffered catastrophic flooding after more than 20 to 30 inches of rain fell in less than three days. The rainfall occurred in two rounds, one before and one after the storm made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. Deaths related to the hurricane spread from Florida to as far north as Virginia. Hurricanes cause the most death and destruction of all weather hazards, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says, and have become deadlier in recent decades. The actual number of hurricane deaths could be much higher than previously estimated because of the thousands of indirect deaths that can occur years after a storm. Maria was the most destructive hurricane in Puerto Rico in modern times. Nearly the entire island lost power, cellphone service and clean drinking water due to the extreme wind, storm surge and flooding from up to 38 inches of rain. Many remained without electricity for more than three months. More than 300,000 homes were destroyed by the combination of Maria and Hurricane Irma, which passed near Puerto Rico two weeks earlier. The storm’s official death toll in Puerto Rico was estimated by a statistical study that analyzed death records and expected mortality rate.

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Lead Stories

Bombshell immunity filing details Trump's alleged 'increasingly desperate' bid to overturn 2020 election

Special counsel Jack Smith has outlined new details of former President Donald Trump and his allies' sweeping and "increasingly desperate" efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, in a blockbuster court filing Wednesday aimed at defending Smith's prosecution of Trump following the Supreme Court's July immunity ruling. Trump intentionally lied to the public, state election officials, and his own vice president in an effort to cling to power after losing the election, while privately describing some of the claims of election fraud as "crazy," prosecutors alleged in the 165-page filing. "When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office," the filing said. "With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost."

When Trump's effort to overturn the election through lawsuits and fraudulent electors failed to change the outcome of the election, prosecutors allege that the former president fomented violence, with prosecutors describing Trump as directly responsible for "the tinderbox that he purposely ignited on January 6." "The defendant also knew that he had only one last hope to prevent Biden's certification as President: the large and angry crowd standing in front of him. So for more than an hour, the defendant delivered a speech designed to inflame his supporters and motivate them to march to the Capitol," Smith wrote. The lengthy filing -- which includes an 80-page summary of the evidence gathered by investigators -- outlines multiple instances in which Trump allegedly heard from advisers who disproved his allegations, yet continued to spread his claims of outcome-determinative voter fraud, prosecutors said. "It doesn't matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell," Trump allegedly told members of his family following the 2020 election, the filing said.

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Texas Dems think they can flip a San Antonio state House seat by campaigning against school vouchers

On a recent Saturday knocking doors in South San Antonio, Democrat Kristian Carranza answered the first question on voters' minds before they could actually ask it. “I’m running for state House, and I went to McCollum High School,” she said at house after house. In San Antonio, Carranza says that “Where did you go to high school?” is often the first thing people want to know. In the South Side district she wants to represent, many have gone to either Dillard McCollum High School or its bitter rival Harlandale High School. One woman who answered the door holding a small dog in a leopard-print vest smiled when Carranza told her she’d been a cheerleader at McCollum. Her daughters were too. Later, a man standing by his truck parked on the curb told her his four daughters had also gone to McCollum.

In her race against state Rep. John Lujan, Carranza’s answer serves the dual purpose of emphasizing her ties to the community and bringing up the topic she most wants to talk about: public schools. The race could be pivotal in deciding the fate of Gov. Greg Abbott’s private school voucher proposal that would give parents taxpayer funds to send their kids to private schools. Most Republicans running for the Texas House, including Lujan, support the plan. But if Democrats manage to flip even a few seats in the Nov. 5 election, they could have enough numbers to potentially derail the governor’s voucher push once again. It’s fitting the voucher fight could come down to the results of House District 118, where Abbott announced his private school voucher plan in a 2022 rally in PicaPica Plaza with Lujan sharing the stage.

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Harris holds slight leads in 5 battleground state surveys

Vice President Harris holds slight leads in head-to-head match-ups against former President Trump in five of the seven main battleground states, though all are within the margin of error, according to polling from Cook Political Report. The surveys released by the nonpartisan election handicapper Wednesday showed Harris leading in Michigan by 3 percentage points, in Arizona and Wisconsin by 2 points and in Nevada and Pennsylvania by 1 point. Trump led in Georgia by 2 points, and the candidates were tied in North Carolina. When third-party candidates were included in states where they are on the ballot, Harris takes a 3-point lead in North Carolina and expands her lead by 1 point in Arizona and Pennsylvania. Trump’s lead in Georgia ticks down to 1 point, while Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin are unchanged. The results are mostly in line with Cook Political Report’s last set of surveys from August and reemphasize just how close this year’s presidential race appears. The largest shifts in the head-to-head match-ups came in Nevada, where Trump led by 3 points in the August survey, and Georgia, which was tied.

Harris’s overall lead across all seven battlegrounds combined stayed at 1 point in the head-to-head match-up and 2 points with third-party candidates in the mix. But Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter and Jessica Taylor noted in their analysis of the results that the polling found shifts under the top-line numbers on certain key issues and with certain demographics. Trump still leads on whom voters trust more to handle the economy by 5 points, as he did in August, but he no longer leads on getting inflation under control. He and Harris were tied in the most recent survey, while he previously held a 6 point lead. Polling has found that perceptions inflation is getting worse have slightly declined. Trump still comfortably leads on handling the issue of immigration, considered one of the biggest potential vulnerabilities for Democrats, but the lead shrunk from 14 points to 9 points. In Trump’s favor, Harris’s lead among independents dropped from 8 points to just 2 points. Meanwhile, the potential for consequential split-ticket voting in these states appears to remain, with Democratic candidates for Senate leading in each state but by varying margins.

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Dems, GOP see a common villain in the port fight: Foreign shippers

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are so far taking the same side in the strike by East and Gulf Coast longshoremen — speaking up for the American workers against the foreign-owned shipping companies that control ports in the U.S. The fact that major political leaders from both parties are taking aim at the European- and Asian-based shipping companies represents an early political victory for the dockworkers. Their union has portrayed the strike that began this week as a necessary step to get better wages from exploitative conglomerates that bring goods in and out of the country. The messaging is also just the latest sign that both parties see the support of blue-collar workers as crucial to the outcome of November’s elections.

“American workers should be able to negotiate for better wages, especially since the shipping companies are mostly foreign flag vessels, including the largest consortium ONE,” Trump said in a statement on Tuesday evening. The Singapore-based ONE is the sixth-largest shipping company in the world. Striking dockworkers are enjoying the confluence of a labor-friendly Democratic White House and a GOP nominee trying to court union voters weeks before an election. Trump’s support for this strike contrasts with his suggestion in August, during an interview on X with Elon Musk, that striking employees should be fired. Harris also sounded a message sympathetic to the port workers on Wednesday, despite the risk that an extended strike could trigger price spikes and commodity shortages that would imperil her chances of defeating Trump. The vice president said the strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association is “about fairness,” and also emphasized the shippers’ outside-the-U.S. locale.

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State Stories

Fact check: What other locations have passed a Sanctuary City For the Unborn Ordinance

On June 11, 2019, Waskom, Texas, became the first city to pass the Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinance. Since then, the Amarillo Tribune has verified that 69 cities have passed a Sanctuary City Ordinance in states beyond Texas, including Illinois, New Mexico, Nebraska, Iowa, Louisiana and Ohio. Lubbock is the largest city that has adopted the ordinance. None of the 69 Sanctuary City for the Unborn Ordinances prohibit or ban contraceptives such as birth control. Mail-in pills that would induce an abortion and abortions performed within city limits are banned under the ordinances as well as under state law after the overturn of Roe v. Wade. No abortion clinics were in any of the cities that have adopted the Sanctuary City ordinance. After the enactment of the Texas Heartbeat Act in September 2021 and the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, four cities have incorporated a travel ban into their ordinances: Pollock, Louisiana on March 23, 2022; Odessa, Texas on December 13, 2022; Little River-Academy, Texas on January 12, 2023; and Muenster, Texas on April 8, 2024.

All four ordinances have a section on “abortions performed on [city] residents,” which states that “It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly perform an elective abortion or knowingly engage in conduct that aids or abets an elective abortion if the abortion is performed on a resident of [city], regardless of the location of the abortion.” Since Waskom passed the ordinance in 2019, there have been three lawsuits against cities with Sanctuary City ordinances. In February 2020, the Texas Equal Access Fund (TEA), an organization that provides abortion support for individuals in East and North Texas, and the Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity, which offers support, assistance and community to those seeking abortions, filed a lawsuit against seven of the 12 cities which had become Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn at the time: Rusk, Wells, Naples, Tenaha, Waskom, Gary and Joaquin. TEA and the Lilith Fund filed the suit because, prior to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the ordinances were misleading residents about their right to an abortion while abortions were still legal within the state. Additionally, the suit alleged that the ordinances classified TEA, the Lilith Fund and other pro-choice organizations as “criminal organizations.” The seven cities amended the language in their ordinances to remove “criminal organizations,” and the lawsuit was dropped.

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Fort Worth ISD buyout for outgoing superintendent tops $500K

The Fort Worth Independent School District will pay more than $500,000 in salary, benefits and retirement funds to buy out the contract of outgoing Superintendent Angélica Ramsey, whose resignation as leader of the district was effective as of Tuesday this week. The resignation agreement was released to the Star-Telegram by the district on Wednesday in response to an open records request. It shows that Ramsey will receive two installments of about $247,962 — with the first to be paid this week and the second within the first two weeks of 2025 — as a severance payment. The total of the severance payment is equivalent to one year of salary and benefits. Ramsey also is receiving about $48,540 in unused vacation, sick and personal time.

In addition to the severance, Ramsey began serving as the district’s “ambassador for public relations” as of Tuesday and “shall be placed on school related leave with pay and benefits” during this period, which will continue through Aug. 30, according to the agreement. The agreement states she will continue to receive her full pay and benefits in accordance with the terms outlined in her contract during this employment. Her salary in the contract is $335,000 per year. Ramsey will be allowed to work outside the district during this time span. If Ramsey decided to resign her employment before Aug. 30, the board would accept her early resignation without penalty and future salary payments would stop but she would not lose the severance payments, the agreement states. The previous Fort Worth ISD superintendent, Kent Scribner, received a similar buyout when he stepped down in 2022, with payments of more than $500,000 and the same ceremonial title of ambassador for public relations, according to the Star-Telegram’s archives.

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Why are state agencies ignoring court orders obtained by transgender Texans?

Two large state agencies are ignoring judges’ orders to change the sex listed on driver’s licenses and birth certificates for transgender Texans, raising questions about the legality of the policy and prompting LGBTQ advocates to threaten legal action. The Department of Public Safety and the Department of State Health Services quietly stopped obeying the court-ordered changes in August. To date, the executive branch agencies have not explained a legal rationale supporting the decision to ignore orders from the judicial branch. When notifying applicants that their birth certificates will not be changed, for example, the health agency vaguely referred to “public reports” that raised concern about the validity of the court orders. The notices also said the agency was “seeking assistance from the Office of Attorney General” to determine how those concerns affect applications to change the sex designation on government records.

More recently, Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw asked Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office for a written opinion on the validity of district court orders requiring state agencies to amend gender designations. In a four-page request sent Sept. 13, McCraw made it clear his agency saw no need to follow the orders. Appeals courts in Dallas and Houston, he wrote, have ruled “Texas courts lack authority to render orders that purport to change a person’s sex or gender identifier.” No state law authorizes such an action or outlines a procedure to make the change, McCraw added. Written opinions from the attorney general are non-binding but intended to explain and interpret the law. Paxton’s office has 180 days to respond but frequently acts faster on issues of importance to Paxton. In his request for an opinion, McCraw also sought Paxton’s approval for reversing previously made changes to state IDs, saying, “DPS may have altered many government sex records in mistaken reliance on court orders.”

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Kratom advocate says illegal, synthetic products are being sold in North Texas

Vape shops in North Texas are selling potentially illegal and dangerous products marketed as kratom over the counter, and one industry advocate says it’s time for authorities to step up enforcement. People who use kratom leaf products, which are sold legally in the U.S., have reported “opioid- and stimulant-like effects,” according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. But kratom industry advocates and researchers are raising the alarm on a relatively new line of products they say were synthetically altered to increase potency. Multiple business owners selling the products say they would like to see better regulations to avoid throwing out thousands of dollars in products or facing fines.

At the center of the controversy are products, which can come in tablet or liquid form, containing high levels of 7-Hydroxymitragynine, or “7-OH,” a chemical compound that, according to researchers, is only found in trace amounts in the kratom plant. Get the latest breaking news from North Texas and beyond. The Texas Kratom Consumer Protection Act, which was enacted just over a year ago, sets the legal limit of 7-OH in products to no more than 2% of the total alkaloid content. The Global Kratom Coalition submitted a letter to Attorney General Ken Paxton in July saying an independent lab detected illegal levels of 7-OH in products sold at five different vape stores in Dallas, Denton and Coppell. Similar products also were found at vape shops in Collin County. According to the letter, independent lab results found evidence showing the products contained synthetically derived chemical compounds from kratom plants, which also is in violation of the act.

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Current and former city leaders vow to fight Dallas Hero proposals on November ballot

Around four dozen current and former Dallas elected officials and local leaders called on voters Wednesday to reject three proposed city charter changes they say would endanger the city and how it serves residents for years to come. The group, gathered in a basement conference room at the Aloft Downtown Dallas hotel, said they agreed with the basic idea of propositions S, T and U — government accountability, hiring more police officers and paying them competitive wages and benefits — but the language of the proposals would undermine the authority of City Council members and the city manager, and impede city spending in the name of public safety. “This is not taking a sledgehammer to the way we do business. This is rolling a hand grenade into City Hall and destroying it,” said Ron Kirk, who was Dallas mayor from 1995 to 2001. “It would affect every level of our lives with the city, from public safety to our parks to our libraries and our basic services.”

The news conference was to announce formation of a coalition supported by the local leaders to oppose the trio of proposals backed by the nonprofit Dallas Hero, which successfully petitioned over the summer to get the propositions on the Nov. 5 ballot. It sets up what will probably be the most significant fight in Dallas in the Nov. 5 election. The group Wednesday included former mayors Kirk, Tom Leppert, Laura Miller and Mike Rawlings; all of the City Council except Mayor Eric Johnson and council member Cara Mendelsohn; former City Manager Jan Hart Black; former Police Chief David Brown; around a dozen other former council members and state lawmakers; Dallas County government officials; and representatives from the local business and nonprofit community. Rawlings said the campaign would include a social media campaign and flyers mailed to voters. The group plans to contact law firms, banking organizations, nonprofits, commercial real estate groups, park and library advocates, the local arts community and downtown Dallas interest groups. “This campaign is serious,” Rawlings said. “It’s well-funded, and it’s very organized.”

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Houston City Council approves nearly $700K grant to provide family planning services for uninsured

Houston City Council voted Wednesday to approve a $676,086 grant for the Houston Health Department to provide reproductive health care and family planning services for uninsured residents. The grant will be distributed through an agreement between the Houston Health Department and Every Body Texas, a nonprofit organization tasked with allocating federal dollars to local health organizations. Officials said the grant is essentially a renewal of a decades-old program designed to provide healthcare to at-risk populations. “It’s a long-standing program,” said Porfirio Villarreal, City Council liaison for the Houston Health Department. “Basically, Health and Human Services funnels Title X funding for family planning services through Every Body Texas, then they distribute the funds to different institutions throughout the state.”

Title X, first established under the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act of 1970, is a program that allocates federal funding toward reproductive health services. Broadly, Title X grants are used to provide contraceptive services like IUDs and condoms, as well as health education and testing for sexually-transmitted diseases. Services funded through Title X are largely intended to act as a safety net for individuals without access to medical care or insurance, Villarreal said. Patients generally pay very little for care provided by the Houston Health Department, with most paying just a few dollars for services that can cost as much as $1,300, according to Planned Parenthood. “Anybody without access to medical care, anybody without insurance — they're able to take advantage of these services,” Villarreal said. “Our costs are very minimal — a few dollars. Even if somebody does not have a way to pay, we don't deny service. The important thing is to get that person services to avoid that unwanted pregnancy."

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Mysterious 100-foot geyser of salty water erupts in West Texas oilfield hit by recent earthquakes

A tower of salty water that appears to be laced with oil is shooting roughly 100 feet into the sky just West of Toyah in Reeves County, an area of West Texas plagued by a recent rash of earthquakes linked to wastewater injection. It was unclear where the water was coming from Wednesday. A Texas Railroad Commission map showed there was a dry hole in the area of the geyser. The Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, could not be immediately reached. The commission has been working to limit wastewater injection in the area where the geyser was reported. In December, it told operators that it plans to suspend permits allowing the injection of wastewater deep underground, after staff determined that deep injection was “likely contributing to recent seismic activity." Reeves County Emergency Management and representatives from Kinder Morgan were on scene at the geyser just off of Interstate 20 Wednesday afternoon. The smell of oil and rotten eggs — a telltale sign of poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas — wafted through the area. A first responder said he measured 250 parts per million of the gas.

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Donald Trump stops in Houston on Texas fundraising swing

Former president Donald Trump slipped in and out of Houston with little fanfare on Wednesday to raise money for his presidential campaign, according to federal aviation records. The Republican appears to have spent the night in Houston on Tuesday and attended a private fundraiser on Wednesday at Tilman Fertitta's Post Oak Hotel hosted by some of the biggest GOP donors in Texas, including Fertitta, health care executive Clive Fields and Jeff Hildebrand, founder of Hilcorp Energy Company. Trump had no public events during his short stay in the city. On Thursday he is expected to be campaigning in Michigan before heading to North Carolina for a rally there.

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Former congressman who investigated Jan. 6 launches GOP group for Colin Allred

Since moving to The Woodlands about two years ago, former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger — one of the most vocal GOP critics of Donald Trump — says he’s met several Texas Republicans who are just as uncomfortable with the direction of his party as him. Now Kinzinger is trying to convince them to do the unthinkable and vote for a Democrat. Kinzinger is leading a group of Republicans supporting U.S. Rep. Colin Allred’s bid against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in one of the most hotly contested Senate races in the nation. It is the latest effort by Kinzinger, who served on the House committee that investigated Jan. 6, to target Republicans involved in the effort to delay the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory. Cruz was a key figure in the effort, objecting to Arizona’s electoral votes just before the mob breached the Capitol that day.

“When I talk to Republicans, I say, ‘Do you like where the GOP is now?’” Kinzinger said in an interview with Hearst Newspapers. “There are some that do, and they're going to vote for Ted Cruz,” he said. “But there are a lot that are embarrassed about where the Republican Party is that are holding onto this hope that, ‘Just after November, we’re going to wake up and come back to what we were.’ Well guess what, we’re not going to do that — particularly if Ted Cruz wins again, because he’s part of the reason we’re exactly in this position.” Kinzinger, who withdrew from his reelection campaign in Illinois after his district was redrawn to pit him against a Trump-aligned Republican congressman, slammed Cruz for going from Trump’s “nemesis” in the 2016 GOP primary to his “chief supporter.” He argued Allred has no similar allegiance to his party or anyone in it. “If the Democratic Party decided some day to go off the rails, similar to what the GOP did, I guarantee you, he would be like Adam Kinzinger or Liz Cheney, saying this can’t happen,” he said. Cheney, a Republican who also served on the Jan. 6 committee and is a vocal critic of Trump and Cruz, has also endorsed Allred in the race.

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9-year-old boy among those accusing 'Diddy' of sexual abuse, Houston attorney Tony Buzbee confirms

Houston attorney Tony Buzbee on Tuesday added a new public accusation against Bad Boy Records founder Sean Diddy Combs: claiming the rap mogul was among people who sexually assaulted a 9-year-old boy during an audition to join the famed rap label. "This individual, who was 9 years old at the time, was taken to an audition in New York City with Bad Boy Records. Other boys were there to audition as well, all of them were trying to win a record deal, all of them were minors," Buzbee said. "This individual was sexually abused allegedly by Sean Combs and several other people at the studio in the promise to both his parents and to him himself of getting a record deal." The accusation adds a new layer to the accusations against Combs, who last month was arrested on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. Buzbee said that in addition to the 9-year-old, at least 24 of his clients were minors when the abuse happened.

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UT College of Liberal Arts dean says Hartzell is blocking her from second term in post

University of Texas President Jay Hartzell will not allow the dean of the College of Liberal Arts to pursue a second term in the leadership post, according to an email obtained by the American-Statesman. In a Wednesday afternoon email, Dean Ann Stevens told college leaders that Hartzell told her "I did not have a grand enough vision for the college," which she disputed. "While I disagree with that assessment, it is clear that he and I have different values and different goals for the college," she told college leaders. The College of Liberal Arts has nearly 800 faculty members and serves about a fifth of UT's almost 54,000 students.

Stevens' term will expire August 2025. She told her colleagues that she does not know what the next steps are for the college, and that she was honored to serve with them. "With your help, we have made enormous progress in COLA: building academic excellence; improving research support and infrastructure; investing in student funding, research, and career support; and supporting a culture of respect and care for staff, faculty and students," Stevens said in the email. "You should have no doubt that COLA is in a very good place today." The dean's news comes after multiple high-level leadership changes at UT in the past several weeks, including sudden resignations from UT's police chief and the university's provost. UT's vice president for research leadership resigned effective August 2025 and a new vice president for marketing and communications started in September after a department restructuring in which 20 people were laid off.

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Developer Ruel Hamilton loses bid to toss bribery case, will be retried.

A jury convicted real estate developer Ruel Hamilton of bribing former Dallas City Council members Dwaine Caraway and the late Carolyn Davis in exchange for votes favorable to his subsidized low-income housing developments in 2021. His case then bounced around appellate courts until August 2022, when a three-judge panel in the Fifth Circuit vacated his sentence. In February 2023, the Fifth Circuit ruled 9 to 7 that it wouldn’t rehear the case but didn’t bar the federal government from seeking a retrial. Hamilton appealed when the government refiled the case last November.

On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the government could retry Hamilton, freeing the refiled case to move forward. Judge Cory T. Wilson wrote that Hamilton’s lawyers failed to prove that trying him again would be double jeopardy. His team argued that because the jury acquitted him on one of the charges, a new trial would relitigate facts that had already been decided. In the three-judge panel’s opinion penned by Wilson, the court found that Hamilton “fails to meet his burden” to show the jury determined that his check to Caraway was not a bribe. “Therefore, the district court did not err in denying Hamilton’s double jeopardy motion.” Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote a concurring opinion, explaining that she felt the burden of proof was onerous and almost impossible since it’s difficult to know exactly what the jury was thinking. “But we are an inferior court with a strict rule of orderliness. And concur I must,” she wrote.

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Ronnie Shaw: Legislature must prioritize Texas' public safety personnel this session

(Shaw is the Executive director of Texas State Troopers Association.) Breaking down the turnover rate shows that the percentage of employees who voluntarily left DPS positions for reasons other than retirement was almost twice the percentage of those who left because they were retiring (6.3% versus 2.9%). Texas could be facing a public safety crisis if the Legislature does not immediately address the vacancies and woeful pay within the ranks of Texas State Troopers and DPS employees. With that in mind, TSTA has honed in on legislative priorities surrounding retention, and by extension, recruitment. We will promote legislation to eliminate practices that create unnecessary hurdles in the hiring process to help make certain DPS has enough law enforcement officers. For instance, we’ll advocate for laws that would make it easier to hire out-of-state commissioned officers who want to move into Texas and become state troopers.

For the officers who already work for the agency, TSTA will press for legislation to ensure state troopers are provided with the best equipment, including life-saving anti-choking devices, and the best training, such as how best to respond to the all-too-real possibilities of active shooter, hostage and terrorist situations. We will also advocate to increase salaries and benefits for all DPS employees alongside stipend pay for all DPS-commissioned officers. TSTA invites all state troopers and non-commissioned employees, active and retired, to join us as we ramp up for the legislative battles ahead. With greater numbers, we have greater strength. That’s why, in celebration of our 40th anniversary, we are giving new members one free year of membership if they join before Oct. 1. Together with our members, we can improve DPS, rebuild the ranks, respect our retirees, and preserve public safety in Texas.

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Art Car Museum thrown a $1.25 million lifeline, but likely won’t open for years

The legacy of Houston’s Art Car Museum will live on after a $1.25 million grant to keep the project afloat. The historic “Garage Mahal” museum at 140 Heights Blvd. abruptly shuttered in March after 25 years in business. The closure followed the deaths of co-founders Ann O’Connor Williams Harithas in 2021 and her husband James Harithas in 2023. Both fiercely devoted founders were known as legends in Houston’s contemporary art scene, and their memories were carried out in the art car museum for more than two decades.

The Harithas family months ago awarded the $1.25 million grant to the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art to keep the history of artistic expression alive. “The family decided it needs to continue,” said Jack Massing, executive director for the Orange Show. “If you don’t document it, it kind of disappears,” he said. The revamped museum will be a part of the Orange Show’s campus expansion project, but likely won’t come to fruition for several years. Since 1987, The Orange Show has organized the Art Car Parade, a funky annual motorcade featuring hundreds of meticulously decorated vehicles. “It is a big deal,” Massing said. “The Orange Show has basically produced the Art Car Parade for many, many years and the idea of the art car fits directly into our mission statement.”

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‘It’s no gold mine’: Commissioners consider tolling the Presidio International Bridge

At last week’s meeting, the Presidio County Commissioners Court voted in favor of asking the state to transfer ownership of the international bridge to the county. Their vote is the latest episode in almost seven decades of trying to take control of the American side of the port of entry, which many see as a diamond in the rough. But like any contested treasure trove, control over the crossing has led to broken promises, numerous lawsuits and — in one particularly extreme instance — a murder. Whether the county takes any lessons from its own past, there are few other case studies to look toward. The Presidio International Bridge is currently the only vehicle crossing in Texas owned by the state; all others are owned by their host county or city. It is also the smallest and least profitable, but its unique position near the booming Permian Basin makes it an attractive potential investment.

Throughout his two budget cycles in office, Presidio County Judge Joe Portillo has been explicit about the state of the county’s finances after running deficits — inherited, in part, from his predecessor — that threaten critical services like roads and access to the courthouse in Marfa and its annex in Presidio. “There’s no cherry on the ice cream,” he said. “In fact, there is no ice cream.” Portillo sees the bridge as a major opportunity and a chance to put Presidio County on the map. The bridge currently doesn’t have the capacity for 24/7 cargo crossings; slow demand has made U.S. Customs hesitant to hire inspectors that could grow the port’s capacity to handle agricultural goods. In the long term, Portillo hopes that boosting business on the border will create jobs and boost the real estate market. Slow tax roll growth — a fraction of a fraction of a percent annually — means that the county’s profits aren’t keeping pace with inflation. Besides property taxes, the county has no money-making enterprise except for the Presidio County Jail, which provides a small, unreliable income from hosting federal prisoners.

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A pair of billionaire preachers built the most powerful political machine in Texas. That’s just the start.

Last December, Sid Miller, the Texas commissioner of agriculture, posted a photo of himself brandishing a double-barrel shotgun on X and invited his followers to join him on a “RINO hunt.” Miller had taken to stumping in the March primary election against incumbents he deemed to be Republicans in Name Only. Not long after that, he received a text message from one of his targets, a state representative named Glenn Rogers. “You are a bought and paid for, pathetic narcissist,” it began. “If you had any honor, you would challenge me, or any of my Republican colleagues to a duel.” Rogers, a 68-year-old rancher and grandfather of five, represents a rural district west of Fort Worth. He was proud to serve in a Legislature that, as he told me recently, “couldn’t be more conservative if it tried.” Since entering office in 2021, he co-authored legislation that allowed Texans to carry handguns without a permit, supported the Heartbeat Act that grants citizens the right to sue abortion providers and voted to give the police the power to arrest suspected undocumented migrants in schools and hospitals. In a statehouse packed with debate-me agitators, he was comparatively soft-spoken — a former professor of veterinary medicine with an aversion to grandstanding. He was not in the habit of firing off salvos, as he had to Miller, that ended with “Kiss My Ass!”

But the viciousness of the primary season had been getting to him. Nearly a year before the March elections, ads began to appear in Rogers’ district castigating him not simply as a RINO but as a closet liberal who supported gun control and Shariah law. (Rogers was especially peeved by an ad that photoshopped his signature white cowboy hat onto a headshot of Joe Biden.) Some of the attacks originated from his challenger’s campaign, while others were sponsored by organizations with grassroots-sounding names, like Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Texas Gun Rights and Texas Family Project. By the time voters headed to the polls, they could have been forgiven for thinking that Rogers had disappointed a suite of conservative groups. In reality, Rogers had disappointed two men: Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, billionaires who have made their fortunes in the oil industry. Over the past decade, the pair have built the most powerful political machine in Texas — a network of think tanks, media organizations, political action committees and nonprofits that work in lock step to purge the Legislature of Republicans whose votes they can’t rely on. Cycle after cycle, their relentless maneuvering has pushed the statehouse so far to the right that consultants like to joke that Karl Rove couldn’t win a local race these days. Brandon Darby, the editor of Breitbart Texas, is one of several conservatives who has compared Dunn and Wilks to Russian oligarchs. “They go into other communities and unseat people unwilling to do their bidding,” he says. “You kiss the ring or you’re out.”

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National Stories

Sheinbaum inherits migration, crime, economic ‘ticking time bombs’

Minutes before Claudia Sheinbaum took the oath of office on Monday, Tony Payan reflected on the challenges awaiting Mexico’s new president. “Congratulations. You won the raffle; you won the tiger. Now you take it home and deal with it,” said Payan, the director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Claudia Sheinbaum sworn in as 1st female president of Mexico Sheinbaum is inheriting a politically polarized country where the outgoing president has committed a large portion of the treasury to welfare programs and controversial infrastructure projects for years to come, he said. The first female president in Mexican history also must deal with a state-run oil company $100 billion in the red, misgivings from foreign investors over recent constitutional changes and pressure from the United States to help curb migration and stamp out illicit fentanyl exports.

“She inherits several ticking time bombs. The security situation in Mexico is unlike anything we’ve seen before,” Payan said. “Organized crime runs rampant throughout the country and govern vast swaths of Mexican countryside and economic activities and victimize people with impunity. “She also is inheriting a stalled economy, mounting liabilities given the social cash-transfer programs (former President Andres Manuel) Lopez Obrador established. She is in very tight fiscal position.” An American credit rating agency in June said Mexico has a fiscal deficit equivalent to 5 percent of its gross domestic product – the highest in more than 30 years. “The challenging fiscal position inherited by the incoming administration follows a combination of rising social spending, higher borrowing costs and high investment due to the completion of priority infrastructure projects of the outgoing administration,” Fitch Ratings reported. Payan and others also question how far Sheinbaum will stray from Lopez Obrador’s policies. The leaders of the ruling MORENA Party, including his son Andres Manuel Lopez Beltran, still see him as their standard-bearer, he said.

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Anti-ESG backlash in US is overstated, JPMorgan exec says

The impact of a political backlash against environmental, social and governance-related (ESG) issues in the United States is overstated and having little bearing on the country's burgeoning green economy, a JPMorgan executive said on Tuesday. While some companies and investors were saying less about sustainability, they were still moving money in a similar way to peers in Europe, Chuka Umunna, JPMorgan's global head of sustainable solutions, told the Reuters Energy Transition conference in London. "If you peel away all the noise and look at what investors are doing, it isn't so different, albeit they may not be using the labels quite in the way that we do in Europe," Umunna, who is also the bank's regional head of green economy investment banking, said.

"The U.S. is not so much pulling back because of the weaponisation of the term ESG, the reality in the States is more complex than that." A host of U.S.-based investors, including the fund arm of JPMorgan, have pulled back from global climate coalitions this year amid a tense political backdrop as some U.S. Republican politicians said membership could breach antitrust rules. Despite that, Umunna noted while more anti-ESG resolutions were proposed during the most recent proxy-voting season, less than 2% actually passed. At the state level, meanwhile, less than 10% of anti-ESG bills actually passed. While those funds trying to raise investment dollars in Republican states might tailor their pitch accordingly, the large global clients of the bank's fund arm tended to stick to a single investment stewardship policy across the globe. For companies in the real economy of the United States seeking investment or bank loan support, arguably the greater challenges came from inflation, supply-chain issues and high interest rates, he added. "Is all the noise depressing the valuations? I'm not sure it necessarily is," he said. "I think there are more fundamental issues at play."

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Elon Musk gave tens of millions to Republican causes far earlier than previously known

Elon Musk’s financial support for Republican causes has been much more extensive and started earlier than previously known. The Tesla CEO quietly gave tens of millions of dollars to groups with ties to Trump aide Stephen Miller and supporters of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid, according to people familiar with the matter. The financial contributions, which haven’t previously been reported, show how Musk, who seemed to undergo a rapid political transformation this year, was a major force in funding Republican initiatives and candidates well before starting a super political-action committee in support of former President Donald Trump. They also make him one of the biggest donors to conservative causes, which in combination with his large social-media following makes him one of the most influential figures in U.S. politics. His track record thus far in backing winners, however, is mixed at best.

In the fall of 2022, more than $50 million of Musk’s money funded a series of advertising campaigns by a group called Citizens for Sanity, according to people familiar with his involvement and tax filings for the group. The bulk of the ads ran in battleground states days before the midterm elections and attacked Democrats on controversial issues such as medical care for transgender children and illegal immigration. Citizens for Sanity was incorporated in Delaware in June 2022, with salaried employees from Miller’s nonprofit legal group listed as its directors and officers. Miller, a senior aide in Trump’s White House, was an architect of the previous administration’s restrictive immigration policies and a leading backer of its socially conservative initiatives. The following year, Musk gave $10 million in support of DeSantis as he ran for president, people familiar with his donation said. The money was routed through a group called Faithful & Strong Policies, according to the people familiar with the matter. Musk’s contribution to DeSantis’s presidential efforts hasn’t previously been reported. More than half of the money ended up in the coffers of a pro-DeSantis political-action committee called Never Back Down. DeSantis dropped out of the race in January.

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‘It’s going to be a mess’: The flood insurance crisis following Helene’s wreckage

Hundreds of thousands of people across parts of the Southeast will struggle to rebuild their homes after Hurricane Helene for one reason: Hardly anyone has flood insurance. In dozens of counties in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina that were flooded by Helene, less than 1 percent of households have flood insurance through the federal program that sells almost all of the nation’s flood policies. “People never thought they would have a problem with flooding,” said Jimmy Isaacs, fire chief of Boone, North Carolina, a mountainous town in Watauga County, where less than 2.5 percent of households are insured. “It’s going to be a difficult recovery.” Helene is highlighting the major gaps in U.S. flood insurance and their consequences as climate change amplifies flood risk both from coastal storm surge and rapidly overflowing rivers in Boone and other inland areas.

Flood insurance is sold separately from homeowners’ insurance, which typically does not cover flood damage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program covers 4.6 million homes and businesses. But the overwhelming number of people who don’t live on the coasts do not purchase coverage either because they aren’t required to, can’t afford to or don’t think they’re at risk. The result is a dangerously low number take it, leaving millions of people without financial protection from floods and their increasing damage. States flooded by Helene exemplify the problem. In North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, just 2 percent of households in counties that are declared a federal disaster area have FEMA flood insurance, according to a POLITICO’s E&E News analysis of agency records. In South Carolina, just 0.5 percent of the 770,000 households in disaster counties have FEMA insurance. In North Carolina, 0.8 percent of households in disaster counties have FEMA insurance.

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Virginia GOP Senate candidate suggests people who are tolerant of drag queens aren't tough enough for the military

Hung Cao, the Republican Senate nominee in Virginia, disparaged drag queens and people who are tolerant of them by implying Wednesday that they are not tough enough to serve in the military. Cao made the remarks in a televised debate against Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine when one of the moderators asked him about his previous comments tying what he called the White House's "growing obsession" with diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, to military recruitment issues. Cao, a Navy veteran, was asked to explain how he believes DEI could affect military recruitment. "When you’re using a, you know, drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the people we want," Cao said after he was pressed about the issue following his initial response. "What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. Those are young men and women that are going to win wars."

During the Biden administration, the Navy reportedly had a Digital Ambassador Pilot Program for recruitment that included a petty officer second class who also performed in drag, prompting Republican pushback. The program ended in April 2023 and was not continued, the undersecretary of the Navy wrote in a letter to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who had objected to the program. Reached for comment about the debate remarks, Cao's campaign responded with a statement from him saying, "I just said what everyone believes as fact." He then reiterated his response from the debate and added that men and women who "rip out their own guts" are the ones who "are going to win wars. Not drag queens." Cao has posted a clip of the exchange to his X account, threading a link for supporters to donate to his campaign. According to his campaign website, Cao is a retired Navy captain who served with special operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. He also had noncombat assignments in collaboration with the Navy, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.

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Central Beirut hit as Israel vows ‘very strong’ response to Iran

Hezbollah says it repelled an attempt by Israeli forces to advance at the Lebanese border on Thursday, where the two sides have been clashing since Israel launched a ground attack. The militant group said they stopped an attempted advance by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at the Fatima Gate border crossing by firing artillery at advancing soldiers. They also said they halted an Israeli attack near the town of Maroun Al-Ras. Hezbollah also announced it had fired more rockets on Israel, targeting an Israeli settlement in the country’s north as well as a military outpost, saying the attacks were in support of Palestinians in Gaza and “in response to the brutal Israeli aggression.”

CNN has approached the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment. The death toll from an Israeli airstrike on central Beirut early Thursday morning has risen to nine, the Lebanese health ministry says. The strike hit the neighborhood of Bashoura, near the city’s downtown, CNN confirmed, through geolocating the area. An update from Lebanon’s health ministry later on Thursday said the death toll had risen to nine “martyrs.” In addition, 14 people were injured. DNA tests are underway to determine the identity of some of the remains. Of the nine killed, seven were medics working for the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Authority. The authority had an office on one floor of the building which was hit during a wave of strikes on the Lebanese capital. CNN Turk found the building badly damaged, with rubble in the street.

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Biden and Harris visit storm-ravaged areas

President Joe Biden flew over storm-ravaged parts of western North Carolina on Wednesday, and Vice President Kamala Harris ventured farther south to Georgia to speak with emergency responders and devastated families in some of the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Helene, trying to stress to recovering communities that the federal government would be there to aid rebuilding efforts well into the future. The final weeks of the campaign for the White House find Harris and Biden juggling a trio of crises — an escalating war in the Middle East, a longshoremen’s strike that threatens to clog supply chains and the aftermath of one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. Harris will return to the campaign trail in Midwestern battleground states later this week, but Biden will tour more storm damage in Georgia and Florida.

In the storm’s wake, Harris has tried to step into a role typically played by Biden, empathizing with victims’ searing losses as she works to steer recovery efforts their way. In Augusta, Harris said she met with storm victims, including a woman whose husband had died in the tempest. She also highlighted efforts that state, local and federal officials had taken to deliver relief, and she stressed that the response would extend far beyond Wednesday’s trips. “My final point to the residents of this community and this region is we are here for the long haul,” she said in Augusta. “But there’s a lot more work that will need to happen over the long run.” She said she wanted to take a firsthand look “at the devastation, which is extraordinary. It’s particularly devastating because of the loss of life this community has experienced, the loss of normalcy and the loss of critical resources.” Helene made landfall Thursday and carved a deadly path of destruction through six states, killing more than 140 people. The toll was especially high in the western mountains of North Carolina, where Biden visited. At least 57 people were killed around the city of Asheville. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said some towns had been “wiped off the map.”

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Vance says immigrants caused a housing shortage. Economists disagree.

Throughout Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) blamed soaring housing costs on a spike in immigration over the past few years — promising that a crackdown on illegal immigration and “kicking out illegal immigrants who are competing for those homes” would help affordability. “Twenty-five million illegal aliens competing with Americans for scarce homes is one of the most significant drivers of home prices in the country,” Vance said. That claim has been debunked by economists and housing experts, who say that other forces have played a much bigger role in driving up prices and that illegal immigration is not a top reason prices are high. Immigration may be helping to keep rents elevated in some areas, though. Foreign-born workers also make up roughly a third of the construction workforce, a crucial part of the push to build millions of new homes and fix years-long shortages. That means the strict immigration crackdown Vance and former president Donald Trump are proposing could send prices even higher.

“I don’t think [new immigrants] are demanding the same type of dwellings that are pulling up prices,” said Dany Bahar, an economist at Brown University and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “These people are not competing for the same households as middle-class Americans.” Immigration has undoubtedly changed the U.S. economy, especially since the pandemic. About 50 percent of the labor market’s extraordinary recent growth came from foreign-born workers between January 2023 and January 2024, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of federal data. Before that, by the middle of 2022, the foreign-born labor force had grown so fast that it closed the gap created by the pandemic, according to research from the San Francisco Fed. In February, estimates from the Congressional Budget Office said the U.S. labor force will increase by 5.2 million people by 2033, thanks especially to net immigration. The economy is projected to grow by $7 trillion more over the next decade than it would have without new influxes of immigrants, according to the CBO. A larger population, in turn, creates more demand for housing and other services. CBO research from July noted that higher immigration raises state and local governments’ spending — particularly on education, health care and housing — more than it increases their revenue. Yet housing options for new immigrants, including many undocumented workers in lower-wage jobs, are often distinct from the broader market that native-born workers deal with. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, noted that many new immigrants come to the United States with few financial resources and little income. They often double- or triple-up with friends or family in a single home. They are also far less likely to be able to buy a home, which can require a sizable down payment and enough credit history to get a mortgage.

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Copyright October 10, 2024, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved