Lead Stories

In Dallas, Gov. Abbott pitches water security, nuclear energy as legislative priorities

Speaking to Dallas-area business leaders Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas’ energy sector is poised for growth under a second Trump Administration and called on state lawmakers to prioritize securing water resources and exploring nuclear energy during the upcoming legislative session. The Republican governor said projections show that within the next year, Texas' economy will surpass that of France, making it the world’s seventh-largest economy if counted separately from the United States. The state’s energy sector, specifically the oil and gas industry, make up the underpinnings of the Texas economic success story — and he said it’s about to be untethered.

“It’s going to be ‘game on’ January 20th,” Abbott said Thursday, referring to the date President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to power. Abbott’s remarks came during a moderated discussion hosted by the Dallas Citizen Council, a nonprofit helmed by local business leaders who weigh in on local policy issues. The governor shared the 40-minute discussion with Kelcy Warren, co-founder and board chair of Energy Transfer, a pipeline company. Warren, a Dallas billionaire, has been a longtime financial supporter of Republican candidates, including Trump and Abbott. During the discussion, Abbott praised the state’s recent economic successes, including efforts to persuade corporate leaders to relocate their headquarters, such as Elon Musk’s Tesla and X, the social platform formally known as Twitter, to Texas. Tesla’s decision to build a manufacturing facility on more than 2,500 acres of Travis County, just outside of Austin, was realized in under 18 months — a testament to the state’s practice of expediting permitting and regulatory processes, Abbott said.

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Opaque nonprofit donation to shadowy super PAC raises ‘several red flags’

A shadowy super PAC that popped up just before the 2024 election was bankrolled by an opaque nonprofit, obscuring the ultimate source of the funds and raising “several red flags” for campaign finance experts. The super PAC, Save Western Culture, drew scrutiny ahead of the election as it spent nearly $1.4 million on controversial ads, mailers and robocalls that boosted libertarian candidates and attacked Republicans in battleground Senate and House races, helping Democrats clinch some key seats. A $1.6 million donation, the super PAC’s sole source of funding, from a newly formed Delaware-based nonprofit called Stop China Now Inc. was not disclosed until after Election Day. The donation came one day after books closed on the final campaign finance disclosure before the Nov. 5 general election. Save Western Culture and Stop China Now share an address — a UPS box in Greenfield, Mass. Someone named Seth Martin is listed as both the super PAC treasurer and nonprofit incorporator, according to new business records obtained by The Hill.

The arrangement raises “several red flags justifying further investigation,” said Lee Goodman, a former Republican chair on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) who is now a partner at the legal giant Wiley. “Under well established FEC rules, if a person or organization funnels money through an organization like Stop China Now for the purpose of funding a contribution to a Super PAC and avoiding disclosure of the original source of the funds, then the structured contribution constitutes making a contribution in the name of another person. That’s a serious violation that can carry both civil and potentially criminal penalties,” Goodman wrote in an email to The Hill. Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance lawyer and deputy executive director at Documented, said the initial facts suggest this is a “straw donor scheme.” “In a potential straw donor case, the central question is whether funds were intentionally funneled through a conduit to disguise the true source of the contribution,” Fischer said. But the fact that Stop China Now is a nonprofit complicates that analysis, he said. The FEC and law enforcement officials have dinged limited liability corporations, or LLCs, for political donations if the group does not appear to have legitimate revenue that would fund those contributions. But nonprofits are primarily funded by grants, Fischer said, and it is plausible they could have received a grant in the two weeks between its formation Oct. 2 and donation on Oct. 17.

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Elon Musk wants to turn SpaceX's Starbase site into a Texas city

SpaceX is launching a new mission: making its Starbase site a new Texas city. Billionaire Elon Musk ‘s company on Thursday sent a letter to local officials requesting an election to turn what it calls Starbase — the South Texas site where SpaceX builds and launches its massive Starship rockets — into an incorporated city. Residents of the area known as Starbase submitted the petition, according to the company. The area is on the southern tip of Texas at Boca Chica Beach, near the Mexican border. Earlier this year, Musk announced he was moving the headquarters of SpaceX and his social media company X from California to Texas. “To continue growing the workforce necessary to rapidly develop and manufacture Starship, we need the ability to grow Starbase as a community. That is why we are requesting that Cameron County call an election to enable the incorporation of Starbase as the newest city in the Rio Grande Valley,” Kathryn Lueders, the general manager of Starbase, wrote in a letter to the county.

It’s not the first time turning Starbase into its own city has been floated. Musk proposed the idea in 2021 when he wrote a social media post that simply said, “Creating the city of Starbase, Texas.” Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr., the county’s top elected official, said despite the talks of incorporation in 2021, this was the first time a petition was officially filed. “Our legal and elections administration will review the petition, see whether or not it complied with all of the statutory requirements and then we’ll go from there,” Treviño said on Thursday. More than 3,400 full-time SpaceX employees and contractors work at the Starbase site, according to a local impact study issued by Trevino earlier this year. SpaceX’s rapid expansion in the region has drawn pushback from some locals. Earlier this year, a group called Save RGV sued the company in July over allegations of environmental violations and dumping polluted water into the nearby bay. SpaceX said in response that a state review found no environmental risks and called the lawsuit “frivolous.”

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Energized by next Trump term, red states move agendas further right

Red-state leaders emboldened by Donald Trump’s presidential victory are not waiting for him to take office to advance far more conservative agendas at home. Idaho lawmakers want to allow school staff to carry concealed firearms without prior approval and parents to sue districts in library and curriculum disputes. Lawmakers in Oklahoma plan to further restrict abortion by limiting the emergency exceptions and to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools, while their counterparts in Arkansas are moving to create the felony offense of “vaccine harm,” which could make pharmaceutical companies or their executive officers potentially criminally liable. But few states have bigger, more aggressive plans than Texas. Ahead of their biennial session, which begins Jan. 14, the Republican legislators who control both House and Senate have proposed a multitude of measures that would push the state further right.

Migrants are a particular focus, with bills to create a “Texas border protection unit” and to repeal instate tuition for undocumented students, requiring colleges to notify law enforcement if they learn a student is undocumented. They also would require state police to DNA-test migrants taken into custody, allow troopers to return undocumented immigrants to Mexico if they are seen entering Texas illegally, fingerprint and track migrant children in a database and bar immigrants who are in the country illegally from accessing public legal services. “Red state legislatures and governors are chomping at the bit,” said Craig DeRoche, a former Michigan House speaker who is now president of the influential conservative Family Policy Alliance. The group has chapters in 40 states where, he said, conservatives are sending a message to likely members of the incoming Trump administration on a variety of issues: “Don’t fix it there. Send it back to us so we can fix it here.” “There’s going to be an extraordinary accountability. And red state governors and legislatures are going to lead on that,” DeRoche said. Of 27 states with Republican governors, 23 are backed by GOP legislative majorities, all of which will reconvene in the New Year. Republicans flipped Capitols in Michigan and Minnesota this election, breaking Democrats’ trifecta control, and they hold a supermajority in Kansas that will allow them to override any veto by Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat.

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State Stories

Lina Hidalgo deflects John Whitmire's claim that she may not run again

County Judge Lina Hidalgo said she hasn't decided whether to run for office in 2026 in response to a claim made Thursday by Mayor John Whitmire that she will not pursue another term as county judge. Whitmire, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle, said he had heard that Hidalgo was “fixing to announce that she’s not going to run.” He alluded to the judge's personal struggle with depression and the pressures that accompany the job as county judge. “She’s not enjoying her work,” Whitmire said. “And she’s happy now. I saw on social media she got back this weekend from her wedding destination. But let me tell you what, this is a tough job at any level. You definitely lose your privacy. She’s obviously documented some of her emotional issues, which, this is a terrible profession to be in if you’re struggling with pressure.”

In a statement to the Chronicle, Hidalgo said she is "fully focused on serving the people of Harris County" but didn't directly say whether Whitmire’s comments about her political future were accurate. "At this time, we have no announcement to make regarding future elections," her office said. Whitmire and Hidalgo have had an adversarial relationship since the mayor took office in January. Hidalgo supported Whitmire’s opponent, former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, in the race for mayor. Whitmire did not say whether the pair had met in an official capacity in his first year in office, but told the Chronicle that he would “work with anyone” and that the pair had worked together during the Kingwood flooding in May. While the pair initially held separate press conferences to brief residents on flooding updates, Hidalgo and Whitmire eventually met for a joint conference at Houston TranStar, where they began to spar about who should speak at the microphone. Whitmire invited Commissioner Lesley Briones to speak. Hidalgo objected, saying all county precincts had been impacted, not just Briones'. "I'm glad I made the approval list," Whitmire told Hidalgo. "Mayor, this is a disaster," Hidalgo replied. "This is not the time." Hidalgo already has one potential challenger for the position, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who may run for county judge as a Democrat. Parker told the Chronicle in April she hadn’t decided any plans for the future.

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Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick calls for pedestrian bridge named after Milby High student killed by train

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called for a bill to build a pedestrian bridge in memory of Sergio Rodriguez after the Houston ISD student was struck and killed by a train Monday morning. Rodriguez, 15, was struck while walking to school along a railroad track that divides Milby High School and the rest of southeast Houston's Pecan Park neighborhood. Residents have called for increased safety along the railway for years, Sen. Carol Alvarado told the Chronicle. “This is nothing new,” said Alvarado, a Milby High graduate. “It’s unfortunate that we’ve become used to these stories, deaths occurring.” In response, Patrick said he would ask Alvarado to carry a bill in the next legislative session to build a pedestrian bridge over the popular crossing and name it after Rodriguez. "His family and friends will never forget him. I want to make sure Texans never forget him as well," Patrick said on social media.

Texas hosts more crashes with trains involving vehicles and pedestrians at at-grade crossings than any other state, according to preliminary Federal Railroad Administration data. And Houston's East End hosts more reports of stopped trains blocking traffic than any other neighborhood in the United States. "These crossings cause tremendous traffic congestion across the state and are very dangerous," Patrick said. On Tuesday, Mayor John Whitmire announced plans to meet with Union Pacific's chief executive officer to assess the feasibility of a new "skywalk" pedestrian bridge over the crossing, while Sergio's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the railroad and the train operator involved in the incident Wednesday. Whitmire's office told the Chronicle Thursday the mayor is in the process of confirming a meeting date and time with the railroad company and that he intended to speak on Sergio's death and a "need to promote safety at railroad crossings." Whitmire intends to have Union Pacific fund the project, which hosts initial cost estimates of $6.5 million.

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The Texas GOP has a bold agenda —if it can stick together

Conservative Republicans have an iron grip on Texas state government, but their own caucus is proving to be a bit more slippery. The rapid growth of Texas’ population in recent years has also coincided with a political shift to the right. The last time Democrats held a branch of government in Texas was 2002, when they had a majority in the state House. Gov. Greg Abbott, one of the most conservative governors in the country, was elected for a third term in 2022. In the spring primary, Abbott successfully backed a slate of conservative candidates in challenges to House Republicans who’d been resistant to parts of his agenda. In the November election, when President-elect Donald Trump won more than 56 percent of the Texas vote, Republicans won an additional seat in the state Senate, bringing their majority there to 20-11.

All signs point to a clear runway for the Texas GOP to enact its agenda in the 2025 session — or most signs, anyway. Before the party can enact any of its priorities, state representatives will need to select a speaker of the House. Speakers control which bills get committee hearings and can slow or stop the progress of legislation in the House, giving them lots of leverage to extract concessions in negotiations with other lawmakers. The current speaker, Republican Dade Phelan, narrowly survived an Abbott-backed primary challenge in the spring and recently announced he won’t be seeking another term as speaker. Most of the GOP caucus rallied around Rep. David Cook, a conservative ally of Abbott, in party meetings earlier this month. But another Republican, Dustin Burrows, is also claiming to have enough support from a mix of Republicans and Democrats to win the speakership. The House will vote for speaker in mid-January. The fight for the speakership has surprised some observers, who saw Abbott’s success in the primaries as momentum for new conservative leadership in the House. While the factions aren’t neatly ideological — almost all of Texas’ Republicans are deeply conservative — the leadership contest clouds the prospects for certain aspects of the GOP agenda. It could also complicate the dynamics between the two legislative chambers; the Senate Republicans have been much more aligned under the leadership of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick than the House has been.

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New Braunfels ranks No. 2 in US for largest population increase; 4 Texas cities in top 10

Texas cities continue to see major population growth, as a number of factors make the state desirable for entrepreneurs as well as large companies. Over the past year, three Central Texas cities had among the highest population growth in the country, according to a study by financial technology company SmartAsset. "Population shifts in a community can bring about a variety of interwoven economic and social impacts," SmartAsset's study says. The company describes such shifts as a catalyst for changes in demand, costs and availability of amenities, as well as the strength of the local job market, local culture, economic trajectory, tax base and more. SmartAsset used recent population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau to rank 610 U.S. based on a one-year change in population from 2022 to 2023. The company also analyzed population changes over the past five years and changes in the working-age population.

Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only

Two Texas mothers accuse AI chatbot of promoting violence, sexually explicit content

Two mothers have accused an artificial intelligence chatbot of allegedly promoting sexually explicit content to children and encouraging self-harm and violence in a lawsuit filed in Texas federal court this week. According to the lawsuit, A.F., the mother of a 17-year-old boy with high-functioning autism, noticed her son’s increasingly distant and odd behavior. Identified as J.F. in the filing, the previously obedient teenager lost at least 20 pounds, began cutting himself and withdrew from social interactions. He also became violent toward his mother, biting her hand on one occasion after she took his phone away. She later looked through his phone to find he was messaging on Character.AI., a generative AI artificial intelligence companion chatbot that allows users to have conversations with character bots posing as celebrities or characters of their choosing.

Per screenshots included in the lawsuit, the chatbot allegedly showed J.F. how to self-harm and suggested he murder his parents because they restricted his screen time. The suit also accuses the chatbot of engaging in virtual sex and promoting sexual content, including incest, with J.F. The family lives in rural Upshur County in northeast Texas. The other plaintiff in the suit, A.R., alleges that the Character.AI chatbot exposed her 11-year-old daughter, identified as B.R. in the filing, to sexually inappropriate content over the course of two years before A.R. discovered it. She accuses Character.AI of sexually abusing and manipulating her daughter by showing her explicit content and encouraging overly sexualized behavior. They reside in Gregg County, located east of Tyler near the state’s eastern border. The mothers and their children are identified only by their initials in the lawsuit for safety and privacy concerns. This is not the first time Character.AI has been accused of encouraging self harm or violent behaviors. A Florida mother filed a lawsuit against the company in October, accusing the chatbot of encouraging her son Sewell Setzer III to take his own life. Setzer died by suicide in February. And on Thursday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he would launch an investigation into several tech companies' management of children's data, including Character.AI, Reddit, Instagram and Discord.

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Faced with decreased offerings, state Baptist conventions rethink giving to SBC

When conservatives gained control of the Southern Baptist Convention in the early 1990s, leaders of state Baptist conventions paid their obeisance by upping the percentage of church offerings they sent to the national convention. Thirty years later, that well is going dry. A mantra of the new conservative leadership was urging the 40 state and regional conventions to move toward a 50/50 split between state causes and SBC causes, which was said to be a return to the original 1925 vision. The larger state conventions located in the Deep South were most likely to follow through, while the smaller conventions in the West, Northwest and Northeast were least able to bear that burden. Rather rapidly, this shift in percentages sent millions of dollars more to the SBC Executive Committee for disbursement to the dozen national agencies and institutions. All this happens through a complex formula known as the Cooperative Program. It’s sort of the United Way of denominational life. In the SBC, people give offerings to their churches, and those churches send a percentage of undesignated offerings to their state Baptist convention. The ideal goal has been 10% but the average today is less than 5%.

Then in most cases — there are a few exceptions — those state conventions keep a portion of the offerings sent from the churches and send a fixed percentage to the SBC. Here’s where tweaking the levers advantaged the SBC and ultimately harmed the state conventions. The result is that the national convention’s ministries grew at the expense of state convention ministries. Even a 1% shift in giving from a state convention that takes in tens of millions of dollars amounts to significant money. The result is that the national convention’s ministries grew at the expense of state convention ministries. And there’s another wrinkle: At the same time, the SBC North American Mission Board changed the way it cooperates with state conventions on its mission work, especially church planting, which is the majority of what it does. NAMB clawed back millions of dollars it previously distributed in partnership agreements with the states and used it to fund its own national church planting program. So many state conventions felt a double whammy of reduced resources by giving a larger share of the Cooperative Program pie to the SBC while receiving less of the pie back from NAMB. The pressure is so intense that the SBC’s in-house news service, Baptist Press, this week published an article explaining what is happening. That article questions the sustainability of the Cooperative Program, which will turn 100 next year. As an example, it cites what recently happened at the Tennessee Baptist Convention, where messengers this fall voted to adjust their giving to the national budget downward, from 47.5% of receipts to 45%. That will allow the Tennessee convention to retain 55% of what churches send for use in the state. Tennessee is one of six state conventions that decreased percentage giving to the SBC this year.

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Josh Hammer: Why the lawsuit over Musk’s pay went too far

(Josh Hammer is Newsweek senior editor-at-large, host of The Josh Hammer Show and America on Trial with Josh Hammer, and senior counsel for the Article III Project.) Six years ago, a single Tesla shareholder—with just nine shares to his name—sued the electric vehicle company, arguing that CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion compensation package was unfair. The shareholder’s lawyers, in turn, saw a jackpot for themselves in the making. Last week, a Delaware judge sided with this lone shareholder, despite 72 percent of Tesla shareholders’ previously voting to approve Musk’s compensation package—not once, but twice. In the end, the shareholder’s lawyers could walk away from this fight with up to $345 million in legal fees, earning themselves a jaw-dropping $18,000 per hour for their work. That is preposterous, even in the legal profession. President Donald Trump has spent years excoriating the myriad abuses of America’s legal system. The 45th and soon-to-be 47th president has also faced nonstop litigation throughout his career—and, most recently, prosecutorial abuses unprecedented in the history of the republic.

Legal abuses like these have an economic as well as a political cost. Left-wing trial lawyers exploit our legal system to line their own pockets, while hamstringing the innovators on whom our modern economy depends. Many conservatives, investors, and shareholders blasted the Tesla ruling, keen to the chilling effect it could have on businesses. Left-wing trial lawyers feast; consumers are left paying higher prices. In September, Trump posted on X, “Your Automobile Insurance is up 73% . . . I’ll cut that number in half!” He’s right. Auto insurance premiums and ride-sharing costs are up, driven by the relentless lawsuit lobby. The Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) estimates that the costs associated with automobile commercial liability—which covers ride-sharing—have recently grown on average 10.1 percent annually, up from $33 billion in 2016 to $58 billion in 2022. Health-care costs have also soared, partly due to increased medical liability insurance, which grew at an annual rate of 4.3 percent between 2016 and 2022. Too many small businesses have to raise prices on products just to cover ever-increasing insurance premiums, even as they live in fear that one frivolous lawsuit could shut them down for good. We don’t see this “tort tax” as a line item on our pay stubs; it’s just embedded in everyday costs. Trump won a second term in large part on his pledge to lower the cost of living and bring down inflation. The Trump administration and the incoming Republican-led Congress have an opportunity to take on this “tort tax” issue and cut costs for families. Time and again, American families and small businesses are left paying these exorbitant fees. The ILR estimates that lawsuits, legal fees, and settlements cost the average American household $4,207 annually. In Georgia, New York, New Jersey, and California, per-household costs surpassed $5,000 in 2022. But legal-reform efforts aren’t just about one lawsuit, one CEO, or one billionaire. The point is to remedy a broken system that is raising costs on every American and threatening entrepreneurship. The voters handed Trump a mandate in the 2024 election. Next year, he and Republicans in Congress must rein in the left-wing trial-lawyer lobby, protect consumers and businesses, and lower costs. If they succeed, they will help to drain one of the murkiest parts of the Washington, D.C., swamp.

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Petition to remove Travis County DA José Garza dismissed

A petition to remove Travis County District Attorney José Garza was dismissed Thursday morning by Judge Dib Waldrip, the 433rd District Judge in Comal County and Presiding Judge of the 3rd Administrative Judicial Region. The 21-page petition was filed April 8 after a 2023 law targeting “rogue” prosecutors passed in the Texas legislature. “Over the past four years, we have worked hard to keep the community safe, fix the criminal justice system, and uphold the laws of the State of Texas. We have never deviated from those goals, and I am proud of what we have accomplished thus far,” according to a statement released by Garza. The statement describes the the removal petition as a “politically motivated effort” that didn’t work.

Attorneys representing Garza and the State were in attendance along with several members of the community who had lost loved ones, been victims of violent crime in Travis County or were advocates in support of the petition to remove Garza. Garza was not present for the hearing. Waldrip addressed two separate motions to dismiss the case filed by Bell County Attorney James “Jim” Nichols and a second filed by Garza’s attorneys in effort to maintain public transparency. Nichols was assigned to serve as the case prosecutor to represent the State as “a qualified and appropriate prosecuting attorney from within the region,” the petition said. Once both sides of attorneys provided the court their arguments for dismissal, Melinda Hipolito addressed Waldrip to explain the reason for her presence in the court and requested time to obtain an attorney to represent her in the petition against Garza. Hipolito explained she and her two daughters were victims of a violent attack when a man began shooting her car wounding all three of them.

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No ‘unified process’ to track Austin criminals who shouldn’t have guns

Digging through court records to learn more about the 10 homicides that occurred in November, KXAN found extensive criminal histories for several suspects. Of the seven suspects police arrested in last month’s cases, four had prior convictions that contained various levels of bond and parole conditions stating the individuals could not be in possession of firearms. Several defense attorneys KXAN spoke with said there’s no true system in place to make sure people in such cases follow the rules regarding guns. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) said it does not supervise people out on bond, and that parole officers only conduct “plain view” searches during home visits. Additionally, guns aren’t allowed inside parole facilities, TDCJ said. The District Attorney’s Office said it “requests” that individuals surrender their firearms when “appropriate,” but did not address any means of holding that system accountable.

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Dallas council members say they want more options for city manager job, faster timeline

Some Dallas council members want to know if the four candidates on the shortlist for the city manager job are the best and only options. They’re also frustrated with how long it is taking to make a hire. A group of council members overseeing the search for the city’s top administrator met Thursday to discuss the next step in the hiring process. They laid into representatives from search firm Baker Tilly, asking why council members were learning about 50 other candidates Thursday when a shortlist was released in November. Council member Paula Blackmon asked why the documents weren’t released immediately and got into a heated exchange with Mayor pro tem Tennell Atkins, chair of the ad hoc committee on administrative affairs, indicating a behind-the-scenes fight over his leadership.

According to emails obtained by The Dallas Morning News, Baker Tilly representatives shared the list of four semifinalists with Atkins on Oct. 24. That list wasn’t shared with the entire council until weeks later, in November. Another set of emails shows Blackmon’s office asked for the full list of candidates on Nov. 21 and then two more times on Nov. 26 and Dec. 4. During the meeting, Atkins said he did not see the full list of 50 candidates until Thursday. He said the search firm has a process in place to hold back the complete list because information about applicants, once released publicly, could impact their current jobs. “Once I get [the documents], everything becomes public information,” Atkins said. But there’s a distinction between public records and city records. An opinion from the city attorney’s office shared with The News said if a council member requests official records to fulfill their duties, it is their “inherent right to access those city records.” Baker Tilly, which received a $134,000 contract from the city in May to lead the vetting process, said as of last month, 50 of 616 possible applicants had sent in their resumes. They looked at education levels, professional experience and demographics.

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Dallas family seeks $100M from city in death of woman who fell into manhole, swept away

The lawyer for the family of a woman killed two months ago after he says she fell into an exposed sewer manhole in Dallas before being swept nearly 10 miles away confirmed Thursday that he plans to file a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the city. Ramez Shamieh told The Dallas Morning News that he plans to seek a monetary judgment of “over $100 million” from the incident that claimed the life of Teresa Gail Gonzales, 66, in late October. He said he planned to file the suit Friday morning in state district court. The woman’s daughter is demanding answers in the death of her mother.

“Nothing like that should ever happen to anybody,” daughter Cynthia Gonzales said during a news conference Tuesday at Shamieh’s office. “To learn that your mom fell and then is swept away nine and a half miles away from where she fell, only to be discovered three days later. It just hurts because nobody should have to go through that.” The victim was walking in the 1600 block of Record Crossing Road during the morning of Oct. 22, when she fell into the sewer system through an open manhole, Shamieh said. He said the incident occurred between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. “This family wants answers, and they want accountability,” Shamieh said at the news conference. Dallas police said they are investigating the incident as an unexplained death. An official cause of death for the woman was pending, according to Dallas County medical examiner’s office records.

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New doula program targets maternal health in Fort Worth

Sofia Pimienta had a rough childbirth with her first son in 2020. The medical staff, she said, broke her water too early, administered an epidural early, and insisted on a C-section, which she didn’t want but accepted. When she was pregnant with her second son she decided to hire a doula. A doula is a non-medical professional who provides support with information preparedness, guidance, companionship and coaching during and after a pregnancy. Pimienta is Colombian, and her husband knows limited English, so she had to find a bilingual doula, which was difficult. She had given up hope to find a doula until in February she came across Paradigm Doulas, a doula training organization, which is led by Yenny James who is in charge of United Way’s Community Doula Program. She applied and was given Jasmine Gregory as her doula. Gregory was not bilingual but still taught Pimienta and her husband exercises, helped Pimienta understand her rights as a hospital patient, and made sure hospital staff members asked for consent before they touched her.

During that pregnancy, Pimienta applied in May to train to become a doula herself through the United Way of Tarrant County’s Community Doula Program. In June, she had her second son, and in July she became a member of the program’s third cohort. Pimienta said she needed the advocacy of a doula during her pregnancy, and she now hopes to provide that same support for others. She sees the success in the program in graduating as many doulas as possible who will pass on their knowledge for the betterment of mothers and the community. “If I want change, I’ll have to be the change,” Pimienta said. Pimienta was among 120 doulas who graduated in October from the Community Doula Program. Their mission is to address concerns about maternal mortality and health in Tarrant County, particularly among women of color. After a year of training doulas, more work will be done to support maternal health through the United Way’s plan to open a business academy to help doulas become entrepreneurs. TeamBirth, a new communication tool, is also being implemented in hospitals.

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National Stories

Hegseth walks back controversial comments on women and gays in the militaryq

Donald Trump’s allies have taken credit for getting Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) to bend on the president-elect’s pick for Pentagon chief. But the past 24 hours have shown the former Fox News host is bending too. Pete Hegseth softened his stance against women in combat and gays in the military after he previously suggested they shouldn’t fill those roles. His evolving rhetoric — which came after meetings with more moderate senators — signals an effort to soothe lingering concerns his leadership might cause upheaval to a diverse, modern military. It could also serve as a guide for Trump’s other would-be nominees who face headwinds in their confirmations. Hegseth has called policies allowing gays and transgender troops to serve in the military part of a “Marxist agenda.” But on Thursday, when he met with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), reporters asked him whether he thought gays should serve in the military, and he replied, “Yes.” And once an unapologetic critic of women serving in combat roles, Hegseth called women “some of our greatest warriors” during a recent Fox News appearance.

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Drone mystery: New Jersey homeowners threaten to take matters into their own hands if government doesn't act

New Jersey residents frustrated with a lack of answers regarding dozens of potential drone sightings in the skies above their homes are threatening to take action on their own if the government doesn't start providing answers. James Ward, a Jersey Shore Realtor, shared video on Facebook that he said shows "SUV-size drones" above Island Beach State Park taken Sunday. It's difficult to judge their size in the clip, which shows a number of lights hovering in the sky. "Dozens of SUV-size drones in all directions," the caption says. "Emerging at same time and flying over the ocean and then heading in different directions – what do you think?"

"A good shotgun will fix that problem," one commenter replied. "Why hasn't anyone shot one down to look for a serial number to trace it back to the operator?" another wrote. "I would think that could provide a clue." "Semi auto 3 inch magnum 00 buck full choke!" yet another replied. Experts warn that it is typically illegal to shoot down a drone flying over a property. The Federal Aviation Administration told Forbes in 2016 that shooting down a drone is illegal under the same federal law prohibiting the sabotage of any other aircraft. FAA regulations also prohibit the unsafe or unauthorized operation of an aircraft — manned or not. The talk of taking matters into their own hands came after Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, and two Republican congressmen called on the federal government to shoot down any unidentified drones in the area. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been pressing investigators and regulators for answers for weeks.

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Luigi Mangione’s mother spent months searching for a son who didn’t want to be found

Before Kathy Mangione became known as the mother of a suspected assassin, she was just a parent looking for her son. She had desperately searched for 26-year-old Luigi Mangione for the better part of a year, according to people close to the family. One said that he “went off the grid six months to a year ago and wasn’t communicating with anybody,” and that his distraught mother was doing all she could to find him. Another said the Ivy League engineering graduate was “MIA for about eight months.” When Luigi Mangione finally resurfaced Monday, it was under the grimmest of circumstances—as the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare Chief Executive Brian Thompson in New York City and an alleged fugitive whose five-day run from police captivated the country. After a hearing Tuesday, Mangione’s lawyer said his client plans to plead not guilty to all charges: “I haven’t seen any evidence that says that he’s the shooter.” In the days leading to her son’s arrest in Altoona, Pa., Kathy Mangione seemed to go about life normally.

On Saturday, she lunched with friends at an Italian market near Baltimore’s waterfront. The next afternoon, she and her husband, Lou Mangione, attended a ceremony honoring one of her brothers at a church in the city’s Little Italy. “Less than 24 hours later, their lives completely did a flip-flop,” said Santo Grasso, a longtime family friend who chatted with the couple at the church event. The family has released a statement expressing devastation and shock: “We only know what we have read in the media.” Luigi Mangione’s arrest has rocked a sprawling family—he grew up with 16 aunts and uncles—tightly moored in the Baltimore area. The Mangiones would tailgate in the lobby of the same hospital every time another baby was born, as Luigi and more than 30 of his cousins had been. On his mother’s side, the Zanninos are known for the brick funeral home they have run for decades in a working-class area that has transitioned from Italian-American to Latino. The accusation that Mangione gunned down Thompson on a Manhattan street floored Joe Di Pasquale, who knew all four of his grandparents. He recalled the young man he last saw a year or two ago at his Di Pasquale’s Italian Market as a well-mannered high achiever with a big smile. Di Pasquale and his wife were so impressed with him and his sisters in their younger years that they encouraged their own children to be more like them. “We always modeled our kids on how they do,” he said. “I drove my kids crazy.”

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Kimberly Guilfoyle is Trump’s latest nominee who was accused of sexual misconduct

Kimberly Guilfoyle, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be America’s envoy to Greece, is the latest of his incoming proposed nominees with a history of sexual misconduct allegations. Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host, was accused of sexually harassing an assistant at the network, which the New Yorker reported in 2020 resulted in an out-of-court settlement upward of four million dollars. Guilfoyle denied the allegations at the time of the report, telling the magazine: “I have never engaged in any workplace misconduct of any kind. During my career, I have served as a mentor to countless women, with many of whom I remain exceptionally close to this day.” In 2018, the assistant—who worked under Guilfoyle—submitted a draft complaint to Fox executives that accused the former prosecutor of a litany of misconduct allegations. Most striking among them were the claims that Guilfoyle required the woman to work from her home, where she allegedly exposed herself and showed the assistant pictures of the genitals of men she had slept with.

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‘The statements change every day’: Capitol rioters try to parse Trump’s pardon pledges

President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged to pardon US Capitol rioters on Day One, but one month before Inauguration Day it’s not clear who among the hundreds of convicted rioters, defendants awaiting trial and remaining fugitives would receive clemency. Trump advisers are still solidifying their approach to January 6, 2021, pardons, several people in touch with the transition told CNN. And defense attorneys are scrambling to get clarity and convince the incoming administration that their clients are deserving. In a Time Magazine interview conducted last month and published Thursday, the president-elect said he would look at rioters’ cases individually. “If they were non-violent, I think they’ve been greatly punished,” he said. “I’m going to look if there’s some that really were out of control.” He also said the pardons would “start in the first hour that I get into office.” Trump’s frequent – and vague – pronouncements still haven’t given much clarity.

“The statements change every day. The latest is everybody’s non-violent. But who knows what that means,” one defense lawyer on several rioter cases said this week. The January 6 pardons will not be being doled out through a traditional application process like you would see with clemency issued by a sitting president, according to a source familiar with the Trump plans. A handful of lawyers representing Capitol rioters told CNN they’ve been reassured by at least one Trump transition staff member that the January 6 pardons will happen quickly after the inauguration, in an attention-grabbing move by Trump that he is prioritizing. The incoming administration does not want to “let people rot in prison while we figure out whether they should get a pardon,” one person familiar with the Trump legal strategy told CNN. More than 140 police officers were assaulted by the mob, and the damage to the Capitol –from windows rioters smashed to enter the building to property rioters stole – was in the millions. Five police officers died in the days after the riot, with several committing suicide, and four people in the crowd died. Some judges in Washington, DC, have also been publicly critical of Trump’s attempts to whitewash the riot’s causes and violence. “No matter what ultimately becomes of the Capitol Riots cases already concluded and still pending, the true story of what happened on January 6, 2021, will never change,” Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee and the senior-most judge in DC’s federal district court, said during a sentencing hearing last week.

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Despite Trump’s claim, deportations likely wouldn’t ease housing crisis, most experts say

The mass deportations of immigrants that President-elect Donald Trump has promised aren’t likely to make a dent in the nation’s housing crisis, many experts say, despite what he and his supporters claimed during his campaign. Experts say the reasons for that are many. Immigrants in the U.S. without documentation are more likely to live in low-income rental housing than they are to live in higher-income areas or to buy homes. They often live in multigenerational groups with many people in a household. And they are a key cog in the construction industry, meaning fewer homes would get built without their labor. Yet, as the United States’ ongoing housing crisis grew more visible this year, Trump seized on immigration as a chief cause. “Immigration is driving housing costs through the roof,” he said at a September rally in Arizona.

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, the incoming vice president, in his October debate against Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, went further, arguing that “illegal aliens competing with Americans for scarce homes is one of the most significant drivers of home prices in the country.” Neither of those statements is true, according to many housing and immigration experts. The relationship between immigration and housing affordability is far more nuanced, housing experts say. At best, immigration has an understated effect on the housing crisis. At worst, large-scale deportation plans could cripple an already strained construction labor industry heavily reliant on low-wage workers in the country without authorization. Unable to meet most requirements for a mortgage on a home, immigrants living in the U.S. illegally often rely on extremely affordable rental housing. And multigenerational living is more common due to economic necessity, said Riordan Frost, a senior research analyst with the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. In recent years, he added, members of the millennial generation — not immigrants — have driven the rise in new households, especially during the pandemic.

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Lead Stories

Why Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas House should elect a speaker backed by Republican caucus

Gov. Greg Abbott waded into the race for Texas House speaker Wednesday, saying the lower chamber should select someone with the backing of the Republican caucus. "Let me be clear: I worked this entire year to elect conservative candidates who will pass conservative laws, including school choice," Abbott said in a post on X. "To achieve that goal we need a Texas House Speaker chosen by a majority of Republicans in accordance with the Republican Caucus Rules." The three-term Republican governor didn't formally endorse any candidate, nor did he mention any names in the post. But after a vote by the 88-member GOP caucus Saturday, Republican Rep. David Cook of Mansfield emerged with the backing of at least 56 lawmakers. That same day, Republican Rep. Dustin Burrows claimed that he had amassed enough bipartisan support to be elected speaker when the 2025 legislative session gets under way Jan. 14, but some of his support has eroded since.

Speaker elections are a House-only affair in which each of the chamber's 150 members gets an equal vote regardless of their party. And it is not unusual for a successful candidate to put together bipartisan coalitions to lock down the votes needed to get the top job. And once elected, speakers from both parties have for decades embraced something a power-sharing arrangement in which the opposition party is awarded at least some of the committee chairmanships. However, powerful voices in the Republican Party have grown increasingly louder urging an end to that long-standing tradition, which has continued under outgoing two-term Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont. And as a result, Phelan's support in the GOP ranks has ebbed and this month he ended his bid for a third term. House Democrats appear united in the opposition to Cook, and not all have joined Burrows' camp. They are the only two active candidates for speaker but others could join the race if neither can reach the magic number of 76 votes before the upcoming session convenes. During the regular 2023 legislative session and in several special sessions that followed, Abbott pushed mightily for legislation to establish a school voucher system but his efforts died in the House amid the stubborn opposition of Democrats and a handful of Republicans. The governor over the spring campaigned for the primary challengers of many of the anti-voucher Republicans, leading to the defeat of several incumbents. But unlike Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the pro-voucher Senate, Abbott did not involve himself in Phelan's primary race in which the speaker was barely renominated for another term to represent House District 21 in Southeast Texas.

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Mitch McConnell: ‘We’re in a very, very dangerous world right now’

Mitch McConnell is standing in his office smiling. Hanging on the walls are faces, mostly stern, from Washington’s past. McConnell’s portrait might soon join them. Last month, the Republican leader in the US Senate stepped down from the role he has held for longer than anyone in US political history. At the age of 82, McConnell is “ready to do something else”. A pivotal politician in a tumultuous time, McConnell earned power and used it to shift the country to the right during his 17-year tenure. He won races across the country, raised more than $1bn to boost his colleagues and negotiated trillion-dollar-plus bills, including the aid that lifted the country out of the pandemic. He became enormously influential and broadly unpopular, making enemies among Democrats for blocking judicial nominations to the Supreme Court and among Republicans for his occasional, sharp criticisms of Donald Trump. With the latter preparing to return to the White House next month, the veteran lawmaker issues a warning from America’s past. “We’re in a very, very dangerous world right now, reminiscent of before world war two,” he says. “Even the slogan is the same. ‘America First.’ That was what they said in the ’30s.” Warming to his historical theme, McConnell turns to one of the portraits behind him, an influential Senate Republican of the wartime era named Robert A Taft. Son of the 27th president William Howard Taft, Robert was “a raging isolationist” who opposed Lend-Lease before the second world war and both the creation of Nato and the Marshall Plan afterwards, says McConnell. “Thank goodness Eisenhower beat him for the [presidential] nomination in ’52 and had a much different view of America’s role in the world.”

McConnell has been Kentucky senator since 1985. Having committed to serving the final two years of his term, he intends to spend the time pushing back against the increasingly isolationist elements of today’s GOP. “The cost of deterrence is considerably less than the cost of war,” he says, reeling off the figures to prove it. In the second world war, the US spent 37 per cent of GDP on the fight. Last year that figure was about 2.7 per cent. His words are targeted directly at Trump and vice-president-elect JD Vance, who have argued that the US should not be spending any more money on Ukraine. McConnell is a strong believer in the Ronald Reagan view of the US role in the world, rather than the Trump one. “To most American voters, I think the simple answer is, ‘Let’s stay out of it.’ That was the argument made in the ’30s and that just won’t work,” he says. “Thanks to Reagan, we know what does work — not just saying peace through strength, but demonstrating it.” Trump has also said that enemies within the US are more dangerous than Russia and China. “I don’t agree with that,” says McConnell. Though some of his biggest moments as Senate leader came during Trump’s first presidency, he is no fan of the president-elect. Having blocked Barack Obama from replacing the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, McConnell was instrumental in the confirmation of three conservative justices to the court under Trump. Yet in The Price of Power, a new McConnell biography by reporter Michael Tackett, McConnell calls Trump “stupid” and a “despicable human being”.

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GOP drama: Cotton blocks Cornyn for Senate Intelligence Chair

enate Republicans have discussed elevating Sen. John Cornyn to chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to party officials, a move that would hand Cornyn a prized gavel as consolation for losing his GOP leader bid and could help induce him to run for reelection in two years. The complication, and almost certain deal-breaker: Cornyn would have to leapfrog the Republican next in line to chair the Intelligence Committee, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Cotton has privately made clear to Cornyn he would claim the position. Likely ensuring Cotton’s ascension to the chair is the raw politics of last month’s Senate Republican leadership race between Cornyn and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). A select rather than standing committee, the intelligence panel’s chair is chosen by the majority leader. And Cotton supported Thune on the private ballot, according to a third Senate Republican, and now Thune is poised to reward him rather than the man he defeated. A spokesperson for Thune declined to comment.

Asked if he expects to claim the gavel, Cotton on Tuesday said, “No comment.” On Tuesday night, Cotton spokeswoman Caroline Tabler said: “Senator Thune has told Senator Cotton he’s taking over as chair. He is hiring staff, working with Senator [Marco] Rubio (R-Fla.) on the transition, and planning with Senator [Mark] Warner (D-Va.) for January confirmation hearings.” A Cornyn representative declined to comment. But I’m told the Arkansan has already started hiring staff and refused to be coaxed into letting Cornyn take the chair, which will be open because of Rubio’s appointment as Secretary of State. Cornyn approached Cotton to take his temperature about the post last month after the leader race, I’m told by a Republican senator, and Cotton responded by saying: “I’m going to be the chairman.” Cornyn said after his defeat in the leader race that he planned to seek a fifth term in 2026. Yet some of the Texan’s colleagues are more skeptical, in part because Cornyn could face a formidable primary challenge from state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

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Harris’ outgoing district attorney recommends ‘unprecedented’ plea in capital murder cases

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has ordered prosecutors to make a plea recommendation of life without the possibility of parole in every pending capital murder case that’s more than a year old, the Houston Landing has learned. Ogg’s instruction, delivered last week and detailed in internal communications obtained by the Landing, upends years of office precedent, could complicate prosecutions in more than 60 of the county’s most serious cases and creates uncertainty for victims’ loved ones. “Kim asked us to place a case note in each pending capital murder in your division that read ‘Ogg administration recommendation is life without parole,’” wrote John Jordan, the agency’s most senior felony prosecutor, to the members of the office’s homicide division, in an email Monday. “We did not discuss the facts of any of your cases during that meeting, nor did we discuss the legal issues, theories or mitigation on any of your cases.” Jordan declined to comment for this story.

Ogg’s decision, which current and former prosecutors called “unprecedented” and “offensive,” comes less than a month before the two-term incumbent is due to leave office and upsets standard procedures around capital plea recommendations. Sean Teare, who defeated Ogg in March’s Democratic primary and will take office Jan. 1 after his victory in November’s general election, blasted the blanket recommendation as an “unbelievable” deviation from the norm that could complicate cases ultimately unsuitable for life without parole. “In my 14 years inside that office, I’ve never ever heard of putting a life without parole (recommendation) on a capital murder before all the evidence and mitigation and everything is in, let alone not talking to the line prosecutor handling the case,” Teare said. “It’s not realistic for a variety of reasons… There’s a potential that there are some innocent people in that group and we’re going to dismiss the case as evidence comes in.” In a statement to the Landing, Ogg painted a different picture, saying an offer of life without parole on non-death capital cases is typical in Harris County — at least until the office’s Capital Committee, a specialized group of prosecutors, decides otherwise.

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State Stories

Former state Sen. Carlos Uresti is set to be released from federal custody today

As of today, state senator-turned-convicted felon Carlos Uresti will be a free man. Uresti, 61, is scheduled to be released from federal custody having served about five years and 10 months of a sentence that originally called for him to spend 12 years locked up. “Today marks the beginning of my next chapter,” he said in a statement. “After nearly six years in custody, including home confinement, my release on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe signifies my fresh, new start. “Some thought I would fail or break, but I stand here wiser, stronger, and a better man with the help of my family and friends,” he said. “Though this journey was difficult, challenging, and dark at times, I remained unbroken. Redemption is not just a cliché — I did my time. I’ve been paying my restitution, and I am redeemed, all thanks to our Lord. I’m in a fabulous state of mind, body, and spirit.”

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HISD Superintendent Mike Miles earned $126K bonus in first annual evaluation from Board of Managers

Houston ISD state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles earned a $126,000 bonus based on the results of his first annual evaluation from the Board of Managers, according to the district. Miles’ contract states that the appointed school board is responsible for assessing his performance every year based on his job duties and the board’s goals and priorities. The board approved his evaluation and performance incentive pay in an 8-1 vote during the October board meeting, although the specific results remained confidential. Miles was eligible for a total possible bonus of $160,000, but he did not earn the full amount. The board decided his bonus based on the areas where the HISD has made progress in his first year, and where there are still areas for growth in district performance, a district spokesperson said Wednesday.

Alex Elizondo, HISD's chief of public affairs and communications, said in October that the district would release the bonus that Miles was eligible for and received once the payment was final and remitted in November. Miles currently earns an annual base salary of $380,000, according to his contract. Miles — who oversees the largest school district in Texas — was the 11th highest-paid superintendent in the state during the 2023-24 academic year, according to Texas Education Agency data. Mark Henry, the former superintendent of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, was the highest paid superintendent in the state last year after earning an annual salary of $536,775. After he retired, Douglas Killian began leading Cy-Fair ISD — the third largest school district in Texas — as superintendent in January with a starting annual salary of $409,000. According to an amendment to Miles' contract, 60 percent of his evaluation is based on whether he met four specific student outcome goals and honored all three constraints that the board set in November 2023, while the remaining 40 percent is based on how he scored on an executive leadership and vision rubric.

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Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas high schooler urge US House to pass Senate bill banning deepfake porn

In October 2023, when Texas high school student Elliston Berry was 14 years old, a male classmate used artificial intelligence to turn innocent photos of her and her friends into "deepfake" pornography. Then, he shared the realistic-looking nude photos on the social media platform Snapchat. "That morning, when I woke up, it was one of the worst feelings I've ever felt, feeling hopeless and feeling as if my entire innocence was stripped away," Berry, who hails from the Fort Worth suburb of Aledo, said at a Wednesday news conference on Capitol Hill. "The unknown was so terrifying, that this is my reality." It took eight months to get Snapchat to remove the photos, Berry said – and a call to the company from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Cruz said Wednesday that Berry's experience, which he learned about because her mother contacted his office, led him to draft legislation to help others facing similar situations. The "TAKE IT DOWN" Act, which Cruz introduced with Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, makes it a crime to post nude or sexually explicit imagery without a person's consent, including computer-generated photos and videos that depict real people. It also requires social media and other websites to remove such images within 48 hours after notification from a victim. "It should not take a sitting U.S. senator or a sitting member of Congress to make a phone call to get this garbage down," Cruz said. The Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan bill on Dec. 4. In Wednesday's news conference, Cruz, Klobuchar and leading House sponsor Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., urged the lower chamber to schedule the bill for a vote before the end of the year.

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Dallas Hero threatens lawsuit if city does not remove homeless encampments in 60 days

The City of Dallas may be in for another lawsuit if it doesn’t enforce a state law that bans unauthorized camping in public spaces and removes homeless encampments from its sidewalks. Dallas Hero, the nonprofit that led the ballot measure to waive municipal immunity and expose the city to lawsuits if it violates the charter and state law, sent a 60-day notice to the Dallas City Council on Wednesday. In his letter to city officials, Art Martinez De Vara, an attorney for the nonprofit, said the city needed to immediately enforce state law and provide updates on how the city intends to comply with state law. The letter also cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that upheld bans on encampments and gave state and local municipalities the authority to fine people experiencing homelessness for sleeping in public areas.

“Prop S emphasizes the importance of upholding public safety and ensuring accountability in addressing this issue. Dallas HERO is giving you 60 days to comply. Public safety cannot wait— let’s get this done,” Dallas Hero said on X. The Dallas Morning News has reached out to city officials for comment. The origins of the case began in Grants Pass, a rural town in Oregon. It was targeted at a federal appeals court ruling that disallowed local municipalities from fining people $295 for sleeping outside after tents began crowding public parks and said that such bans violated the Eighth Amendment in areas where there aren’t enough shelter beds. So far, Dallas officials have not clearly outlined if they are enforcing the state’s camping ban and fining people for sleeping outside. A coalition of providers, led by Housing Forward, the agency at the forefront of the homelessness response in Dallas and Collin counties, has been working with city officials to rehouse people through the street-to-home operation. The group helped rehouse more than 100 people who had been experiencing homelessness and were sleeping in camps near City Hall. The project in itself is based on the “housing first” philosophy, which states that homelessness is a housing issue and putting a roof over one’s head is the only way to permanently end it. City officials have vowed that they would cut homelessness in half by 2026. Lately, council members have been pushing for temporary housing measures in tiny homes and sanctioned parking and camping sites to speed up the process of moving camps away from public spaces.

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Texas lawsuit accuses 3M, DuPont of concealing harm from ‘forever chemicals’

Attorney General Ken Paxton sued manufacturers 3M and DuPont on Wednesday for alleged deceptive trade practices by failing to disclose health risks and environmental harms associated with their products. Texas accused the companies of marketing products containing toxic man-made chemicals known as PFAS for more than 70 years despite being aware of their harmful effects for the past 50 years. PFAS chemicals are often called “forever chemicals” because most don’t break down. DuPont has advertised household products such as Teflon nonstick cookware and Stainmaster for fabrics, while 3M has promoted Scotchgard stain repellent, the lawsuit said.

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TCU is headed to the New Mexico Bowl for one specific reason

Jeremiah Donati has been introduced as the new athletic director at South Carolina, but he remains tying up a few odds and ends with his “old” employer before he moves east. This includes a variety of details with the TCU football team, specifically its upcoming bowl trip to New Mexico. Reached by phone on Tuesday evening by the Star-Telegram, Donati asked to wait to discuss the specifics of his exit to his new job. He did address the topic of anger among TCU fans who are upset that “he is the one” responsible for TCU rejecting an invite for the football team to play in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. “We were never offered the chance to play in the Liberty Bowl,” Donati said, “and had we been offered, we would have accepted the invite.” That’s all he would say on the topic.

TCU will play Louisiana in the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque on Friday, Dec. 28. Plenty of good seats are available. If you call now, they may just let you take a few snaps at slot receiver. Donati can’t say it, nor can anyone associated with the university or current members of its football team, but an invite to the New Mexico Bowl is tube socks for Christmas. Even if they win, what do they win? Short of offering to buy every single ticket in the Liberty Bowl, TCU had to take the best bowl offered. This invite says nothing about the quality of TCU’s team, and everything about TCU’s size. Bowl invites can be a challenge when your enrollment is the smallest in the Big 12. Before the bowl schedule was announced, there was considerable speculation that TCU didn’t want to go “back” to the Liberty Bowl, in Memphis, Tenn. The pull of Graceland just isn’t that big for a college football team, but Gibson’s Donuts would land any plane. TCU last played in the Liberty Bowl in 2016, where it lost to postseason nemesis Georgia, but the final score was much closer than 65-7. TCU’s other notable postseason trip to Memphis came in 2002, when then coach Gary Patterson scored his first bowl win, over Colorado State.

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Killing the vibe: Proposed law bans drugstore sex toy sales in Texas

At nearly any mass-market drugstore in Texas, customers can buy the essentials: Tylenol, bandages, mascara, the "Hello Cake Little Sucker Rechargeable and Waterproof Clitoral Stimulator." However, that could soon be illegal under Texas law if newly elected state Rep. Hillary Hickland (R-Temple) has her way. Pre-filed this week ahead of the 2025 Texas Legislative session, a proposed bill would prohibit the sale of "obscene devices" at retail stores like Target, Walmart and CVS, impose civil penalties on retailers, and allow Texas counties and cities to bring legal action against them. HB 1549 would not apply to age-restricted venues like sex shops, strip clubs or other adult-oriented businesses. In a press release, Hickland, a former stay-at-home mom and school voucher advocate backed by Gov. Greg Abbott, said that the bill would provide "an important safeguard for Texas families."

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Elon Musk’s net worth tops $400 billion, a historic first

Elon Musk, whose wealth has been turbocharged since President-elect Donald Trump’s win last month, became the first person to reach $400 billion in net worth, the latest milestone for the world’s richest individual. The most recent catalyst was an insider share sale of his privately held SpaceX, which boosted Musk’s net worth by roughly $50 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Tesla Inc. shares also rallied to an all-time high Wednesday, pushing Musk’s fortune to $447 billion. Musk’s one-day wealth jump of $62.8 billion is the largest on record, and helped propel the combined fortunes of the world’s richest 500 people above $10 trillion, also for the first time, according to the index. The group’s net worths are similar in size to last year’s combined gross domestic products of Germany, Japan and Australia, according to data compiled by the World Bank.

Musk has added about $218 billion to his net worth since the start of 2024, more than any other member of the group. Tesla shares, which make up the bulk of Musk’s fortune, have gained 71% this year and closed Wednesday at $424.77, their first record high since 2021. Expectations that Trump will streamline the rollout of self-driving cars and eliminate tax credits for electric vehicles that help the company’s competitors has helped buoy Tesla’s stock. Musk is also slated to occupy a key role in the new administration as co-head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. While it will work outside the government, it gives him a bully pulpit in Washington and a direct line to the Oval Office. Meanwhile, the value of his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, has more than doubled to $50 billion since it last raised money in May, with the Wall Street Journal reporting in November that Trump’s victory helped drive new interest. On Wednesday, SpaceX and its investors agreed to purchase $1.25 billion of shares from employees and other company insiders. The deal, which values the privately held space exploration firm at about $350 billion, makes SpaceX the most valuable private startup in the world.

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Fort Worth financier David ‘Bondo’ Bonderman dies at 82

David Bonderman, the billionaire financier who started his management company in Fort Worth, died on Dec. 11. He was 82. The Harvard-educated lawyer came to Fort Worth in 1982 to represent Robert Bass in his fight against the elevated interchange of Interstate 35W and Interstate 30 in downtown. Bass eventually hired Bonderman to manage a family investment business. This experience led Bonderman to found his own company, TPG, in 1992. The company has $240 billion of assets under management and 28 offices around the world. Early in his career, Bonderman served as special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division toward the end of the President Lyndon Johnson administration. He litigated cases involving racial discrimination in the South before joining the law firm Arnold & Porter in Washington, where he specialized in antitrust, securities law, corporate law, bankruptcy and historic preservation. While at the firm, he represented Raymond Dirks before the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark insider trading case, Dirks v. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bonderman was remembered as for his “relentless quest for knowledge and a passion for music, sports, adventure, and conservation,” in a TPG press release announcing his death. That passion drove him to lead the effort to bring an expansion NHL franchise, the Kraken, to Seattle in 2018. He died surrounded by family, including his five children and three grandchildren. “We are all grateful for having experienced his wisdom, wit, generosity, and love,” his children said in the company statement. “He was always there for his friends and family, and we will miss him greatly,” they said.

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Rising US-Mexico tensions a game of optics, analyst says

Change is coming to the border on Jan. 20, when President-elect Trump takes office. How profound and lasting such change might be remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Optics will play a big role in Washington, D.C., and in Mexico City. So says a Virginia-based intelligence analyst who tracks security across the globe and is monitoring rising tensions between Mexico and the United States in recent weeks. Trump is demanding Mexico stop illegal migration and the flow of fentanyl to the U.S. or he will slap a 25% tariff on Mexican imports. Mexican officials are on record saying they don’t believe him. The posturing became evident during a recent call between Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. Trump took to social media to say Mexico had agreed to close the border; Sheinbaum said that’s not what was agreed and that Mexico will respect third-country migrants. The leaders clearly were playing to their own audiences.

“There are some tense relations between the U.S. and Mexico and it will be interesting to see how they play out,” said Mike Ballard, director of intelligence for Virginia-based Global Guardian, an international security firm. “I think Mexico might start planning for a worst-case scenario and you will probably see a bit of a crackdown along the border […] But I don’t know if they will be able to hold migration and certainly not be able to stop drug trafficking.” That’s where the optics come in. Ballard foresees Mexican security forces making a show of force – particularly in border cities – prior to Sheinbaum negotiating with Trump. Drug seizures and a few timely arrests of cartel leaders also are likely. “There could be some operations that (Mexican) security forces are sitting on, knowing they can deploy and arrest somebody when it suits their interests – they might have that in their back pocket,” Ballard said. On the U.S. side, a test of how serious Trump is about going after the drug cartels in Mexico is whether the federal government will designate them as foreign terrorist organizations.

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Indigenous leaders bring first case under Texas' COVID-19-era religious liberty measure

For Gary Perez and Matilde Torres, like their ancestors before them, the river bend in Brackenridge Park in South Texas is more than the oak trees along the riverbank, the slow-moving water and the stars arrayed above at night. It is a sacred place, where the resident cormorants, they believe, take their prayers to the heavens. That is why, when the city of San Antonio decided to remove 69 of 83 trees and prevent bird nesting in the river bend to allow the remodeling of a wall, Perez and Torres, ceremonial leaders of the Lipan-Apache Native American Church, sued to protect it on religious grounds. Last week, the Texas Supreme Court heard their lawsuit challenging the city’s actions under a state constitutional amendment approved by Texas voters in 2021 to deal with restrictions on religious services imposed by local officials during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Religious Services Amendment to the Texas Constitution says that the state or a political subdivision of the state “may not enact, adopt or issue a statute, order, proclamation, decision, or rule that prohibits or limits religious services.” John Greil, an attorney and professor at the University of Texas law school’s Law & Religion Clinic, represents Perez and Torres in Perez v. City of San Antonio. He noted that Perez and Torres are the first claimants to bring a suit under the Religious Services Amendment, giving the court’s decision in the case significant weight as a precedent. “If 20 years down the road, there’s some emergency and cities start putting in new orders that would affect religious services, this case will determine how that amendment gets applied in the future,” Greil told RNS. Perez and Torres perform their ceremonies at a part of the park known as Lambert Beach, they explained, because of their people’s ancestral connection to the land. They consider the waters, birds, trees and constellations above a “sacred ecology” and a tenet of the Native American Church. They believe that the San Antonio River bend is central to their creation story, which combines Indigenous and Christian traditions. “Imagine removing the Old Testament and trying to surmise what happened within the New Testament,” Perez said. “By removing the trees and the birds, and destroying this spiritual ecology, there’s no reference back to the Old Testament. There is no hope.” The two appellants’ brief provided evidence that for thousands of years Indigenous peoples have worshipped at this river bend, based on hieroglyphics found elsewhere in Texas.

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Who owns the dead? Inside a Texas family’s fight to honor its ancestors

For most of her life, Lulu Francois believed her family history was a mystery lost to time. That changed when, during a Christmas gathering seven years ago, an aunt revealed she sometimes visited a small, unkempt cemetery in Comal County. There, migrants of Mexican descent are buried on a German ranch — including Francois’ great-grandmother, Paula Ribera, and her infant grandson, Marcello. Francois was shocked: She grew up in a tight-knit family in San Antonio. “My aunts and uncles were always very close,” Francois told The Barbed Wire, tucking her short dark hair behind her ear. As a child, she visited her grandparents’ house every Sunday in the country near Boerne, where she and her cousins chased grasshoppers in the fields. “We always grew up saying ‘There are 14 kids in my mom’s family,’ nine girls and five boys, and then you’re telling me there was another child that was born?” Francois recalled. “We actually had another uncle who died as a baby?” The discovery sparked a sense of duty to find out what happened to them — and to preserve their memories.

“I don’t want them thinking that we’ve forgotten them,” Francois said. “All these years that they were there, and we didn’t know about them.” The successful 63-year-old tech marketing expert started with a Google search. She found her great-grandmother’s burial site on Find A Grave, which had photos of her headstone and an excerpt from a local history book indicating Paula Ribera had drowned in 1918 after falling from a wagon while crossing a river. Francois’ family believed she was actually run over by a wagon. The site also mentioned her infant grandson, Marcello, but had no cause of death for the baby. Francois wanted more information. And she wanted to see their graves for herself. She didn’t expect that desire to devolve into a battle over the right to remember her own family, suspicions of bulldozed graves, or a quagmire of latent accountability. In fact, as she looked at each new detail of her family history, her experience raised more questions than it answered: Who gets to honor their ancestors on their own time — and who must ask for permission to visit their family burial lands? Who should be held accountable if graves are destroyed? And who gets to decide what people’s history is memorialized and whose is erased? Francois soon got some answers. Her ancestors are buried on a site called “Mexican Cemetery #2,” and it’s on land that is privately owned. Instead of being able to pay respect any time she wants, or even during set hours, the cemetery’s location means that in order for Francois to visit, she must ask the landowners for permission. All cemeteries — including a single grave — are protected under the Texas Health and Safety Code. And, under the law, any person who wants to visit a cemetery on private land must be granted access as long as the two parties agree to “reasonable” times and the visiting party gives at least a 14-day notice. However, no state agency enforces the access portion of the law. Until 2019, the Texas Funeral Service Commission oversaw access issues. But the Sunset Advisory Commission, which periodically evaluates state agencies to determine if funding is well spent, recommended in a 2018 report that the regulation was “an unusual and unwarranted use of state resources,” and the Legislature voted to eliminate it. The Texas Historical Commission fired back on its website: “Unfortunately, this will put the burden (and cost, if not worked out civilly) directly on the descendants.”

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National Stories

Biden commutes roughly 1,500 sentences and pardons 39 people in biggest single-day act of clemency

President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and is pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. It’s the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. The commutations announced Thursday are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released. Prisons were uniquely bad for spreading the virus and some inmates were released in part to stop the spread. At one point, 1 in 5 prisoners had COVID-19, according to a tally kept by The Associated Press. Biden said he would be taking more steps in the weeks ahead and would continue to review clemency petitions. The second largest single-day act of clemency was by Barack Obama, with 330, shortly before leaving office in 2017.

“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in a statement. “As president, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses.” The clemency follows a broad pardon for his son Hunter, who was prosecuted for gun and tax crimes. Biden is under pressure from advocacy groups to pardon broad swaths of people, including those on federal death row, before the Trump administration takes over in January. He’s also weighing whether to issue preemptive pardons to those who investigated Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and are facing possible retribution when he takes office. Those pardoned Thursday had been convicted of nonviolent crimes such as drug offenses and turned their lives around, White House lawyers said. They include a woman who led emergency response teams during natural disasters; a church deacon who has worked as an addiction counselor and youth counselor; a doctoral student in molecular biosciences; and a decorated military veteran.

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Democratic National Committee to begin its rebuilding project

Democrats will begin the process of rebuilding their leadership Thursday afternoon when a subgroup of the Democratic National Committee meets in Washington to set the rules to elect a new party chair to succeed Jamie Harrison. The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee will lay out procedural guidelines for the simmering race to lead the campaigning and fundraising arm of the national party that is embroiled in self-reflection and a touch of finger-pointing at the vulnerabilities and pitfalls of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ bids for the White House and who exactly should shoulder the blame. Some details expected to be hashed out Thursday include when four candidate forums, effectively mini-debates, will occur, and if any of them will be moderated on live television, as well as voting and balloting procedures. Executing this election will be one of the final acts of the current RBC, chaired by Minyon Moore and Jim Roosevelt Jr., as a new party chair could shake up membership.

And candidates have just eight weeks to lay out their case to the body’s 447 members, who are set to elect their new leader on Feb. 1. The field, currently composed of five men — four white and one Latino — could become even more crowded in the new year. But for now, the declared candidates are: Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party; former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley; New York state Sen. James Skoufis; and Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler. And former Department of Homeland Security staffer Nate Snyder announced his bid on Wednesday. To qualify for the upcoming forums, these candidates need a minimum of 40 members to support their bid via petition. Many of the candidates are expected to be at Thursday’s meeting. Akin to running for public office — or possibly school council — candidates hire a staff, launch their own websites, hand out swag, and begin to work the phones behind the scenes to land the nearly 230 votes needed to win. Martin’s crew, for example, is nicknamed KNOT — Ken’s National Organizing Team. Perhaps the most familiar name to DNC members is Martin, who serves as vice-chair of the organization alongside his DFL role. He’s also a sitting member of the RBC, with long ties to state and local party-building. Martin’s campaign confirmed to ABC News that he has over 100 endorsements from DNC members.

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Trump plans to scrap policy restricting ICE arrests at churches, schools and hospitals

The incoming Trump administration intends to rescind a long-standing policy that has prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting undocumented people at or near so-called sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals or events such as funerals, weddings and public demonstrations without approval from supervisors, according to three sources familiar with the plan. President-elect Donald Trump plans to rescind the policy as soon as the first day he is in office, according to the sources — who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the change publicly. The move would be intended to boost ICE’s authority to arrest migrants across the country, and its speed in doing so, as part of Trump’s plan to carry out what he has said he wants to be the “largest deportation operation in American history.”

The policy preventing agents from making arrests in sensitive locations without approval started in 2011 with a memo sent by then-ICE Director John Morton, and continued through the first Trump and Biden administrations. It was meant to allow undocumented people to operate freely in certain public areas with the idea that doing so will ultimately benefit not just them, but also the larger community. In 2021, the Biden administration issued its own guidance expanding the areas that “require special protection.” “Immigration enforcement has always required a balance. In the past, Presidents of both parties have recognized that merely because it may be lawful to make arrests at hospitals and schools doesn’t mean it’s humane or wise public policy,” said Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. “We don’t want people with contagious diseases too scared to go to the hospital or children going uneducated because of poorly considered deportation policies.” Under the policy, ICE agents have been allowed to go into the sensitive locations to make arrests under certain conditions including a national security or terror issue, the arrest of a felon considered dangerous, or if there was imminent risk of death or physical harm to a person or property or concern that evidence in a criminal investigation would be destroyed. Even when those circumstances existed, agents had to get approval from superiors in order to plan an arrest in a sensitive location. They could also go in to make an arrest in exigent circumstances when they felt immediate action was required, but needed to consult with superiors after the fact.

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Syria’s post-Assad vacuum has become a shooting range for great power

The unexpectedly swift collapse of the Assad regime has left a vacuum in Syria. The powerful militaries arrayed around its borders are rushing to fill it. The U.S. dispatched B-52 bombers to carry out airstrikes against more than 75 Islamic State targets in central Syria. Rebels backed by Turkey attacked Kurdish forces and seized territory in the country’s north. And Israel has bombed hundreds of Syrian military targets across the country, methodically demolishing the capabilities of a longtime enemy. The incursions by various powers ticking off items on long-held wish lists underscore the fragility of the new Syria, where rebel factions that ended more than five decades of Assad family rule are maneuvering for leverage and control. Their opportunistic pursuit of national interests complicates life for the main rebel group that spearheaded the lightning offensive, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, as it works to set up an interim government. While Bashar al-Assad’s ouster weakened the sway of U.S. foes Russia and Iran in the strategically located country, the jockeying could put North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally Turkey on a collision course with U.S. and Israeli interests.

The situation presents a geopolitical challenge for President-elect Donald Trump, even as the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon have become less intense. Trump said shortly before the regime collapsed that the U.S. should stay out of the war in Syria. During his previous term, he pared back the American troop presence there. The dilemma he faces now will be much more complicated. “The U.S. may have been happy to see Assad leave Syria, but it now faces a crisis,” said Broderick McDonald, an associate fellow at King’s College London specializing in Syrian armed groups. “Each actor in Syria is scrambling to redraw the map after the collapse of the Assad regime.” Most immediately, the U.S. faces a major test of its commitment to defend its main ally in Syria—the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces—in an area where Ankara and Washington in the past have come to the brink of confrontation. Trump’s reduction of U.S. forces during his first term allowed Turkey and its proxies to drive the Kurdish-led group out of a strip of territory along Syria’s northern border. Assad’s ouster, along with Russia’s shrunken presence, has given Turkey an opening to resume that push. Fresh clashes erupted in Northern Syria on Tuesday after Turkish-backed rebels attacked the SDF. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said he hoped Kurdish “terrorists” in Syria would “be crushed as soon as possible.” Turkey has for decades fought Kurdish separatists at home and views the YPG, the Syrian Kurdish group that leads the SDF, to be an extension of the domestic militants it deems terrorists. ?The U.S., meanwhile, has partnered closely with the YPG and SDF in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.

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For Tesla owners, a referendum through bumper stickers

It was the last week of October, with the election fast approaching, and business was booming for Matthew Hiller. His Etsy shop was receiving hundreds of orders per day. He was preparing to leave for vacation in France, and was hoping that while he was away Elon Musk wouldn’t do anything “particularly crazy.” It may seem strange, but every time Mr. Musk, the Tesla chief executive, causes a stir, Mr. Hiller has to fulfill orders for his online shops. The most popular of the items that he sells? Bumper stickers that say, in all-caps, “I Bought This Before We Knew Elon Was Crazy.” For his vacation, Mr. Hiller asked a friend to cover for him. “I don’t know how she’s going to manage this,” he said. With Mr. Musk frequenting rallies in support of Donald J. Trump and posting on X relentlessly at the time, Mr. Hiller was dubious that business would slow. He had no idea that things were about to get far more hectic with Mr. Trump’s winning the presidential election and Mr. Musk’s status as his close ally.

Mr. Musk spent more than $250 million on the 2024 election, according to federal filings, and then immediately stepped in as a key part of Mr. Trump’s transition team. Few business executives are as closely associated with their products as Mr. Musk, so his rise in the world of far-right politics led to plenty of celebration among Trump-supporting Tesla owners, but plenty of consternation among those who disagreed with the move, or who had simply grown tired of Mr. Musk. The solution, for many Tesla owners on both ends of that spectrum, has been to slap a bumper sticker on their car to let people know how they feel about Mr. Musk. Mr. Hiller, who lives in Honolulu and works at the Waikiki Aquarium, became a key player in the situation by being ahead of the curve thanks to his side business: an Etsy shop called Mad Puffer Stickers. At first, Mr. Hiller just sold stickers with fish illustrations (e.g. an image of a clownfish with the caption “Don’t talk to me. I’m a fishtrovert”) on Etsy and Amazon. He had been considering buying a Tesla, but in early 2023, several months after Mr. Musk completed his takeover of Twitter, Mr. Hiller said he found himself alienated by what he characterized as misinformation on the site.

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Trump says he wants Kari Lake to helm Voice of America

President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he wants ally Kari Lake to be the next director of the Voice of America, a federal network that's part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Trump said on Truth Social that Lake would be nominated by the next head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, a pick he said he would announce "soon." Trump said Lake would "ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media." VOA representatives did not immediately respond to questions about the processes for nominating and approving a new director, as well as what Trump's announcement could mean for the current director, Michael Abramowitz. Lake said on X she was "honored" by Trump's announcement.

"Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide," she said. "Thank you for putting your trust in me, President Trump. I look forward to leading the Voice of America, and I can’t wait to get started." The VOA's stated mission is not to promote America's achievements; rather, its website says it is "committed to providing comprehensive coverage of the news and telling audiences the truth." The VOA also emphasizes a “firewall” that its website says “prohibits interference by any U.S. government official in the objective, independent reporting of news, thereby safeguarding the ability of our journalists to develop content that reflects the highest professional standards of journalism, free of political interference.” Lake worked as a news anchor in Arizona for more than 20 years at KSAZ, the Phoenix Fox affiliate. In the years since she parted ways with the news industry, she ran failed bids for both the Senate and governor of Arizona.

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FBI Director Christopher Wray says he'll resign as Donald Trump takes office

FBI Director Christopher Wray plans to resign at the end of the Biden administration, as President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Wray told bureau employees on Wednesday. “After weeks of careful thought, I’ve decided the right thing for the Bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current Administration in January and then step down," Wray said, according to prepared remarks. "My goal is to keep the focus on?our mission — the indispensable work you’re doing on behalf of the American people every day. In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the Bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work.” Trump has already said he will nominate Kash Patel for the position of FBI director, which typically is for a 10-year term, part of a post-Watergate reform intended to make FBI directors less beholden to the whims of presidents.

A senior FBI official told NBC News that the current plan is for Christopher Wray to stay on as FBI director until Jan. 20, when the new administration takes over. After that, current FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate will be named acting director and will stay on until a new FBI director is confirmed. Trump indicated in a recent interview with NBC News' "Meet the Press" that he wasn't "thrilled" with Wray, saying that Wray "invaded Mar-a-Lago" — a reference to the 2022 FBI search for classified documents that led to Trump's 2023 indictment on seven criminal charges — and that he wanted someone in place to "straighten" out the bureau. "I mean, it would sort of seem pretty obvious that if Kash gets in, he’s going to be taking somebody’s place, right?" Trump said, responding to a question about whether he would fire Wray if he didn't resign on his own. Wray, a Republican, was appointed by Trump in 2017 after the then-president fired James Comey as FBI director. Comey's departure sparked the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election. Under normal protocol, Wray's term would expire in 2027, although Mueller is the only person to have served a full term as FBI director since the 10-year post-Watergate norm was put in place. Only two FBI directors (including Comey) have been pushed out.

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Lead Stories

The CPI report Wednesday is expected to show that progress on inflation has hit a wall

A key economic report coming Wednesday is expected to show that progress has stalled in bringing down the inflation rate, though not so much that the Federal Reserve won’t lower interest rates next week. The consumer price index, a broad measure of goods and services costs across the U.S. economy, is expected to show a 2.7% 12-month inflation rate for November, which would mark a 0.1 percentage point acceleration from the previous month, according to the Dow Jones consensus. Excluding food and energy, so-called core inflation is forecast at 3.3%, or unchanged from October. Both measures are projected to show 0.3% monthly increases. With the Fed targeting annual inflation at 2%, the report will provide more evidence that the high cost of living remains very much a fact of life for U.S. households.

“Looking at these measures, there’s nothing in there that says the inflation dragon has been slain,” said Dan North, senior economist at Allianz Trade Americas. “Inflation is still here, and it doesn’t show any convincing moves towards 2%.” Along with the read Wednesday on consumer prices, the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday will release its producer price index, a gauge of wholesale prices that is projected to show a 0.2% monthly gain. To be sure, inflation has moved down considerably from its CPI cycle peak around 9% in June 2022. However, the cumulative impact of price increases has been a burden to consumers, particularly those at the lower end of the wage scale. Core CPI has been drifting higher since July after showing a steady series of declines. Still, traders in futures markets are placing huge odds that policymakers again will cut their benchmark short-term borrowing rate by a quarter of a percentage point when the Federal Open Market Committee concludes its meeting Dec. 18. Odds of a cut were near 88% on Tuesday morning, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch measure.

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‘Just used’: TDCJ behind on paying employees overtime for hours worked

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is behind on paying employees overtime pay, KXAN confirmed on Monday. One former employee said he’s been waiting around six months for hundreds of dollars he was never paid. The former employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he worked for TDCJ on and off for eight years. “[I feel] just used and taken for granted,” the former employee told Reporter Jala Washington. After quitting in October, the former employee said he grew frustrated with working conditions and pay issues. “My pay has been messed up several times, but this time, I’ve been waiting since May,” the former employee said. “They claim they’re short-handed and can’t get caught up.” A TDCJ spokesperson told KXAN all standard paychecks are being paid on time each month but said there’s a new time clock system that sometimes requires timesheets to be manually adjusted, leading to delays in additional pay.

According to TDCJ, it processes payroll for 31,000 employees across the state. The spokesperson said they’re now looking into how many employees are still owed money and how much the agency owes them. There’s no clear timeline on how long it’ll take to pay employees their additional pay still owed. KXAN spoke with Civil Rights Attorney Austin Kaplan about legal circumstances surrounding businesses not paying employees on time. “The short answer is this is not legal,” Kaplan said. “But the challenge that these workers face is there are significant loopholes in Texas law that make it super hard to recover.” Kaplan said Texas has two wage laws, but that they lack specifics. “There’s not that much clarity in terms of when you have to be paid by,” Kaplan said. “[In this situation with TDCJ employees], private attorneys can’t really get involved, because there’s no private cause of action that we can bring against a state agency in Texas.” Kaplan said employees would need to get the United States Department of Labor involved, which does offer free legal services. “It’s just that they’ve got to take the case, and it can take a while,” Kaplan said. Kaplan said there would be more protections for employees, if they were in a union, with a contract that TDCJ could not legally breach. “I’m really just expecting to take it as a loss,” the former TDCJ employee said. TDCJ said it is working on adding more staff to help with manual time adjustments that are contributing to pay delays.

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Luigi Mangione ‘had so much to offer’ — now, he is a murder suspect

Luigi Mangione was a young prince of this city, his family’s name emblazoned on the walls of buildings and civic institutions. Teachers at his elite prep school described him as a student leader, on his way to an Ivy League education. Classmates called the valedictorian, athlete and budding engineer an inspiration, someone focused on society’s future. More accolades followed at college in Philadelphia. Then came worsening back pain, time abroad and a period of discontent. Friends said they lost track of the 26-year-old this year, struggling to confirm his participation in a wedding; his mother filed a missing-person report. As Mangione’s once-charmed life seemed to be crumbling, Brian Thompson’s fortunes appeared to be climbing. The 50-year-old executive, from a small town in Iowa, was entering his fourth year as CEO of the nation’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, where he was well-liked by employees and respected in the industry — even as some patients complained about the company’s practice of denying care.

“I feel really good,” Thompson told investors on a January call. “Very optimistic about UnitedHealthcare … a lot to look forward to here in the year.” The two men’s paths collided on a Manhattan sidewalk early the morning of Dec. 4, according to police charging documents, with Mangione accused of standing in wait for Thompson in what authorities are calling a targeted shooting. Police who arrested Mangione on Monday in Pennsylvania found a handwritten manifesto that blamed “parasites” and that reportedly railed against UnitedHealth Group — the parent organization of UnitedHealthcare and the nation’s largest health-care company. Mangione appeared in court Tuesday as prosecutors sought to extradite him to New York to face five charges, including second-degree murder, in connection with Thompson’s death. Separately, he faces five counts in Pennsylvania, including presenting false identification to the police officers who arrested him. Ahead of Tuesday’s court hearing, Mangione appeared to struggle with officers and seemed to shout toward a throng of journalists about “an insult to the intelligence of the American people.”

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Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta may become the next ambassador to Italy, according to report

Tilman Fertitta, local billionaire and owner of the Houston Rockets, may be the next U.S. ambassador to Italy, CBS News reported Tuesday night. A spokesperson for Fertitta was unable to confirm the move, and CBS News said the Trump transition team declined to comment on the potential nomination. "Billionaire Tilman Fertitta, CEO of hospitality group Landry's, Inc. and the owner of the NBA's Houston Rockets, is Trump's pick for U.S. ambassador to Italy, people familiar with the decision told CBS News," the article read. A headline in that article noted that Fertitta was a "possible pick" for the post.

Fertitta, who owns Landry’s Inc. and is the chairman of the University of Houston Board of Regents, has long been a major political donor to Republican candidates. While the 67-year-old restaurateur has also contributed to Democratic candidates, the vast majority of his recent donations were made to Republicans, according to Open Secrets. Last month, Fertitta joined President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk in South Texas to watch SpaceX’s sixth flight test of its Starship rocket. Fertitta is also chairman of the University of Houston system board of regents. Reached tonight, UH President Renu Khator said an ambassadorship would be "very" prestigious for UH. "I think it would be a huge honor for the university. I would be very happy for him." Asked if this would prevent him from continuing as board of regents chairman, Khator said, "I hope not. I don't think so." The news of his potential nomination came just after the Houston Business Journal reported Tuesday that Fertitta had expressed interest in purchasing the New Orleans Saints.

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State Stories

Businesses fear double taxation under proposed rule

A proposed amendment by the Texas Comptroller’s Office has some Texas businesses concerned over how they can be taxed. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced in September his proposal to update the comptroller’s rules regarding taxable data processing services, as the existing laws were created in 1987. The updated rule aims to clarify what falls under such services. The proposal defines a data processing service as a “computerized entry, retrieval, search, compilation, manipulation, or storage of data or information.” This definition has raised concerns to some businesses on potentially being double taxed. Currently, businesses already have to pay a sales tax when they sell a product. The language in proposal suggests Texas businesses could now also pay a tax to list the product on an online marketplace if the marketplace doesn’t already include such taxes in the fees they charge sellers.

Chief operating officer of the Austin-based company Pretty Thai, Robert Strong, said 35-40% of his company’s revenue stream comes from selling his products online. Strong is concerned having to pay another tax on top of the sales tax could negatively impact his business. “Fees are difficult with a product like ours, so even the thought of adding more costs to our product is a huge red flag,” Strong said. “We have very tight margins as it is.” Such concerns were also highlighted by a group of Texas small business, as they wrote a letter to Hegar to reconsider the proposal, stressing how a “double taxation will seriously hurt [their] businesses.” In an op-ed, Hager said the proposed rule is “an effort to help online marketplaces navigate the realities of the tax statures.” Hager also said he understood concerns raised by businesses, and as a result, his office “helped draft a workable bill” to “exempt [such] fees from tax” in the 2023 Texas legislative session. Such efforts did not make it too far in that legislature session.

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Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina switches from Democrat to Republican

Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina announced Tuesday that he is switching from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, citing the “radicalization of the national Democrats” and their shift further to the left as the reasons for his decision. Tijerina said during an interview on "Fox & Friends" that he made the decision after discussions with his family and community, as well as careful thought and prayer. “Over the years, I’ve watched the Democratic Party shift further and further to the left, leaving the values I hold near and dear to my heart,” Tijerina said. “I’ve always been a conservative, and the radicalization of the national Democrats pushed me away a long time ago. For that reason, I’m proud to announce that today I will be leaving the Democratic Party and joining the Republican Party, and I’m proud of that.”

Tijerina graduated from Nixon High School in 1992. After being drafted in the eighth round of the MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers, he played four years of minor league baseball. Tijerina returned to his studies after retiring from baseball and graduated from Texas A&M International University in 2002. Tijerina was sworn into office on Jan. 1, 2015, as the 15th Webb County judge. He was reelected to a third term on Jan. 5, 2023. Despite switching parties after being elected three times as a Democratic candidate, Tijerina said the decision does not represent a shift in his philosophy. He said Democrats in Laredo are much more conservative by nature than most others in the party. He cited border security as one of the biggest reasons for his shift in affiliation. “Down here in South Texas, our Democrats are really not the same as national Democrats; we are very conservative for the most part,” Tijerina said. “Everybody started to understand and realize what was going on these last three to four years.

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Houston judge sides with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, blocks sale of Infowars to The Onion

A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday stopped The Onion, the satirical news outlet, from completing its purchase of Alex Jones’ right-wing conspiracy website Infowars. The auction through which The Onion bought Infowars was confusing and potentially left money on the table, judge Christopher Lopez said. “I need you guys to try to go out and get every dollar,” Lopez said. Lopez made his decision around 10 p.m. Tuesday night, at the end of two days of hearings that featured more than 10 hours of testimony and dozens of exhibits.

The judge said that he believed Christopher Murray, the bankruptcy trustee, had made good faith efforts to sell Jones assets – but that a bidding process that featured blind bids, novel non-cash components and post-bid negotiations over the exact meaning of the Onion’s bid. Lopez didn’t award Infowars to the only other bidder, First United American Companies, in the November auction, but didn’t immediately order another either. Lopez told Murray to come back to the court in 30 days with a new plan for the bankruptcy. Still, Lopez’s decision sided with objections made by Jones and First United, a company affiliated with him, which said it offered $3.5 million for the Infowars website and affiliated assets. The objectors argued First United offered the most money, and should have won the auction, and also called into question the process the auction was conducted under. Murray, the court-appointed trustee in charge of the sale, decided that the Onion’s offer was better for Jones’ creditors, to whom he owes hundreds of millions of dollars. Jones put Infowars, its studio and intellectual property rights up for auction earlier this year as part of bankruptcy proceedings caused by civil lawsuits he lost in Texas and Connecticut in 2022. Jones was found liable for defamation against the families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, after he used his show to spread lies that the massacre in which 26 people were killed, 20 of whom were children between 6 and 7 years old, was a hoax. Juries ordered Jones to pay $1.4 billion in damages, though it’s unlikely he’ll ever pay back the whole amount.

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Mattress Mack out of the hospital and 'doing well' after open-heart surgery, constable says

Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale is out of the hospital after undergoing open-heart surgery Tuesday, according to a social media post made by the Precinct 4 Constable's Office. The 73-year-old owner of Gallery Furniture said in a video on social media that he had a "leaky mitral valve," which prompted the operation. Although McIngvale said that he would be at the hospital for roughly a week after the surgery, the Houston furniture mogul appeared in an image alongside Precinct 4 deputies outside the north Houston Gallery Furniture location the day of his operation.

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Houston Chronicle Editorial: As Burrows and Cook vie for Texas House speaker, Republicans shouldn't confuse conservative with cowardice

In his bid to replace Dade Phelan as speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Dustin Burrows has only one path to victory: courting Democrats. That's a pretty risky path in a state where bipartisan cooperation has become a cardinal sin. To hear some Republicans tell it, what little power House Democrats retain in the Texas House should be reduced to zero. Never mind that they’ve been locked into the minority for nearly 23 years while Republicans have enjoyed a full trifecta of control over state government. In this David vs. Goliath struggle, some GOP hardliners want to make sure the Democrats can’t even piece together a slingshot. No committee chairmanships. No prominent voice in the legislative process. Not even a hint of the high-stakes backroom dealmaking and coalition-building that have defined the chamber for decades. Under that scenario, what's to keep the Democrats from just showing up to the Capital, clocking in, and taking a seat in the gallery? They’d be reduced to spectators, or worse, knee-jerk bomb-throwers, using every procedural maneuver to gum up legislation and undermine the business of the people.

For now, at least some Democrats are betting that Burrows, a Lubbock Republican and co-author of the “heartbeat bill” banning abortion after six weeks in Texas, will prevent them from being completely marginalized. The speaker is elected by a simple majority – 76 of the whole chamber’s 150 members. Burrows, a longtime ally of Phelan, filed to enter the race Thursday and Phelan pulled out a day later. Burrows knew he couldn't garner enough Republican votes, since many were committed to Cook, so he'd need the support of Democrats to win. With 38 Republicans and 38 Democrats reportedly in his corner, he claimed to have cleared the threshold and declared victory on Saturday after a closed-door meeting. “I’ve secured the votes of enough of my colleagues,” he said. “It is bipartisan.” There’s that dirty word again. Unfortunately for Burrows, the GOP Caucus plays by its own rules, which say that its 88 members must vote for the caucus’ “endorsed” candidate – in this case, Rep. David Cook of Mansfield. Cook garnered just enough Republican support – 48 votes – in part because some of Burrows’ supporters reportedly left the meeting after two rounds of voting stalemated. Further complicating matters is the fact that Burrows’ and Cook’s lists of supporters apparently contained duplicate names. Both Burrows and Cook will now spend the remaining weeks leading up to Jan. 14 – when the Legislative session begins – whipping votes. Whether they can do so without setting off an internecine conflict remains to be seen.

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City breaks ground on $1.7 billion terminal at San Antonio International Airport

Construction on San Antonio International Airport's massive new $1.7 billion terminal, the cornerstone of a planned 20-year expansion of the airport, is officially under way. The 850,000 square-foot Terminal C will be larger than the airport's two existing terminals combined. It will connect to Terminal B and is set to open in the second quarter of 2028. "This is the largest and most important capital improvement project that our city has ever taken on to date," Airport Director Jesus Saenz said at a ceremonial groundbreaking on Tuesday. The new terminal will include up to 17 gates, bringing the total at the airport to 40. It will have eight security lanes, and the city plans to bump that up to a dozen eventually. There also will be more room for restaurants, shops and other concessions and larger waiting areas for passengers.

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Brooklynn Chandler Willy, San Antonio investment adviser, financial radio show host, arrested by IRS

Embattled San Antonio investment adviser and financial radio show host Brooklynn Chandler Willy was arrested by IRS agents Tuesday at her Stone Oak office. The arrest came six days after a federal grand jury indicted her on three charges, including obstruction of justice and aggravated identity theft and is the latest in a string of legal and regulatory troubles she’s faced. Willy, restrained in shackles, made an initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon. U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth “Betsy” Chestney set a detention hearing for Friday to determine whether Willy can be released on bond. Chestney said prosecutors asked that Willy remain in custody because they allege she poses a “substantial risk for obstructing justice.” San Antonio attorney Roy Barerra Jr., who represents Willy, declined to address the charges against her other than to say that they would be dealt with in court at the appropriate time.

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Despite push by Bexar DA's office, felony case backlog gets worse

Facing a backlog of more than 6,300 felony cases last November, the Bexar County District Attorneys Office made a concerted push to tackle thousands of pending cases. Dozens of prosecutors worked overtime on evenings and weekends as part of a “High Risk Intake Team.” More than a year later, the backlog of cases has actually gotten worse.

There are nearly 6,500 overdue cases waiting to go before a grand jury for a potential indictment, District Attorney Joe Gonzales told the Bexar County Commissioners Court on Tuesday. The backlog was at 6,330 last November, when commissioners approved allowing Gonzales to use nearly $300,000 that had been budgeted for unfilled positions to pay prosecutors to work overtime. The current backlog amounts to nearly 39% of the county's 16,700 felony cases awaiting formal charges. The number of people in jail awaiting formal charges has also nearly doubled compared to last year, Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody said during an exchange with Gonzales.

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Fort Worth OKs Mercy Culture’s trafficking shelter proposal

A divided Fort Worth City Council voted 6-4 to approve a site plan adjustment for Mercy Culture Church’s proposed human trafficking victim shelter. Mayor Mattie Parker was joined by council members Alan Blaylock, Michael Crain, Macy Hill, Charlie Lauersdorf and Mayor Pro Tem Gyna Bivens in voting to support the project. Council member Jeanette Martinez, whose district includes the proposed 100-bed shelter at 1701 Oakhurst Scenic Drive, was joined by council members Elizabeth Beck, Carlos Flores, and Chris Nettles in opposition. Council member Jared Williams was absent for the vote.

The decision came after more than two hours of testimony where church members and residents from the nearby Oakhurst Neighborhood traded barbs and accusations while debating the merits of the facility. Supporters of the project argued it will give victims of human trafficking a place to rebuild their lives, while opponents cited issues with traffic, Mercy Culture’s rhetoric, and the center’s location next to a single family neighborhood. Heather Schott, Mercy Culture’s lead pastor and director of its Justice Reform ministry, said the shelter was needed to help restore some of the most vulnerable members of society. She cited statistics showing a disproportionate number of federal cases involving human trafficking occur in the U.S. District Court of North Texas. She argued the main reason victims of human trafficking return to their traffickers is a lack of places to go. People stop trying to get free after losing hope, she said.

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Fort Worth hires Jay Chapa to be its next city manager

The Fort Worth City Council voted 9-1 Dec. 10 to hire former assistant city manager Jay Chapa to be the next city manager. District 6 council member Jared Williams abstained from the vote over ethical objections to the hiring process. The 58-year-old Chapa is the the first person of Hispanic heritage to hold the city’s top job. He was named Dec. 5 as the sole finalist to to succeed David Cooke Cooke announced in July he would step down in February after serving as city manager for over 10 years. Chapa will also be the second highest paid city manager in Texas, second only to Austin’s T.C. Broadnax, according to an offer letter provided by the city of Fort Worth’s human resources department. He’ll make an annual salary of $435,000 in addition to a car allowance and payment for memberships in private clubs, according to his offer letter.

The city manager is responsible for the day-to-day operation of city government, oversees the budget and carries out the policies approved by the City Council. Council member Chris Nettles voted against hiring Chapa, citing a lack of transparency on the hiring policy. He held a Dec. 9 press conference with fellow council member Williams calling for their colleagues to delay Chapa’s hiring to allow for more public input. Both men echoed those sentiments at the Dec. 10 council meeting. Nettles referenced a packet handed out by the city’s human resources department that outlined the timeline for the city’s hiring process. According to the packet, there was supposed to be a meet and greet with the candidates in December. “We have violated our own process,” Nettles said. Williams said the decision weighed on his heart. He said he has respect and love for his colleagues, but needed to speak out because of flaws with the process. Council members’ powers are ordained by the community, and a majority of District 6 neighborhood presidents asked for a delay, Williams said.

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Texas Wesleyan University to offer free tuition to low-income Texans

Texas Wesleyan University announced Thursday it is rolling out a new program to provide some students with free undergraduate tuition. To be eligible, students must be Texas residents entering college for the first time starting in the fall of 2025. Those students must fill out the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid. If they are awarded a Pell Grant, Texas Wesleyan will cover the remainder of their tuition. "This program is a game-changer for students in Texas who dream of a college education, especially at a small, private institution like Texas Wesleyan, that may face financial barriers," University President Emily Messer said in a statement. "We believe in the power of education to transform lives. By eliminating tuition barriers for deserving Texas students, we're opening doors to countless opportunities."

Students can attend for up to four years tuition-free if they stay enrolled full-time and meet certain academic standards. The program does not include the cost of books or room and board, but the school said students may be eligible for additional scholarships. Texas Wesleyan joins a growing list of institutions, including the University of Texas System, to offer free tuition to students from low-income backgrounds. Last month, the UT Board of Regents voted to provide tuition-free education for students from families earning $100,000 or less.

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McKinney airport prepares commercial flights for take off with $70 million expansion

McKinney National Airport is inching closer to commercial flights after serving private and corporate planes for 45 years. The runway hasn’t been smooth, with two failed bond elections to fund expansion and opposition from taxpayers. The airport, called TKI, has grown nonetheless. Last week, McKinney City Council unanimously approved rezoning 280 acres on the airport’s east side, the next step toward allowing cargo and commercial service with plans for a 45,0000-square-foot terminal building. Mayor George Fuller said the airport positions the city as a “key destination.” TKI has an annual economic impact of nearly $300 million in the region, according to a study paid for by the city, and generated jobs, tax revenue and visitor spending.

“The airport is an asset to the community,” TKI director Ken Carley said. “It’s not a burden on the community. [The numbers] highlight what the airport’s doing and the trajectory that it’s on. It’s growing.” Not everyone’s convinced McKinney should host the region’s next commercial airport, but that seems unlikely to change its trajectory. The council has made clear for a decade the airport is preparing for take off. Tom Michero, 70, is an active member of Keep McKinney Unique, a community group and political action committee that opposes the airport’s expansion. “I do not know why they do not listen to the residents of McKinney,” Michero said. “The whole notion of democracy is to represent the people, the will of the people … we don’t wish to have commercial passenger service at the airport, and they just keep doing this.”

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Austin congressman blasts FAA for flight delays, safety issues at ABIA

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett on Monday lambasted the Federal Aviation Administration for failing to address a shortage of air traffic controllers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport that he said has led to substantial flight delays and half a dozen near-collisions. He also told his Central Texas constituents to expect more postponements during the busy holiday travel season. "Best to check ahead as much as possible," the Austin Democrat said in a news release that came a day after the FAA implemented another ground delay at the Austin-Bergstrom airport that led to held up flights for up to 2½ hours. The FAA's chronic shortage of air traffic controllers is a problem for airports across the country, but, in the release, Doggett noted that the FAA administrator told the congressman during a meeting more than a year ago that the situation at the Austin airport is "as bad as it gets."

Since then, Doggett said, "The number of air traffic controllers at the AUS control tower has decreased, not increased, as the tower struggles to keep staffing at even half the level recommended by the FAA." Asked about Doggett's concerns, FAA spokesperson Cassandra Nolan told the American-Statesman that the administration "will implement traffic flow management initiatives to address any staffing shortages as needed" during the holiday season, but it also noted that wasn't the primary cause of ground delays. "Note that the vast majority of delays in the National Airspace System are not due to air traffic controller staffing; weather and volume drive nearly all delay minutes," she wrote in an email. "The FAA Air Traffic Report, which outlines potential weather impacts, is updated daily." Austin airport spokeswoman Sam Haynes said the last ground delay at Austin-Bergstrom before Sunday's had occurred about a month ago, but she was unsure whether the cause was inclement weather or air traffic controller understaffing.

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National Stories

Trump taps diplomat Ronald Johnson for ambassador to Mexico

President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is selecting former U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Ronald Johnson to be the next U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Johnson, a Green Beret who spent more than 20 years at the Central Intelligence Agency before a diplomatic posting in San Salvador, would bring significant foreign policy expertise to one of the most important bilateral diplomatic portfolios in the U.S. government. Mexico is the United States’ largest trading partner, and thorny discussions around bilateral trade, drug trafficking, migration and border security are expected to dominate the agenda between Washington and Mexico City under the Trump administration. In a post on Truth Social announcing Johnson as his pick, Trump said: “Together, we will put an end to migrant crime, stop the illegal flow of Fentanyl and other dangerous drugs into our Country and, MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!” Johnson will face a Senate confirmation process but is unlikely to encounter resistance from senators as a former diplomat with extensive foreign policy credentials. U.S. envoys to Mexico City have had mixed success in the past. Some, like current U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar, have been faulted for deferring too much to the Mexican government, while others like the Reagan administration’s envoy, John Gavin, have ruffled feathers by pressing too hard on issues of crime and drug trafficking.

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Federal judge blocks largest supermarket merger in history

A federal judge in Oregon blocked Kroger’s proposed $25 billion tie-up with Albertsons, ruling that the largest merger in US supermarket history would limit competition and harm consumers. The ruling is a major setback for the chains and puts the merger’s likelihood in jeopardy. The judge issued a preliminary injunction halting the deal, which the companies can appeal. The merger, announced in 2022, sought to combine the fifth and tenth largest retailers in the country. The companies own dozens of grocery chains, including Safeway, Vons, Harris Teeter and Fred Meyer. Supermarkets have been losing ground in recent decades to competition, and Kroger and Albertsons wanted to merge to better fight off Walmart and Amazon.

Kroger and Albertsons employ mostly unionized workforces and said they wanted to merge to be more competitive against non-union giants such as Walmart, Amazon and Costco. The grocers also face increased pressure from Aldi, the fast-growing German discount supermarket chain. The merger would accelerate “our position as a more compelling alternative to larger and non-union competitors,” Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said when the deal was announced in 2022. Kroger committed to lowering grocery prices by $1 billion following the merger. But Judge Adrienne Nelson rejected that argument. In her ruling, she said that supermarkets are “distinct from other grocery retailers” and are not direct competitors to Walmart, Amazon and other companies that sell a wider range of goods. The merger would eliminate head-to-head competition between Albertsons and Kroger, potentially raising prices for consumers, she said in the ruling.

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Biden hails economic record, warns against Republican return to 'trickle-down economics'

U.S. President Joe Biden touted his administration's economic record and warned against a reprise of Republican "trickle-down economics" during Donald Trump's second term in what could be his final speech on the economy at Washington's Brookings Institution on Tuesday. In his speech, which comes a month after bruising election defeats for the Democrats driven by voters' concerns about inflation, Biden argued that his push to boost investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and neglected communities averted a bigger economic crisis and laid the groundwork for continued growth. "Most economists agree the new administration is going to inherit a fairly strong economy," Biden said. "It is my profound hope that the new administration will preserve and build on this progress."

Biden boasted that his administration had embraced a new approach after decades of trickle-down economics that benefited wealthy Americans first, and now is growing the economy from "the middle out and the bottom up" to the advantage of the middle class. He acknowledged that American workers were still struggling with inflation and high housing prices. Biden highlighted the creation of 16 million jobs, the most in any single presidential term, the lowest average unemployment of any administration in 50 years, and the smallest racial wealth gap in 20 years. He faulted Trump's first administration for failing to develop a plan to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that Republican moves to slash taxes, offshore jobs and destroy unions had put the economy in a difficult spot and worsened the U.S. fiscal outlook. Biden cautioned against more tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations in the second Trump term, and said Trump's pledge to impose tariffs on overseas goods could constitute a "major mistake." He added that he thought Trump would have trouble ending investments made under his administration, since they benefited many Republican-led states as well Democratic-led ones.

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Trump aims to remake Federal Trade Commission with two picks

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday selected Andrew Ferguson to lead the Federal Trade Commission, elevating a Republican lawyer who is likely to abandon the Biden administration’s liberal approach to policing mergers while keeping the heat on big technology companies. Ferguson, one of two current GOP commissioners on the five-member FTC, would succeed Chair Lina Khan, a progressive hero who sought to flex the commission’s enforcement muscle in ways not seen in decades. She challenged a range of mergers, as well as business practices by dominant companies. Her term has expired, and she is set to step down from the commission soon. While both Khan and Ferguson share a deep skepticism of the biggest technology companies, they arrived at the issue differently. Trump’s pick, like many other Republicans, has criticized the influence that social-media and other tech firms have over public debate.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday selected Andrew Ferguson to lead the Federal Trade Commission, elevating a Republican lawyer who is likely to abandon the Biden administration’s liberal approach to policing mergers while keeping the heat on big technology companies. Ferguson, one of two current GOP commissioners on the five-member FTC, would succeed Chair Lina Khan, a progressive hero who sought to flex the commission’s enforcement muscle in ways not seen in decades. She challenged a range of mergers, as well as business practices by dominant companies. Her term has expired, and she is set to step down from the commission soon. Trump on Tuesday also said he would nominate the Republican antitrust lawyer Mark Meador as a commissioner. Meador is a former aide to Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), who led the introduction of legislation to break up Google. His confirmation would give the GOP a majority on the commission. While Meador will require Senate approval, Ferguson won’t. He was already confirmed for his commissioner seat in March and will be able to make the transition to the role of chair. Khan has overseen an aggressive bout of antitrust enforcement against such companies as Amazon.com, Microsoft and Facebook’s owner, Meta Platforms. She has been aggressive in suing to block proposed mergers, including the tie-up of Kroger and Albertsons. A federal judge ruled Tuesday in favor of the FTC’s claims against that deal, preventing the companies from closing the transaction.

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Trump parties no fun for neighbors; council mulls limiting events requiring major road closures

President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence has become the White House of the South of sorts, but those who live in Palm Beach want to shut down the resort’s frequent, large parties because of road closures that cut the town into two. The Palm Beach Town Council will consider a proposal Tuesday to “limit the number of events at Mar-a-Lago.” It is battling the Secret Service over shutting down the main road around the resort after the July 13 assassination attempt that nearly killed Mr. Trump. Mar-a-Lago’s guests don’t necessarily contribute to the traffic congestion because they are pre-screened and bused into the 17-acre Mar-a-Lago estate from West Palm Beach. Commissioners cited “the wrong optics” and said residents resent the security bubble around the resort that hinders their movements on Palm Beach. Meanwhile, hundreds of guests can stream into the club for parties and galas.

Every day, every night, it’s a party at Mar-a-Lago,” Planning and Zoning Commissioner Victoria Donaldson said at last week’s hearing on the town’s traffic congestion. “And I think this is what is making people a little annoyed, the optics of … everybody having a great time at Mar-a-Lago and we can’t get across the road.” Since his election to a second White House term on Nov. 5, Mr. Trump has hosted a series of large gatherings at the club and has welcomed a string of VIPs and world leaders. Guests have included Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Argentine President Javier Milei, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and a parade of contenders for Cabinet positions. Mar-a-Lago hosts frequent, glitzy soirees chronicled in the news and on social media. On the streets outside, fuming residents wait hours in traffic to get around the narrow island. “We keep seeing the holiday parties, and we’re all stuck,” Ms. Donaldson said. The Secret Service erected the blockade around Mar-a-Lago this summer after a gunman shot Mr. Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A bullet hit Mr. Trump’s ear. The shooter killed another rally attendee and injured two others. A second attempted assassin was arrested a month later at Mr. Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach.

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Trump migrant deportations could threaten states’ agricultural economies

If President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his pledge to deport millions of immigrants, it could upend the economies of states where farming and other food-related industries are crucial — and where labor shortages abound. Immigrants make up about two-thirds of the nation’s crop farmworkers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, and roughly 2 in 5 of them are not legally authorized to work in the United States. Agricultural industries such as meatpacking, dairy farms and poultry and livestock farms also rely heavily on immigrants. “We have five to six employees that do the work that nobody else will do. We wouldn’t survive without them,” said Bruce Lampman, who owns Lampman Dairy Farm, in Bruneau, Idaho. His farm, which has been in the family three decades, has 350 cows producing some 26,000 pounds of milk a day.

“My business and every agriculture business in the U.S. will be crippled if they want to get rid of everybody who does the work,” said Lampman, adding that his workers are worried about what’s to come. Anita Alves Pena, a Colorado State University professor of economics who studies immigration, noted that many agricultural employers already can’t find enough laborers. Without farm subsidies or other protections to make up for the loss of immigrant workers, she said, the harm to state economies could be significant. “Farmers across the country, producers in a lot of different parts, are often talking about labor shortages — and that’s even with the current status quo of having a fairly high percentage of unauthorized individuals in the workforce,” Pena said. “A policy like this, if it was not coupled with something else, would exacerbate that.” Employers have a hard time hiring enough farm laborers because such workers generally are paid low wages for arduous work. In addition to hiring immigrant laborers who are in the country illegally, agricultural employers rely on the federal H-2A visa program. H-2A visas usually are for seasonal work, often for about six to 10 months. However, they can be extended for up to three years before a worker must return to their home country.

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Lead Stories

Congress looks to scale back Medicare payments for outpatient care, putting Texas hospitals at risk

Texas hospitals like Houston Methodist have devoted big parts of their businesses in recent years to buying up doctors' practices and rebranding them as part of their outpatient networks. But they may soon have to figure out a different strategy. Under existing federal Medicare rules, hospital-operated outpatient facilities get higher fees than what a traditional doctor's office would receive for the same procedure or treatment — sometimes double or even five times the amount, according to KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation. Now Congress is considering whether to end the practice as part of a larger effort to reduce the cost of Medicare, the more than $900 billion program that provides healthcare to more than 2.3 million Texans 65 years of age or older. The Congressional Budget Office estimates such reforms could save the federal government up to $100 billion over the next decade, on the back of recent cuts to reimbursement rates for in-hospital care for Medicare patients.

"It would be a big deal for hospitals," said Kristie Loescher, a healthcare professor at The University of Texas' McCombs School of Business. "A lot of outpatient care is actually being done in hospitals (and the facilities they operate) and it’s driving a lot of revenue." Hospitals are lobbying hard to block the reforms, arguing the higher fees are justified by the fact they are required to treat all those who come through their doors, regardless of whether they have insurance or not. Without the extra fees, Texas hospitals would likely be forced to eliminate some outpatient services, hurting access for patients, said John Hawkins, president of the Texas Hospital Association, a trade group. Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, for instance, received more than $43 million from Medicare for outpatient care in fiscal year 2023, according to data compiled by the Rand Corporation. Houston Methodist took in more than $140 million. Methodist and other Houston-area hospitals declined or did not respond to requests for comment for this story. "A lot of these systems have expanded their outpatient capability outpatient to provide a pretty high level of care without patients having to go into the medical center," Hawkins said. "A small (physicians) group wouldn’t necessarily be able to do that."

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MAGA movement turns on Ernst in push for Trump’s tear-it-down Cabinet

The Cabinet confirmation drama around Donald Trump’s most provocative picks isn’t only about Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It’s mostly about Trump himself, and the kind of presidency he wants, the one he will end up getting, and the hopes of his MAGA movement that he’ll stand firm on his vow to shake the federal administrative state to its core and enact his and their revenge. The stakes were laid bare in recent days by a fierce pressure campaign on social and conservative media targeting Sen. Joni Ernst over her reservations about Trump’s Pentagon pick, Hegseth. His candidacy became increasingly important after Trump lost his first pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, over alleged sexual misconduct claims that the former lawmaker denies. Last week, the Iowa Republican’s hesitations about Hegseth left the former Fox News anchor’s confirmation hopes imperiled due to the GOP’s narrow incoming Senate majority. Amid concerns about sexual assault and drinking allegations and his past opposition to women serving in the military, some of her colleagues had even floated Ernst, an Iraq war veteran who’s fought sexual abuse in the military, as a possible replacement candidate.

But on Monday, after rapidly rising pressure, including in her home state, Ernst said in a statement after another meeting with Hegseth that she would “support Pete through this process” and looked forward to a “fair hearing” while not committing to vote for his confirmation. (Hegseth has denied any sexual misconduct and was not charged over a 2017 incident in California). The Iowa Republican had faced warnings on social media that she’d encounter a primary challenge in 2026 if she didn’t shelve her reservations about Hegseth. The president-elect’s son, Donald Trump Jr., last week, for instance, amplified a post on X that pointed out that Ernst had been among almost all GOP senators who voted to confirm President Joe Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, saying that anyone who did so and then criticized Hegseth was maybe “in the wrong political party!” In a home-grown threat to Ernst, Steve Deace, a long-time conservative talk show host in the state, said he didn’t want to be a senator but was ready to challenge her in the 2026 GOP primary. “I think this is an inflection point, (a) tipping point for the right in America and it’s in our own backyard,” Deace said on his Blaze TV show on Monday. And Brenna Bird, Iowa’s attorney general, warned in a column on conservative news site Breitbart.com on Friday that “D.C. politicians think they can ignore the voices of their constituents and entertain smears from the same outlets that have pushed out lies for years.” Bird didn’t mention Ernst or Hegseth, but the warning from such a prominent Trump supporter was unmistakable. “When voters select a president, they are selecting that president’s vision for a cabinet that will enact his agenda,” Bird wrote.

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‘I never got the impression he would self-destruct:’ Friends of suspect in fatal CEO shooting left in shock

Months before police identified Luigi Mangione as the man they suspect gunned down a top health insurance CEO and then seemingly vanished from Midtown Manhattan, another disappearing act worried his friends and family. The 26-year-old scion of a wealthy Baltimore family who was a high school valedictorian and an Ivy League graduate, Mangione had maintained an active social media presence for years, posting smiling photos from his travels, sharing his weightlifting routine and discussing health challenges he faced. He publicly kept track of nearly 300 books he had read or wanted to read, even posting a favorable review of the Unabomber manifesto on a book website. But then, during the summer, Mangione appeared to stop posting online, prompting worried messages from some of his friends. “Nobody has heard from you in months, and apparently your family is looking for you,” one user posted on X in October, tagging an account belonging to Mangione. “I don’t know if you are okay,” another posted.

Now, as police rush to piece together Mangione’s potential motive and movements leading up to last week’s shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, those who know him are left wondering how someone with a promising life could have possibly committed such a brazen crime. “I can make zero sense of it,” said R.J. Martin, who lived with Mangione at a Hawaii co-living space a few years ago, remembering him as friendly and thoughtful. “It’s unimaginable.” Mangione, who was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Monday, was charged with murder, along with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of second-degree possession of a forged document and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a firearm, online court documents show. According to the criminal complaint against Mangione, he was carrying a backpack containing a black 3D-printed pistol and a black 3D-printed silencer. A police official told CNN he also had a handwritten document stating, “these parasites had it coming,” and expressing “ill will toward corporate America.” Mangione himself, however, grew up in a wealthy Baltimore family that made it big in business. The suspect’s grandfather, Nicholas Mangione, a former masonry contractor who told the Baltimore Sun he started working at age 11, built a local real estate empire that included nursing home facilities around Maryland and two country clubs in the Baltimore suburbs.

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NTSB finds ‘inadequate planning’ led to fatal 2022 Wings Over Dallas midair crash

Poor planning and inadequate communication led to the deaths of six people in a 2022 midair plane collision, the National Transportation Safety Board announced Monday. The report caps two years of investigation by federal authorities into the incident, which has also spawned several pending civil lawsuits from relatives of the victims who died in the fiery collision in the skies over southern Dallas. The crash occurred when two Word War II-era planes were completing a repositioning turn during the Wings Over Dallas airshow, killing the five people aboard a Boeing bomber and the sole occupant of a Bell fighter. No one on the ground or in any of the six other aircraft involved in the show was hurt during the incident. The city owns and operates Dallas Executive Airport, located just off of U.S. Highway 67 in southern Dallas, where the airshow was operating from when the incident occurred. A city spokesperson declined to comment about the report Monday night.

When federal investigators modeled the flight paths and conducted a visibility simulation study, they determined the pilots involved had a limited ability to see and avoid the crash, according to a news release. The investigators concluded the absence of an aircraft separation plan at the pre-briefing contributed to the crash, as well as a lack of administrative planning to address other “predictable risks.” In the absence of that plan, investigators found the 2022 show relied on the air boss’ real-time directives to avoid overlaps in flight paths. An air boss is the primary operations and safety official at an airshow who functions like a parade marshal, ensuring each of the planes involved is carefully positioned both on the runways and in the air. In interviews, some crewmembers of the other performing planes said they were confused by the air boss’ long stream of instructions. The release said terms are not standardized across the air show industry to avoid this type of confusion. The news release did note that while a plan to “ensure vertical or lateral separation” of the planes was not discussed at the briefing, one was not required by regulations at the time. The final report summary included multiple recommendations for policy changes to air show operations, including recurring air boss evaluations by the Federal Aviation Administration, standardized terms for air boss directives to performing pilots and safety risk assessments for each performance. Since the crash, the annual air show has not returned to Dallas. The group that hosted it, the Commemorative Air Force, has continued to host annual Veterans Day events in other locations with more of a festival atmosphere.

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State Stories

Enron Corporation 'revival' continues as site unveils CEO, sets January summit date

The newly-revived Enron Corporation revealed its CEO Monday, along with a promise to unveil the "most revolutionary technology" the energy sector has ever seen, according to an announcement posted to its website. Connor Gaydos, the 28-year-old who helped pen the satirical "Birds Aren't Real," a conspiracy theory, in June alongside co-author Peter Mcindoe, will lead the reformed Enron Corporation in its apparent revival. Now the self-proclaimed "world's leading company," Enron Corporation announced it will host a power summit in early January during which company leadership will debut an unspecified technology that will transform the energy sector. "When tomorrow comes, today will vanish into a sea of yesterdays," the company said in the announcement. "In one month, we will unveil the most revolutionary technology the energy sector has ever seen."

According to its website, the content of Enron's website is "protected parody" and intended as performance art. While this could be a simple blurb added to Enron's privacy policy in a bid to stave off potential litigation, the dramatic, tongue-in-cheek, nature of the videos shared Monday carry a tone of levity that could indicate genuine parody. The Enron Power Summit is scheduled for Jan. 6. While Enron Corporation has made lofty promises in the days following its return, little in the way of concrete details have been shared with the public. The company did not indicate whether it would be hosting its power summit in-person or virtually, and did not share any details regarding location, time or the nature of the technology it said it plans to debut. The company also shared a video introducing Gaydos as the CEO of the company. Gaydos previously identified himself as the co-founder of the College Company, which holds the trademark rights to both Birds Aren't Real and the "Enron E" logo seen on the recent billboard erected in Houston and the advertisements the company purchased in the New York Times and Houston Chronicle print editions.

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Drew Landry: The Texas Speaker’s race that was…or is?

Dec. 7, 2024, a date which will live in Texas history. For it was on that evening, Lubbock’s senior State Rep. Dustin Burrows declared he had the votes to be the next Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. Once he made that claim, the political Earth shook. Before getting into that, one must wonder how all of this happened. Let us remember, the current Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan dropped out of contention. The Beaumont Republican who guided the lower chamber for the last four years faced what seemed to be a lightweight challenge to the Speaker’s gavel. About 50 House Republicans met at the County Line barbecue restaurant in Austin back in September and they unanimously supported David Cook from Mansfield for an enthusiastic contest for Speaker. What Cook and others wanted, however, appeared to be based on a fantasy. That dream was banning House Democrats from chairing any committees.

The reason such an action was deemed laughable was it would break a longstanding House tradition of bipartisan, coalition governing, and it would ice the Democrats from the process. After all, it takes a two-thirds majority in both chambers to propose constitutional amendments and is difficult to remember a session when at least one was not proposed. While Republicans hold an 88-seat majority in the 150-member chamber in the upcoming session, they do not hold a two-thirds majority and would need Democrats’ help to push such through. Let us also consider that if Democrats are not to chair any committees, what incentive – outside of voting their districts – would they have to help Republicans? The very point of a bipartisan, coalition government is to be unique and not like Washington, D.C. So breaking such a tradition was at the time viewed as a fringe idea. But that notion gained momentum and it took hold as a mainstream perspective when nearly 50 House Republicans coalesced around David Cook to be their Party’s nominee for Speaker as that was something he promised to do. There was much analysis that Speaker Phelan’s “fall from grace” started when the House impeached beleaguered Attorney General Ken Paxton and then barely winning reelection. To me, those instances strengthened him due to his resolve from incredible challenges, but to others, those were warning signs. In the midst of this Speaker’s race, Phelan waved the white flag after losing key legislative allies like Trent Ashby from Lufkin and David Spiller from Jacksboro to his top challenger Rep. Cook - and many other allies in Republican primaries and runoffs. To put it plainly, he did not have the votes to be Speaker.

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Lewisville trustees vote to close 5 elementary schools

Five Lewisville elementary schools will close next year as the North Texas district confronts its declining enrollment. Trustees voted Monday night to shutter Creekside, Garden Ridge, Highland Village, B.B. Owen and Polser elementary schools. Several campuses will also be rezoned as part of the plan. In a series of motions, Lewisville trustees unanimously decided to close four of the schools. They voted 6-1 to shutter Highland Village, with board member Allison Lassahn, who represents the area, casting the dissenting vote. Officials have been considering the move for months as they weigh pressing budget challenges brought on by a shrinking student population.

More than 4,000 seniors graduated from Lewisville last year, but fewer than 3,000 new kindergarteners joined the district this year. Researchers project enrollment will settle at roughly 45,000 students over the next decade. That’s down from a peak of more than 53,000. “Our district family is getting smaller,” Superintendent Lori Rapp explained in an open letter to the community. “Right now, our school buildings have room for 62,508 students, which means many of our classroom seats sit empty each day.” Lewisville isn’t alone in facing a dwindling enrollment. Richardson, Coppell and Plano trustees have also voted to close schools in response to new economic realities. Those decisions – as in Lewisville – touched off emotional board meetings where families talked about the vital role that campuses play in their communities and in the lives of children. Through tears, parents asked the Lewisville trustees Monday night to consider just how much their neighborhood campuses matter. They begged the board to remember that they bought their homes because of the schools, and that their children need stability.

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Dallas Black Dance Theatre to pay over $560,000 to dancers in settlement with NLRB

After months of twists and turns, Dallas Black Dance Theatre has reached a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board. The settlement means 10 fired dancers and three whose offers of employment were rescinded, will receive over $560,000 from the dance company in back pay, front pay and compensation for damages incurred through the loss of their employment. The settlement came Sunday evening hours before a hearing with the dance company was expected to start on Monday morning. DBDT said in a statement the settlement will allow the company to move past its differences with the American Guild of Musical artists, the union representing fired dancers. “The DBDT Board believes this settlement is the best path for our organization, avoiding costly litigation that could have diverted resources from our mission," the statement said. "We are confident this collaborative effort marks the start of a stronger partnership and a brighter future for AGMA, DBDT, and its artists.”

Martha Kinsella, legal counsel with the union, said the monthslong back and forth is a story about worker power with the dancers spearheading efforts. “It's been a really extraordinary and multifaceted campaign that has brought justice for the dancers in a really remarkable, very short timeframe,” Kinsella said. In the settlement, Dallas Black Dance Theatre has agreed to pay each of the dancers about $3,000 to $13,000 in back pay. Instead of being reinstated at the company, all dancers opted for front pay ranging from about $6,000 to $62,000 per dancer. The front pay would cover the payment dancers expected to receive in future contracts after the dance company gave them letters of intent. The settlement also requires the dance company to compensate dancers for former and future damages that may have been caused by their firing or actions taken against them by the dance company. That compensation ranges from about $300 to $4,000 for each dancer. “This has always been bigger than us,” said a written statement from former DBDT dancers Sean J. Smith, Sierra Jones, Micah Isaiah, Terrell Rogers, Gillian Clifford, Dominiq Luckie, Nile Ruff, Derick McKoy, Jr., Elijah Lancaster, and Brianne Sellars. “While this settlement allows our lives to go on and gives us some sense of much-needed closure, we recognize that the fight for accountability and justice at DBDT is far from over.”

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Former small town’s growing pains lead to tensions in mayoral runoff election

The city of Princeton is grappling with booming growth. That’s led to tension over how it should be managed. And that’s playing out in the city’s mayoral runoff race. The election went to a runoff after Brianna Chacón, the current mayor of Princeton, received 41% of the vote in her recent bid for reelection, less than the required 51% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff. She faces Eugene Escobar Jr., who received around 27% of the vote in the Nov. 5 election. Early voting continues until Dec. 10, with polls closing at 5 p.m. Election day is Dec. 14. The candidate who is elected will be at the helm of a rapidly growing city in desperate need of a boost to infrastructure and services that are straining from demand. And the fight for that leadership role also has brought some controversies to light.

Princeton, which is about ten miles east of McKinney, is the third-fastest-growing city in the nation according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The population in 2010 was 6,807. In June 2023, Princeton’s population was 28,027. Current estimates put the population at over 37,000 residents, according to the city. Other cities near Princeton are also experiencing growing pains. Princeton is in Collin County — one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation according to the census. The county’s population is about 1.2 million as of July 2023, compared to 782,341 residents in 2010. The county’s growth has strained resources. Local fire departments struggle to keep up with the demand for emergency services in unincorporated county areas. The county jail and animal shelter also feel the strain — voters approved funds for expanding the jail and animal shelter in a bond election last year. Housing availability and affordability is a problem throughout the county. Plano ISD identified 1,365 students who lacked stable housing the past school year, up from 1,001 the previous year. Several programs throughout the county assist people experiencing homelessness, including City House, which is geared toward youth. But the county has no emergency homeless shelter available for the general population.

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Texas may be losing some luster as a draw for inbound migration, data says

For the first time in five years, Texas was downgraded from an inbound migration state to neutral for those moving from other states in the U.S., according to a new report from Atlas Van Lines. Among the potential reasons: Scorching hot summers and decreasing affordability. Those factors are dimming the Lone Star State’s traditional shine as a haven for seekers of lower-cost living and business-friendly practices. “Some of the reasons for Texas decreasing could be increased living costs and potentially higher temperatures,” said Atlas vice president of business Lauren Piekos. “For example, housing affordability, we think, is one of the biggest drivers for Texas growth in recent years, and essentially it’s slipping away,” she adds.

To be sure, it doesn’t mean the overall number of Texans are shrinking. The state still has natural population growth (births minus deaths); along with foreign migration, it’s kept the state growing. But it may be an early indication that a flood of new people moving to the state, some 5.7 million over the last decade, is ebbing. Atlas’ data covers moves between Nov. 1, 2023, and Oct. 31, 2024. Texas doesn’t rank in the top 10 inbound states; meanwhile Arkansas, Rhode Island and North Carolina lead. The biggest reason people move is for jobs, Piekos said, followed by proximity to friends and family. Affordability is also a big motivator. Texas recently surpassed 14 million total workers this year, but the annual job growth rate has dipped to around 2%, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. Real estate data company Zillow shows the median price of a new home in Texas has surged by over 40% since 2019. In that year, the median single family in Dallas-Fort Worth — the state’s largest metro area — was slightly lower than the U.S. median. Now, at around $369,000, it’s about $8,000 pricier. As for weather, the average annual temperature in Dallas-Fort Worth is 4 degrees higher than it was a decade ago, the National Weather Service shows. However, Texas State Demographer Lloyd Potter isn’t entirely convinced the state is leaking residents.

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No more social media for kids? Texas lawmakers discuss restricting students' digital spaces

Texas policymakers are thinking increasingly about children’s use of digital tools and presence on social media, a topic that’s likely to become a point of conversation in the upcoming legislative session this spring. A bill from state Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, would significantly restrict a child’s ability to have a social media account. The bill comes as schools across Texas are grappling with how to handle the increasing presence in the classroom of devices such as cellphones, which teachers say cause distractions and some experts worry could create mental health issues. The conversations are coalescing at a time when lawmakers and educators are increasingly discussing the safest and most responsible ways for students to interact with technology in digital spaces, particularly at school. Patterson’s House Bill 186 would restrict social media companies from opening accounts for minors, require age verification for new members and give parents the ability to remove their child’s account from a social media platform.

“Heavily addictive social media platforms are destroying the lives of children in Texas,” Patterson said in a statement. “Record increases in anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide have coincided with the rapid rise in social media use by minors.” During a meeting of the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs last month, senators expressed concern about potentially harmful content children could encounter online. More and more, child sexual abuse cases have some sort of technology component, whether the abuse occurs online or offline, said Christina Green, chief advancement and external relations officer for the Children's Advocacy Centers of Texas. It's essential that parents, children and school personnel get education about online risk, but learning the right questions to ask and making the conversation normal can be difficult, she said. "It needs to become commonplace, and the more that we equip parents to do that, the better suited that we will be as a community to shift our behavior, but we have to all be doing that at the same time," Green said. Instead of talking about cutting children off from digital spaces entirely, lawmakers should be talking about how to help students be better digital citizens, said Da’Taeveyon Daniels, deputy executive director of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas. “Banning minors from social media will not effectively keep them safe,” Daniels said. “It doesn't necessarily hold big tech accountable. It just deprives minors of their civil rights.”

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Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes announces retirement

Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes will retire from law enforcement effective at the end of May 2025, after 25 years of service to the city. Noakes was appointed chief of police in 2021 by City Manager David Cooke. He began his law enforcement career with the Fort Worth Police Department on May 30, 2000. Noakes, who recently became a grandfather, said he plans to spend more time with his family. Noakes, Cooke and Mayor Mattie Parker held a news conference Monday afternoon, Dec. 9, to discuss details of his retirement and the transition. Noakes said three things that helped him make the decision to retire were faith, family and friends. “I am so fortunate to have worked for the best police department in the world,” he said. Noakes said it has been the highlight of his professional life to lead the department where he began his career. “Fort Worth is special, it’s different and for me, it was always Fort Worth or nowhere,” he said.

The department and the city will be in good hands with the executive staff, officers, professional staff, volunteers and leaders at City Hall, Noakes said. “My goal has always been to leave the department maybe a little better ... and make sure whoever steps in next picks up the ball and runs with it and does even better,” he said. “I will miss the people, relationships that I’ve been so fortunate to be able to develop in the department,” Noakes said. “I will enjoy being able to spend time with my beautiful wife and my kids and my grandchildren.” The biggest challenge going forward is how the city is growing so rapidly, Noakes said. “We need more officers, we need more firefighters,” he said. “The next person that comes in, as I understand, if they want their department to operate the correct way in the community, they’ve got to make sure they’re taking care of them first, their holistic well being, their holistic health, making sure they have the support they need,” he said.

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Terrell police officer shot and killed in line of duty

A Terrell police officer was shot and killed while conducting a traffic stop on Sunday night, Dec. 8, and a suspect was arrested after a manhunt. Officer Jacob Candanoza, 28, initiated a traffic stop and requested a backup unit at a Super 8 motel parking lot at 1618 Texas 34 S., the Terrell Police Department said in a news release. Around the same time, the Police Department’s communication division received two 911 calls regarding an officer being shot, while the additional units were getting dispatched, the post said. When officers responded to the scene, they confirmed that Candanoza had been shot. After immediate medical attention was administered, he was transported to Baylor Scott and White Hospital in Forney, where he later died. “Our deepest condolences go out to the family as they navigate this tragic time,” the department said.

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Texas Stock Exchange to set up shop in Weir Plaza as it searches for permanent HQ

Walk down Knox Street and you’ll also pass Y’all Street, at least for now. Starting this spring, the Texas Stock Exchange will temporarily be based in Weir’s Plaza, a 12-story mixed-use space on the border of Highland Park, a spokesperson told The Dallas Morning News. Located in the trendy Knox-Henderson district, Weir’s Plaza opened in 2022. It features luxe office spaces with a private bar and lounge, in addition to the flagship Weir’s Furniture store and restaurants. Knox Street has turned into one of Dallas’ most popular shopping destinations, counting Lululemon, Apple and Trader Joe’s among its tenants. Become a business insider with the latest news. Meanwhile, TXSE’s search for a permanent home “in the heart of Dallas,” per its website, is ongoing. The Texas Market Center will eventually house TXSE’s executive offices, along with its listings' quotation and trade-visibility services.

The center will also feature the Texas Business Museum. In addition to showcasing the history of Texas business, it could also “provide an opportunity to partner with Texas’ renowned universities to research and maintain content and artifacts,” according to a spokesperson. “The Texas Market Center will add to the vibrancy of Dallas’ thriving business community, and we believe it will drive further investment and corporate interest in the city and surrounding region,” added CEO James Lee. The days of brokers crowding the trading floor waving paper tickets are long gone, but no stock exchange would be complete without a bell-ringing. The Market Center’s planned broadcast studio will present the opening and closing of the day’s trading. TXSE’s Weir’s Plaza office won’t get all those bells (literally) and whistles, but it will be the exchange’s home as it reaches the finish line of becoming a full-fledged bourse. TXSE is in the process of getting U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approval. The News previously reported that TXSE was planning on filing with the agency in December, with sights set for its first trades in 2025 and first listings in 2026. When that happens, perhaps TXSE can celebrate at any one of the Knox Street area’s chic restaurants, like Michelin-recommended neighbors Mister Charles and Georgie.

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Columnist Sharon Grigsby leaving The Dallas Morning News for a new chapter

In a career spanning 40 years, Sharon Grigsby has been a powerful voice for The Dallas Morning News. She has worked as a reporter, editor, editorial writer, and for the past six years as a metro/city columnist, touching innumerable corners of Dallas with her impactful, emotional writing. This week, Sharon announced plans to move on to a new chapter in the community she loves so dearly. Next year, she will join a soon-to-be-announced project being launched by the Dallas-based Child Poverty Action Lab. “I feel like I’ve given everything I can to this newspaper and our readers, including, as metro columnist then city columnist, writing more than 600 columns in the last 6½ years,” Sharon said in a discussion with newsroom leaders, letting them know she’ll leave at the end of the month. “The News has given me so much in return.”

Sharon moved to Dallas in 1980, joining The News after working almost three years at the Detroit News. Her first two decades here were spent as an editor before she returned to her love of writing. As an editor, Sharon’s roles included running the newspaper’s politics, features and metro operations and creating one of the nation’s first religion sections. The Religion section won numerous national awards for its insightful coverage. In 2004, she joined the editorial board as deputy editorial page editor, a role that allowed her to edit and write. She led that department’s “Bridging Dallas’ North-South Gap” project, which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. She returned to the newsroom as a columnist in 2018, the year she was a Pulitzer finalist for her editorials on sexual assault at Baylor University. As a columnist, Sharon has been a forceful advocate for women’s health and safety, improved mental health care, environmental rights, animal welfare and good government. “When you think about why local journalism is so important, the answer should include a picture of Sharon,” said Katrice Hardy, executive editor of The News. “She’s relentless about ensuring that this community is not just informed about decisions and programs and practices that deserve more scrutiny, she’s equally relentless about the pursuit of the good and inspiring and remarkable. We all have learned so much from Sharon and not just by what she wrote and reported, but how she did so with passion and grit and always by trying to help and uplift others.”

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2 Fort Worth council members call out manager hiring process

A handful of faith leaders gathered with Fort Worth city council members Chris Nettles and Jared Williams at the new city hall on Monday, Dec. 9, to call for more transparency in the city manager hiring process. They argued the selection was being rushed, and called into question the legitimacy of the council’s sole finalist. Jay Chapa, a former assistant city manager who was named Dec. 5 as the choice to succeed city manager David Cooke. The city manager is responsible for the day-to-day operation of city government, oversees the budget and carries out the policies approved by the City Council. “What’s the rush?” Williams said. The council was not made aware of the vote to confirm Chapa until moments before the Dec. 5 announcement, he said.

Both Williams and Nettles accused fellow council members of picking Chapa at the beginning of the process without giving other candidates a fair shot. Both stressed their criticism had nothing to do with Chapa’s qualifications, but more to do with the distrust engendered by selecting him without public input. “It’s not surprising to anyone that governments around the country have issues with trust,” Williams said, adding that the process to select Chapa without having public input furthers that distrust. The process was flawed from the start, Nettles said. He compared the process to hire Chapa to the ones to hire the library director and the police oversight monitor. Those processes took months, but the public is getting less than a week to learn about Chapa before the council makes its decision on whether to hire him, Nettles said. “I called that flawed. I call that baked and predetermined,” he said. Both men called on their colleagues to delay the vote to allow the public to weigh in. If approved, Chapa would be the first person of Hispanic heritage to hold the city’s top job.

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Houston’s Rothko Chapel, battered by Hurricane Beryl, set to reopen Dec. 17

Months after Hurricane Beryl forced the temporary closure of Rothko Chapel, curators of the spiritual space in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood announced it’s on track to reopen by Dec. 17. Almost a month after Beryl struck in early July, the doors of Rothko Chapel were closed for an indefinite period of time. Heavy rain and strong wind resulted in the chapel roof leaking. Parts of the ceiling and walls of the space sustained water damage. The panels of four of Mark Rothko’s paintings also sustained varying degrees of damage, according to the chapel. The panels are now undergoing restoration at an off-site facility. “Since the storm, our focus has been on the complete repair of the building, the restoration of the damaged panels, and on the reopening of the building so the public once again has access to this beloved space for contemplation and meditation,” executive director David Leslie said in a statement. Leslie, who has served as the chapel’s director since 2015, announced last month that he would step down from his role after stewarding the chapel through its closure during Beryl.

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National Stories

New York Times: Kennedy tenure at HHS would jeopardize public health, Nobel laureates say in letter to Senate

Dozens of Nobel Prize winners are urging the US Senate to oppose Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services, according to a letter dated Monday and published by the New York Times. The letter – signed by 77 laureates in chemistry, economics, medicine and physics – cites Kennedy’s opposition to vaccines, his criticism of the fluoridation of drinking water, his promotion of AIDS conspiracy theories and his criticism of HHS agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US National Institutes of Health. “The leader of DHHS should continue to nurture and improve – not threaten – these important and highly respected institutions and their employees,” the letter says. “In view of his record, placing Mr. Kennedy in charge of DHHS would put the public’s health in jeopardy and undermine America’s global leadership in the health sciences, in both the public and commercial sectors.”

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment. Kennedy has been one of the nation’s most prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists for years and has frequently spread falsehoods about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. He has also committed to formally recommending that states and municipalities remove fluoride from public water. Kennedy has said he doesn’t think AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. Instead, he has said, it comes from wearing down the immune system with drug use, which is not true. Additionally, Kennedy has floated significant employee turnover at the nation’s public health agencies. He said in an interview with MSNBC that he would cut workers in “the nutrition departments” at the FDA, and he proposed replacing 600 officials at the NIH with hand-picked staff. A physician advocacy group called the Committee to Protect Health Care has cited factors like these in its own letter urging senators to reject the nomination. Trump’s previous vice president, Mike Pence, asked the Senate not to confirm Kennedy because of his record in support of abortion rights. CNN’s Brenda Goodman, Jen Christensen, Kaitlan Collins, Kristen Holmes and Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.

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Assad’s fall after 24-year rule creates power vacuum in Middle East

As Bashar Al-Assad fled to Moscow, the looters started raiding the presidential palace and people took to the streets of Damascus to celebrate his demise. The Syrian president had tried to hang on until the bitter end, still desperately sending an SOS to anyone who would listen, including Donald Trump. The despot had run out of road. The world is still grasping the speed of events in recent days, and the collapse of a ruling dynasty that laid waste to the country during a catastrophic civil war. But the implications are also quickly sinking in — and not least the prospect of more upheaval and violence as groups tussle for control.

Assad had managed to endure the popular uprising against him for more than 13 years. But the message from his one-time allies and foes was clear: You’re on your own. Russia, which had saved his skin back in 2015, only offered him sanctuary this time. Iran turned its back on him by saying in not so many words that he had brought it all on himself. Multiple Arab and US officials told Bloomberg that a power vacuum could now be dangerous. Memories of Muammar Qaddafi’s Libya and Saddam Hussein in Iraq loom large in the region: In both countries, those entrenched rulers were swept aside in brief moments of euphoria, only for the countries to descend into deeper turmoil. “Chaos is expected in transitions and so is factional — even bloody — competition,” said Bader Al-Saif, an assistant professor at Kuwait University and an associate fellow at Chatham House. “Syria has not been its normal self for over a decade now, divided into enclaves and spheres of influence on top of socioeconomic and political decay.”

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Fear of Trump tariffs is causing Americans to stockpile toilet paper, medicine, and food before prices rise

Americans are bracing for higher prices when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House as he has pledged to impose sweeping tariffs. But consumers aren't waiting for products to get more expensive. Instead, they're loading up on items this holiday-shopping season, according to a recent survey from CreditCards.com. One in three Americans plans to buy more, and fear of higher tariffs is the leading motivator, with 39% citing them for stepped-up purchases. Other reasons include worries about potential supply-chain disruptions, "societal instability," recession, and another pandemic. Meanwhile, 22% plan to make a large purchase, such as electronics or home appliances.

"With the possibility of tariffs hanging over cheap goods from countries like China and Mexico, it’s no surprise that some consumers are pondering big-ticket purchases before President-elect Trump takes office," John Egan, expert contributor at CreditCards.com focusing on credit cards, insurance, and personal finance, said in a statement last week. "Although manufacturers pay the tariffs, these extra costs often get passed along to shoppers in the form of higher prices." Americans are also buying everyday items, and the survey found 34% are stockpiling essentials. Toilet paper is at the top of the shopping list with 77% saying they are stocking up on it. That's followed by nonperishable food (76%), medical supplies (58%), and over-the-counter medications (54%). But inflation in recent years has already boosted prices, so all this added spending means consumers have to find extra dollars somewhere. As a result, 30% said they are likely to go into or worsen debt to buy things now.

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Meet the Trump nominees selling vitamins on the side

President-elect Donald Trump’s top political appointees want you to buy supplements. Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, Trump’s pick for surgeon general, sells her own line of vitamins. Kash Patel, Trump’s choice to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, recommended pills on Truth Social in February that he said could “rid your body of the harms” from Covid-19 vaccines. Mehmet Oz, the TV personality whom Trump named to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, promotes supplements sold by online retailer iHerb. He has advertised multivitamins, supplements for “brain power” and fish-oil pills that he said “probably slowed” the progression of his mother’s Alzheimer’s disease. Doctors and public-health experts said close ties between Trump’s nominees and supplement makers could give more leeway to an industry that is lightly regulated and sells products that are largely unproven.

“The striking number of nominees with interest in the supplement industry speaks to a hostility to conventional scientific thought,” said Dr. Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition-and-health advocacy group. That hostility helped Trump win re-election. “Crunchy moms,” wellness enthusiasts and Americans across the political spectrum have lost faith in the medical establishment and want more control of their own health. “People have lost faith in mainstream medicine because it doesn’t meet people where they are. People want alternatives,” said Daniel Fabricant, president of the Natural Products Association, a trade group for supplement makers and retailers. Fabricant said the supplement industry, which he said generates more than $60 billion in sales annually, was thrilled about the incoming administration’s unusual embrace of its products and had found an ideal ally in Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s choice for Health and Human Services secretary.

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LGBTQ+ Americans stockpile meds and make plans to move after Trump’s win

Zoei Montgomery is so nervous about Donald Trump’s second presidency that she is making plans to escape to Canada if life in the United States becomes intolerable for her as a transgender woman. The middle-school custodian fears that the incoming president will follow the lead of Republican governors who have restricted access to gender-affirming care and made it illegal for people to change their gender markers on official documents. “I would hate to leave home,” said Montgomery, 25, who lives in Washington state. “But it makes me less anxious to have an exit plan in place.” As Trump’s inauguration nears, some LGBTQ+ people are anxiously preparing for what they fear will be a rollback of their rights. Some in same-sex relationships are making plans to marry or to adopt children. Others are moving to states that they believe will offer them more protection. Transgender people are stockpiling medications, worried that their access to gender transition care will be cut off.

Trump has vowed to prohibit gender transition care for children and eliminate any federal spending on those treatments for adults. He has also promised to ask Congress to pass a bill stating that there are only two genders and that they are assigned at birth. And the incoming president wants to use Title IX protections to ensure that transgender women can’t play on women’s sports teams. While some of his promises would be difficult to enact, and many others such as banning access to health care probably would be challenged in court, Trump will have the advantage of Republican control in Congress and could also enact some changes through executive action. Trump’s transition team hasn’t provided further details on his plans, but a spokeswoman for the incoming administration said his campaign focused on “common sense policies” that Americans want. “Clearly, the American people agree with President Trump and that’s why they voted for him in a landslide,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said. A survey conducted by Fox News and the Associated Press found that about 55 percent of voters said support for transgender rights in government and society “has gone too far,” and that 77 percent of this group supported Trump.

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is the latest lawmaker targeted by a bomb threat

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said that her local police department received an emailed bomb threat targeting her Monday but that she is safe. “The Rome Police Department’s Assistant Chief of Police received an email containing a bomb threat directed towards me. I’m so grateful to every member of the Rome Police Department for your swift and professional response in ensuring my safety,” Greene said on X. Greene’s office said in a statement that Greene’s local police department in Rome, Georgia, dispatched its bomb squad to her home to ensure there was no danger. Greene included a video in her post on X of what appeared to be a member of the bomb squad checking her mailbox for an explosive device.

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Lead Stories

Dustin Burrows: Keeping the 'Representative' in the Texas House of Representatives

I am honored that a majority of my peers have asked me to serve as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives for the 89th session of the Texas Legislature. As such, I am responsible for protecting the sometimes-fragile deliberative environment of the House to guarantee open and respectful policy debates. The two basic principles common to any legislative body are the right of the majority to rule and the right of the minority to have a voice and participate in the process. The process works best when these two principles are in balance. The Speaker’s responsibility is to apply and enforce the rules the body adopts, protecting both principles.Applying equally to all 150 members, House rules are the tool devised by members to establish order and maintain decorum. Notably, House rules also include limits on the powers of the Speaker, which is why the Speaker does not and should not dictate House rules.

The rules maintain the truly representative nature of the Texas House, allowing members the freedom to debate and deliberate policy issues most important to their districts without fear of threat or intimidation. Our chamber is a gathering place for passionate people duly elected by the Texans in their districts to advocate on their behalf precisely because they reflect the unique character of their districts. Whether a member represents rural Texas or one of our dynamic cities, their differences are settled on a level playing field, defined by rules adopted by the members, not dictated by the Speaker. The outcomes will be determined by the merits of the debate and the votes cast by members on behalf of the constituents to whom they are accountable. That is why the Texas House of Representatives has always been called the “Peoples’ House.” Since 2015, when the people of my Lubbock-area district first gave me the honor of advocating on their behalf, I have had the privilege of experiencing how remarkably effective the House can be in the face of seemingly impossible tasks. Accounting for the concerns of roughly 30 million people, allocating hundreds of billions of dollars for shared priorities, and wrestling with issues affecting Texans’ safety and prosperity is a massive undertaking. When the House is at its best, we tackle big problems together by building broad coalitions that are bigger and stronger than our geographic and political differences. As Speaker, I commit to working with all members of the House, whether they vote for me or not, to solve the unique issues most important to their districts. This is the sacred duty of the Speaker, and I will fulfill it.

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Under Trump, an 'all of the above' energy policy is poised for a comeback

President-elect Donald Trump talks a lot about "unleashing American energy" — specifically oil, which he likes to call "liquid gold." And based on his nominees for key energy posts, there's every indication that a Trump administration 2.0 will actively promote oil and natural gas. But another phrase is popping up a lot right now in Republican circles: "All of the above." Trump's pick for "energy czar," who has a history of supporting both oil and renewables, has been described as an "all-of-the-above energy governor." A key Republican in Congress hopes that Chris Wright, Trump's choice to be the new secretary of energy and a believer in fracking, nuclear and geothermal energy, will support "an all-of-the-above energy policy." Statement after statement, story after story. Even the summer before the election, the phrase was reportedly the talk of the Republican National Convention.

It's shorthand for a set of policies that support oil and natural gas — and simultaneously, every other form of domestic energy, including solar, wind, geothermal and nuclear. The phrase has been around for decades. It appears to have been first promoted by the fossil fuel lobby before being embraced by a Democratic president, Barack Obama. For Obama, the phrase meant supporting natural gas and pursuing cheap gasoline while also investing in renewable power. Today, it's a mainstream Republican position on energy. President Biden, some argue, also supported "all of the above" in practice — although he didn't use the phrase. But he only supported it in the near term. For the long term, he promoted green energy instead of fossil fuels, talking about a "clean energy transformation" that would remake the economy and address the climate crisis by gradually phasing out oil. In contrast, the version of "all of the above" being talked about in conservative circles today asserts that oil is here to stay — but it leaves room for cleaner energy, too. Trump has promised to "drill, baby, drill," but presidents in the U.S. don't dictate oil production. They can try to influence it, but market forces still dominate companies' decision-making. Case in point: Biden tried to accelerate the shift from fossil fuels, but under his administration U.S. oil production hit new record highs. The American Petroleum Institute has presented Trump with a policy wish list for the industry, including many things that the president-elect has promised to do, like rolling back incentives for producing and buying electric vehicles, restarting permitting for liquid natural gas exports, opening up more land for drilling for oil, and repealing or relaxing environmental regulations.

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US adds 227,000 jobs in November, rebounds from October slump

The U.S. job market rebounded in November after a major slowdown, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department. The U.S. added 227,000 jobs last month and the jobless rate ticked slightly higher to 4.2 percent, marking a significant improvement from a weak October jobs report. The U.S. added just 24,000 jobs in October, according to revised figures released Friday. Economists expected the U.S. to add roughly 200,000 jobs in November and for the jobless rate to hold at 4.1 percent, according to consensus estimates. The November jobs report comes a week before the Federal Reserve is set to meet for the final time this year. Fed officials are expected to cut interest rates one more time before the end of a year in which inflation fell sharply back toward the central bank’s 2 percent target.

The September jobs number was revised up by 32,000 to 255,000, and October was increased by 12,000 to 36,000 for a combined 56,000 additional jobs than previously reported in those two months, the Labor Department said. Economists noted the continued strength in the labor market Friday and the fact that the October slump was driven by temporary factors like strikes and weather events. “The latest jobs data says the labor market is still going strong,” Elise Gould, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in a post on social media. “After the softer numbers in October from the weather and striking workers, November bounces back with strong job growth along with upward revisions.” Across the last three months, the economy added 173,000 jobs per month on average, Gould said. Average hourly earnings increased by 4 percent over the last year to $35.61 from $34.23, Labor Department numbers show. That’s compared to a 2.5 percent increase in the headline consumer price index, which moved to 315.5 from 307.5 between October of last year and this year. Some economists were concerned Friday by a slowing in the employment rate for workers in their prime working years between 25 and 54.

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Texas Legislature is primed for red meat issues, but expect some bread and butter, too

With Republicans firmly in control of the Texas Legislature, the 2025 session could offer plenty of cultural conflict issues that appeal to many GOP voters and activists, but lawmakers are also expected to mix bread and butter with their red meat. Conversations with nearly a dozen lawmakers and legislative staffers indicate the session could focus on improving the state’s infrastructure and adding safeguards against ever-changing technology, including artificial intelligence. Last week during a forum sponsored by the lobby group Professional Advocacy Association of Texas, the chiefs of staff for Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan said the legislative session could largely involve bolstering the state’s infrastructure. Get the latest politics news from North Texas and beyond. Here are some of the major issues lawmakers could tackle during their 140-day session, which starts in January.

Abbott says he has enough votes in the Legislature to approve a plan allowing Texas families to use public money to attend private schools. The proposal, which involves publicly funded education savings accounts, has been defeated in the Legislature by a bipartisan coalition of urban and rural legislators. The fallout from this year’s hard-fought primary elections, in which Abbott used his resources to oust some House lawmakers who blocked his plan, has led proponents to predict a voucher-style program will pass next year. Such a plan could be joined with increased dollars for public schools and teacher pay raises, as some lawmakers against Abbott’s plan will work to get the best deal possible. Texas can expect another significant budget surplus, so Abbott and some lawmakers are pushing for another major property tax relief package. Last year, lawmakers — after contentious debate — voted for a historic $18 billion property tax cut. With a surplus projected at $20 billion, another relief package is likely. Lawmakers could consider whether to stop linking public school funding to property taxes. That would provide additional relief but require an overhaul in the state’s approach to public school funding.

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State Stories

The Texas Longhorns’ path to a national title is clear, even without first-round bye

Steve Sarkisian filed his own complaint Sunday about the College Football Playoff process, adding to the pile around committee members. Frankly, I don’t know why they serve. The perks are snacks and all the football you can watch and talk. Pretty much what I do for a living, and coaches and athletic directors and commissioners don’t take potshots at my credibility. At least not publicly. Anyway, Sarkisian took issue with first-round byes for the four highest-ranked conference champs. First I’ve heard him gripe about it. Possibly carping now because, if the byes went instead to the four highest-ranked teams regardless of whether they’re wearing league crowns, Texas would be off until New Year’s. Sark’s point is well-taken and will no doubt be addressed in the next round of playoffs. Especially after SMU got its hoof in the door at the expense of Alabama.

But, until then, Sark can take solace in the fact that, of the schools that will play a first-round game, only Penn State has an easier path to the championship game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta. Or so says ESPN BET odds, which ranks Georgia, Oregon and Texas as the favorites to win it all. After that three-way tie for first, it goes Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Indiana, Arizona State, Clemson, SMU and Boise State. Note: Normally I don’t promote gambling interests, so, please, don’t wager the kids’ Christmas money on any of this. I couldn’t live with the guilt. Going by that list, Penn State would potentially face the 11th- and 12th-worst bets (SMU and Boise) in the first two rounds. Texas is right behind at 10th and 9th (Clemson and Arizona State). Disclaimer: Don’t blame me because Vegas called the Ponies a bad bet. I just report the news. The fifth-seeded Longhorns appear to be better off than Tennessee, which could face 4th and 1st (Ohio State and Oregon), or Indiana, which is lined up for 6th and 1st (Notre Dame and Georgia).

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Texas leads nation in riskiest states for porch piracy, report finds

In a study conducted by The Action Network, Texas has been identified as the state with the highest risk of porch piracy, th 29.8% probability of package theft. This result comes just after National Package Protection Day on Wednesday, drawing attention to the issue of package theft across the nation. The findings indicated that 5% of Texans have reported having a package stolen within the last three months. Mail is the most susceptible to be stolen followed by Amazon ackages according to the report. North Carolina ranks as the second-most affected state, with a 14.4% implied probability of porch piracy. Meanwhile, Florida, coming in third, reported a staggering 3,270 cases of theft from residences in the previous year.

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Tax breaks for LNG plants don’t benefit the communities granting them, report says

Three low-income school districts in Texas have granted more than $2 billion in tax relief to new liquefied natural gas terminals on the Gulf Coast, according to a report released this week by the Sierra Club, which tallied publicly available data on agreements between companies and local public entities. Those tax breaks, intended to attract investment and employment opportunities, totaled about $4 million per permanent post-construction job promised by developers of the gas projects, said the 34-page report, “The People Always Pay: Tax Breaks Force Gulf Communities to Subsidize the LNG Industry.” Sierra Club researchers compiled dozens of different tax agreements from 15 LNG projects in Texas and Louisiana that are currently operating, under construction or planned. Proponents of such incentive programs say offering tax breaks supports big business that fuels the economy, attracts investment and upholds American energy dominance. Critics say the tax breaks deprive local communities of important revenue.

“Subsidies remain the norm in the U.S.’ buildout of massive, capital-intensive export terminals, concentrated on the Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coast,” the Sierra Club report said. “LNG developers in these areas typically receive lucrative tax breaks that deny the local community critical funds for social services and infrastructure.” A collection of enormous LNG projects has cropped up along the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana in recent years, fueled by booming gas production in the shale fields of Texas. The facilities pipe in shale gas, compress it into a super-cool liquid at minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit and then load it onto ocean tankers for sale overseas. Five new terminals in the Gulf already have helped make the U.S. the world’s largest exporter of LNG. Another five are currently under construction, four of them in Texas. According to the Texas comptroller, those four projects represent $49 billion in investments in the state, while Texas’ three operating LNG terminals exported more than $9 billion in 2023.

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TxDOT wants to keep approving its own federal environmental reviews

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is asking the federal government to let the state continue to approve its own environmental reviews — a delegated authority intended to fast-track highway projects. The public has until Monday night to weigh in on the arrangement that critics have long skewered as "the fox guarding the hen house." Since 2014, TxDOT has operated under the agreement with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), allowing the state agency to assume responsibility for environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Those reviews analyze the impact of highway projects on everything from air and water to homes, businesses and historical sites. TxDOT says the sweeping powers delegated to the state streamline efforts to avoid "substantial delays in the delivery of important transportation projects," shaving months off the environmental review process.

"TxDOT is still subject to the same statutory and regulatory requirements that would apply without NEPA assignment, and our agency takes the responsibility for ensuring compliance with those requirements seriously," TxDOT spokesperson Adam Hammons said in an e-mail. "Over the past ten years, TxDOT has been subject to multiple audits and monitoring events by FHWA." One FHWA monitoring report issued this year found TxDOT was in violation of federal regulations related to the installation of traffic noise barriers. The report said the state was making changes to come into compliance. Critics of the arrangement say the self-certification process known as "NEPA assignment" doesn't result in the rigorous reviews intended under federal law, especially for large-scale projects like the expansion of I-35 through Austin. "The federal government does not have the same vested interest in pushing through these projects that TxDOT does," said Addie Walker with Reconnect Austin, a group that's pushed for burying I-35 through Central Austin. "They have a really strong interest in pushing these projects through, and especially with NEPA assignment, no real incentive to slow down, listen to what the community and local and regional governments are saying."

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He was Houston’s ‘hero doctor.' Now, he's leading a group of COVID vaccine critics allied with RFK Jr.

Four years after he was hailed internationally as a “hero doctor” for his work during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Joseph Varon, a Houston-based critical care physician, has emerged as a key player in a reinvigorated anti-vaccine movement. The 62-year-old physician who once cajoled colleagues to receive the COVID vaccine is now advocating against it as a leader of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), an increasingly powerful physician group that sows doubt on COVID vaccine safety while pushing COVID medications that have been discredited by public health agencies. Varon’s newfound advocacy comes at an opportune moment. With Donald Trump returning to the White House and one of the country’s most prominent vaccine skeptics, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., poised to take over as the nation’s top health official, Varon and other doctors who push questionable treatments stand to gain more influence over people’s health decisions, experts said. “I would not want to see Varon and RFK Jr. in charge during the next pandemic, whenever it comes,” said Arthur Caplan, a medical ethicist at New York University Grossman School of Medicine.

Varon’s physician group has partnered with Children’s Health Defense – a known anti-vaccine group led by Kennedy – and recently congratulated Kennedy on his nomination to the post. In interviews over the last year, Varon has talked openly about his changing views of COVID vaccines, which he previously supported but now calls unsafe, contrary to established public health guidance and studies that estimate the vaccines prevented millions of hospitalizations and deaths. Varon’s attorney, Stephen Barnes, said that “conclusions and implications…that Dr. Varon did not follow the science during his career, including during the COVID pandemic, are unsupported.” Barnes argued that top public health authorities – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization – are no longer credible. Varon’s about-face on vaccines, however, falls in line with his three-decade career at multiple Houston hospitals, where he pushed medical boundaries and more than once found himself under the microscope of federal authorities and health care regulators. The doctor – who until May taught first-year medical students at the University of Houston and primarily works out of a two-story, red-brick office building just outside the Texas Medical Center – has been penalized by the Texas Medical Board twice, faced allegations of Medicare fraud and been accused of allowing unqualified medical students to work without adequate supervision at two different hospitals, records show.

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Austin has little to no 'forever chemicals' in its drinking water. What did the city do right?

New testing results show Austin has little to no traces of forever chemicals in its drinking water. Exposure to these chemicals, also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, have been linked to prostate and kidney cancers, thyroid conditions, decreased fertility and other health problems. PFAS are called “forever chemicals” because they take thousands of years to break down. The chemicals are “bioaccumulative,” meaning they build up in an organism faster than they can be excreted. Over 1 million people in the greater Austin area get their drinking water from the Highland Lakes. Out of the 29 PFAS compounds Austin Water officials tested in the lakes, only faint traces of six were detected. The test results were verified by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Water samples were tested at each of Austin’s three water treatment plants four times over the past year. At the Handcox Water Treatment Plant, none of the tested PFAS compounds were found. PFAS are found in seemingly everything, including clothes, nonstick pans, cosmetics and probably your bloodstream. The EPA announced earlier this year that it would start regulating five of the most dangerous PFAS. So far, almost 50 Texas water systems have reported PFAS levels exceeding the new limits, two of which are in Williamson County. Water systems in Seguin and San Antonio have also reported levels exceeding the limits. The EPA estimated that somewhere between 6% and 10% of all public water systems will fail the new guidelines. But Austin didn’t. Why? Kasi Clay, the water quality manager for Austin Water, said the results are thanks to protections on the Highland Lakes. “Our drinking water is less impacted by industries and activities that can introduce PFAS,” she said. Clay said traces of PFAS found in Austin’s drinking water were so low they were barely even testable.

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Lacey Hull: Texas law protects parents falsely accused of child abuse. Sadly, this innovative law cannot help Robert Roberson.

On Nov. 21, a Dallas man was exonerated — in Michigan. He had been convicted in 2014 of second-degree child abuse based entirely on testimony from a child-abuse pediatrician who claimed that only abusive shaking could explain why his eight-week-old daughter had fallen ill. The child’s parents had repeatedly sought medical care for her medical symptoms. Her father also described an incident that he thought might be relevant: That the baby had once fallen off his knee and he had caught her by the head right before she hit the floor, leaving a bruise on her face. But when a CT scan revealed retinal hemorrhages, a “child-abuse pediatrician” declared that this condition could only have been inflicted by violent shaking. Thankfully, the child fully recovered a few days later, yet her father was prosecuted and sentenced to a year in jail. Because the crime was a felony, he was stripped of his pilot’s license, depriving him of the career he had used to support his family. This man’s name will soon be added to the National Registry of Exonerations, which already includes 40 caregivers convicted using the since-debunked “shaken-baby syndrome” hypothesis.

Another Dallas man, convicted using the shaken-baby syndrome hypothesis in 2000 after being accused of unwitnessed violent shaking, will soon be added to that registry too: Andrew Roark. His innocence and exoneration were recognized on Nov. 18 by Dallas County’s District Attorney after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that shaken-baby syndrome lacks scientific validity. To date, caregivers wrongfully convicted using the shaken-baby syndrome hypothesis who have now been exonerated have collectively served at least 310 years in prison. Conservatively, the average cost of incarceration in Texas is estimated to be about $31,000 per year, putting the cost of those years of wrongful incarceration at nearly $10 million of taxpayer money Not to mention the cost of untold suffering, including families torn apart and innocent children ripped from parents who were falsely accused of abusing them. As a member of the Legislature, I was proud to support Senate Bill 1578, that was passed in 2021 due to concerns about child-abuse pediatricians employed by hospitals rushing to presume abuse. This law gives parents accused of child abuse in a Child Protective Services agency investigation the right to a second medical opinion, regardless of ability to pay, and the right to present a conflicting opinion to a judge in family court. This law was a direct response to a disturbing trend: medically fragile children wrongfully separated from blameless parents by the allegations of child-abuse pediatricians with potential conflicts of interest and a lack of impartiality. Notably, this Republican-sponsored bill passed both chambers of the Texas Legislature without any dissenting votes. We lawmakers recognized that protecting children is one of our most important mandates but involves a more complex approach to public policy than a rush to presume that injured or ill children must have been abused by those who bring them to hospitals seeking treatment. Child abuse is undeniably horrific, but so is mistakenly destroying families. We need to ensure there are checks and balances and that we are getting it right. Sadly, our innovative law cannot help a Texas man who has spent over 20 years on death row after being wrongfully accused of child abuse. That wrongfully accused man is Robert Roberson III. After being hastily accused of abuse by hospital personnel when he brought his daughter to the emergency room seeking help, he was treated like a pariah in part due to his demeanor as a person with autism.

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After a decline last year, Travis County homeowners should expect a return to rising property taxes

As Austin-area homeowners receive their latest property tax bills this winter, they should expect to see an increase. According to an analysis by the Travis County Tax Office, the average property tax bill this year for homeowners who live in their homes is $1,123 higher than last year, or about an 11% increase. This is the largest projected jump in the average tax bill since at least 2014. The increase comes after voters approved several propositions at the ballot box in November. Voters supported measures to increase teacher pay and help lower the cost of child care in the area, all of which will be paid for by raising tax rates. Annual increases in property tax bills have been the norm for Travis County homeowners for at least the past decade. Since 2013, the average annual increase has oscillated between $282 and $536, according to a KUT analysis of tax office data. Property taxes fund the vast majority of public services in Texas, including those provided by cities, counties and public schools.

The rise in property tax bills this year comes even as Austin City Council members voted for property tax relief earlier this year and amid a yearslong fall in home values. In 2022, interest rates on mortgages began to rise following historic lows. The increase has made buying a house more expensive and pushed down prices and values of homes in Austin and across the country. This year’s likely property tax increase comes after concerted efforts from lawmakers to bring bills down. In 2023, Texas voters approved a proposition put forward by lawmakers that allowed the state to take several actions to lower property taxes, including excluding a larger portion of a home’s value from the amount that is taxed. In response, homeowners in Travis County got a respite last year from rising property taxes. The owner of an average-priced home likely saw a decrease in their bill of nearly $500 from the year before. “Last year, the state provided some relief for property tax payers and it was certainly welcomed,” said Bruce Elfant, the Travis County tax assessor-collector. “This year, we’re kind of back to normal.”

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Livestock dying in Johnston County because of what ranchers say are 'forever chemicals' in fertilizer

Cows, horses and fish keep dying on Tony and Karen Coleman's ranch in Johnson County, and they blame "forever chemicals." PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are known to contaminate water, air, fish and soil across the world. It's estimated that PFAS, often referred to as "forever chemicals," are present in most humans' blood because of repeated exposure. The Colemans allege such chemicals are in fertilizer that has contaminated their animals, according to a lawsuit the couple filed in June along with three other Texas ranchers against the Environmental Protection Agency. The North Texas ranchers say 39 of their animals have died since the start of 2023, according to a report by NewsNation. They watched their cows stagger, writhe on the ground and make loud panicked sounds before dying, the report says.

“It’s like a nightmare you can’t wake up from,” Tony Coleman told the cable news network. “You go home at night and you don’t really sleep well, because you know the next day is coming, and you know what it’s going to bring. I don’t think there’s enough words. It’s like ripping your heart out.” The Colemans say the PFAS originated on their neighbor's farmland, and was in fertilizer made from treated human sewage called biosolids that was spread on that property and made its way to the Colemans' ranch, according to the report. Their suit against the EPA says the agency violated the Clean Water Act and Administrative Procedures Act by failing to regulate PFAS in the biosolids. The EPA denied the allegations in September, saying the plaintiffs' order to identify and regulate PFAS was not available, NewsNation reported. San Antonio is one of several Texas cities that have contracts with fertilizer companies to take their biosolids, according to a report by the Texas Tribune. The report says if the EPA starts regulating PFAS in biosolids, water utilities are concerned the responsibility would fall to them to remove the chemicals from wastewater.

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How a hidden fee pushed the cost of Texas residential solar systems through the roof

Across Texas, door-to-door salesmen talked up solar energy as a no-brainer: a way to boost a home’s value, snag a federal tax break and escape ever-rising utility bills. But since a rooftop solar system typically costs $25,000 or more, financing was key, and the sales reps had an answer for that. They pitched a new kind of instant, no-hassle loan with low interest rates and zero money down. The loans came from “fintech” (short for financial technology) lenders, and thanks to artificial intelligence, they could be approved in mere seconds. Customers could complete the entire transaction on a smartphone or tablet “at the kitchen table,” to quote one lender’s marketing materials. But when they entered their digital signatures on loan agreements, there was no way for consumers to know they were paying a large, hidden markup, a San Antonio Express-News investigation found. It happened to thousands of Texas homeowners.

The charge ranged from 10% to 30% of the cost of a rooftop system and sometimes exceeded 50%, according to plaintiffs’ lawsuits, loan documents, industry experts and government reports. The lenders' failure to disclose the fee, along with overly broad statements about the federal solar tax credit, camouflaged the true cost of the loans and caused many consumers to spend thousands of dollars more for their rooftop systems than if they had paid cash or gotten financing from banks or credit unions, the paper found. The markup is best-known as the dealer fee but is sometimes called the program or platform fee or the original issue discount. By whatever name, it increases the dollar amount of a loan above and beyond the cost of materials and labor, and it means the homeowner has to pay interest on a larger principal for as long as 30 years. A San Antonio couple, Cathy and Frederick "Bill" Evans, say that after signing contracts for a rooftop solar system, they learned the loan included an undisclosed dealer fee of nearly $13,000 — almost 30% of the project’s cost. “They need to do something about what we’re going through,” said Cathy, 70, referring to elected officials and regulators. “We fought, and we got nothing except money going out of our pockets.” In a lawsuit against four fintech lenders that operate nationwide, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said that in his state alone, the companies collected $35 million in “hidden fees” over six years ending in 2023, driving up the cost of more than 5,000 rooftop solar systems. Minnesota has a total of 18,500 rooftop systems. Texas has more than 276,000. The dealer fee came “at the expense of consumers who may never have taken out a loan … if they had been informed of the true cost of such financing,” Ellison said in court filings. The attorneys general of Kentucky and Tennessee are pursuing similar suits.

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Former North Texas CFO gets federal prison in wire fraud case

A former North Texas chief financial officer with a prior conviction has been sentenced to four years in federal prison on wire fraud charges, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. Jon Robert Rush, 56, of Keller, pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge in April 2024, the statement said. Rush was vice president and later chief financial officer of a Dallas Fort Worth International Airport logistics and transportation company, according to the attorney’s office. Between 2016 and 2020, Rush misdirected company funds to pay off personal debt, concealing the fraud by entering the transactions in the company’s accounting software, according to the statement. Rush was ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution, according to the attorney’s office. He was convicted in 1994 of conspiracy to commit counterfeit check fraud and wire fraud, which the court cited as the reason for his sentence at Wednesday’s hearing.

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SMU lands No. 11 seed in College Football Playoff, will face Penn State

The Mustangs will have a chance to compete for a national championship this year. About 12 hours after losing in the ACC Championship 34-31 to Clemson, SMU learned on the College Football Playoff selection show Sunday that it had punched its ticket to this year’s expanded 12-team playoff as the No. 11 seed. Having earned an at-large bid, the Mustangs will play Penn State on the road Dec. 21, with kickoff at 11 a.m. Dallas time. SMU’s 2024 playoff berth is its first since the College Football Playoff began in 2014. The playoff field was expanded from four teams to 12 starting this season, offering opportunities for more teams like SMU to secure a spot. Texas also earned a spot in the playoff; the No. 5 seed gets a home matchup against Clemson.

The Mustangs made a statement as ACC newcomers this season, finishing 8-0 in conference play. While a win over Clemson in Saturday’s title game would’ve secured an automatic bid and a first-round bye as one of the four-highest-ranked conference champions, the Mustangs were still in the running for an at-large bid. There was a question about whether SMU could be jumped by a three-loss Alabama team not competing in the SEC Championship this weekend if it were to be blown out by Clemson. SMU fell behind 24-7 at halftime after a disastrous start, but orchestrated a 17-point comeback to tie the game at 31-31. With 16 seconds remaining, two big plays put Clemson in field goal range, allowing the Tigers to knock down a 56-yarder to win. Keeping SMU in the playoff field also set an important precedent. Had the Mustangs been left out after being ranked No. 8 last week and passed by a team that did not play this week, it would’ve impacted how team see their conference championship games and likely led to teams opting out in the future. But the Mustangs’ place in the playoff showed that even though they moved down in the rankings, the punishment isn’t all that severe. “It would be unprecedented. It would set a really bad precedent. It would break all the principles of what we’ve been told,” SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said after Saturday’s loss. “We could’ve not showed up, and according to what we were told Tuesday night, we’d be in, so we showed up and competed our butts off.”

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National Stories

Google sues to stop the US from monitoring it like a bank

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on Friday it had placed Google Payment Corp. under federal supervision, reports Reuters. Google reportedly filed a lawsuit to block the CFPB’s order, which could result in routine inspections and monitoring like those imposed on banks. The agency found that Google’s error resolution and fraud prevention processes pose risks to consumers, citing consumer complaints about Google Pay Balance and Google’s peer-to-peer payments. Those complaints, which Google’s lawsuit claims are “unsubstantiated,” according to The Washington Post, include that the company didn’t seem to fully investigate fraudulent charges and didn’t “adequately explain” the results of those investigations.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on Friday it had placed Google Payment Corp. under federal supervision, reports Reuters. Google reportedly filed a lawsuit to block the CFPB’s order, which could result in routine inspections and monitoring like those imposed on banks. The agency found that Google’s error resolution and fraud prevention processes pose risks to consumers, citing consumer complaints about Google Pay Balance and Google’s peer-to-peer payments. Those complaints, which Google’s lawsuit claims are “unsubstantiated,” according to The Washington Post, include that the company didn’t seem to fully investigate fraudulent charges and didn’t “adequately explain” the results of those investigations.

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The Trump NIH pick who wants to take on ‘cancel culture’ colleges

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health wants to take on campus culture at elite universities, wielding the power of tens of billions of dollars in scientific grants. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford physician and economist, is considering a plan to link a university’s likelihood of receiving research grants to some ranking or measure of academic freedom on campus, people familiar with his thinking said. Bhattacharya, a critic of the Covid-19 response, wants to counter what he sees as a culture of conformity in science that ostracized him over his views on masking and school closures. He isn’t yet sure how to measure academic freedom, but he has looked at how a nonprofit called Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression scores universities in its freedom-of-speech rankings, a person familiar with his thinking said. The nonprofit scores schools based on a survey of students’ perceptions of factors such as whether they feel comfortable expressing ideas. Schools are also penalized if their administrators sanction faculty for opinions or disinvite a speaker from a campus event after a controversy.

Universities that are leading recipients of NIH grants but have poor FIRE rankings include the University of Pennsylvania (“very poor”), Columbia University (“abysmal”) and the University of Southern California (“very poor”). Schools with top scores in FIRE’s most recent rankings are the University of Virginia, Michigan Technological University and Florida State University. The academic-freedom prerequisite is among several proposals for overhauling the NIH and its billions of dollars in grant-making that Bhattacharya would pursue if the Senate confirms him, the people said Among Bhattacharya’s other plans are funding studies to replicate the work of other scientists to help root out scientific fraud. He would also create a scientific journal that would publish studies alongside comments by named reviewers, to encourage more open discussion of scientific ideas. He has proposed dialing back the amount of NIH grant money that pays for publication in journals. And he would seek to pause so-called gain-of-function research that engineers viruses with new, potentially dangerous, traits to study them. He would like to institute term limits for the scientists running the NIH’s various research institutes and centers and would assess a congressional Republican proposal to reduce the number of institutes and centers to 15 from 27, according to people familiar with his thinking.

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Biden officials race to help stabilize Syria after regime collapse

The Biden administration raced Sunday to try to help stabilize Syria after the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, targeting the Islamic State with dozens of airstrikes and monitoring Syrian stockpiles of chemical weapons. President Joe Biden announced that U.S. forces had hit Islamic State camps and operatives in Syria, and said that the United States was working with its partners to address concerns that extremist groups could capitalize on the power vacuum left by Assad’s departure to Russia. “We’re clear-eyed about the fact that ISIS will try to take advantage of any vacuum to reestablish its capabilities to create a safe haven,” Biden said, speaking from the Roosevelt Room. “We will not let that happen.” The rebel groups that toppled the autocrat had their own “grim record of terrorism,” he said. “They’re saying the right things now. But as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words, but their actions.”

The flurry of activity capped an astonishing turn of events in which rebel forces needed just days to upend a status quo that stretched across the administrations of three U.S. presidents, and as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to steer a very different foreign policy from that of his predecessor. Biden said he had directed his administration to work to ensure that Syria remains as stable as possible, as many actors inside and outside the country seek to capitalize on the situation to grab power and advantage. With Israel seizing control of border areas of Syria and Turkish-backed forces skirmishing with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the country’s northeast, the situation remains deeply combustible. Chief among the fears is that the Islamic State — which long held portions of Syrian territory under the fierce rule of its caliphate — could seize advantage of the situation to reestablish itself as a major force in the country. Many parts of the U.S. government were caught off guard by Assad’s collapse, including longtime advocates for Assad’s ouster, according to one senior U.S. official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly about sensitive internal assessments. U.S. officials are far from confident that the rebels will govern in a humane or productive manner, the official said. To battle back the militant group, forces from the U.S. Central Command, whose area of responsibility includes the Middle East, on Sunday struck over 75 Islamic State targets using B-52, F-15 and A-10 warplanes, the command said in a statement.

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For Taylor Swift, it’s the end of the ‘Eras’

Anyone with an ear tuned to the world of pop music knew the Eras Tour was going to be a big one. It was Taylor Swift’s first tour in almost five years, the longest gap of her career. And Swift, long the biggest star in pop music, had become even bigger, transcending the Top 40 to become a cultural phenomenon. Now, almost two years later, Swift started the final show of the tour on Sunday night in Vancouver, Canada, with her standard opener, “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince.” “It’s a pretty cool night to be in Vancouver, huh?” she asked. Meghan O’Keefe of Philadelphia was attending her fifth Eras show on Sunday night. She paid only $15 for the tickets, but they came with a catch. No view. “They’re behind the stage, but I am here,” she said. “I totally didn’t expect that.” (She ended up being allowed to move to a full-view seat.) The tour included extensive music, not just from Swift’s most recent album, “Midnights,” but from her entire career, from the country of “Fearless” to the pop of “1989” and the indie pop of “Folklore.” While the set list stayed fairly static, Swift added “surprise songs” every night; at Sunday’s final concert they were “A Place in This World,” “New Romantics,” “Long Live,” “New Year’s Day” and “The Manuscript.” The first concert came in March 2023 in Glendale, Ariz., and it was even bigger than anyone imagined: three hours, 15 minutes without intermission and more than 40 songs.

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Lara Trump steps down as RNC co-chair and addresses speculation about Florida Senate seat

Lara Trump will step down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee as she considers a number of potential options with her father-in-law, President-elect Donald Trump, set to return to the White House. Among those possibilities is replacing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump tapped to be the next secretary of state. If Rubio is confirmed, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will choose who takes the seat through the remainder of Rubio’s term, which expires in 2026. “It is something I would seriously consider,” she told The Associated Press in an interview. “If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100% consider it.” Elected as RNC co-chair in March, Lara Trump was a key player in the Republicans retaking the White House and control of the Senate while maintaining a narrow House majority. What she does next could shape Republican politics, given her elevated political profile and her ties to the incoming president.

The idea of placing a Trump family member in the Senate has been lauded in some Republican circles. Among the people pushing for her to replace Rubio is Maye Musk, mother of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. “The Senate is an old man’s club. We desperately need a smart, young, outspoken woman who will reveal their secrets,” she posted on X. Lara Trump is 42. Elon Musk, who was with Lara Trump on election night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, responded to his mother’s post: “Lara Trump is genuinely great.” Led by chairman Michael Whatley and Lara Trump, the RNC invested heavily in recruiting roughly 230,000 volunteers and an army of lawyers for what it called its “election integrity” effort, four years after Donald Trump lost his reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden, citing false or unproven theories about voter fraud. Outside groups such as Turning Point Action and Musk’s America PAC took a greater responsibility for advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts. While Whatley will remain RNC chairman, Lara Trump said she felt she had accomplished her goals in the co-chair role. “With that big win, I kind of feel like my time is up,” she said. “What I intended to do has been done.” Lara Trump praised Musk’s new endeavor, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a nongovernmental task force headed by Musk and and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. They’ve been tapped to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations as part of Trump’s “Save America” agenda for his second term.

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Daniel Penny defense may have been handed 'partial victory' with dropped charge, legal expert suggests

Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett suggested Daniel Penny's defense may have been handed a "partial victory" after Judge Wiley granted the prosecution's motion to dismiss the most serious charge of second-degree manslaughter on Friday. "In [dropping the charge], Judge Wiley created what looks like reversible error so that if the jury convicts on the lesser charge next week, it would be overturned on appeal. Why? Because the judge contradicted his own earlier ruling that the jury could only consider the second count if they found Penny not guilty of the first count. Guess what? That didn't happen," Jarrett said on "Hannity," Friday, hours after the prosecution's motion was granted. "Now the judge is letting the jury do what he said he couldn't do. And the defense is right. This is coercive, sort of forcing the jury to convict by changing the rules after the fact. It's not just unorthodox, it's legally wrong," he continued.

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Jay-Z accused in a civil lawsuit of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 along with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

Jay-Z, the star rapper and entrepreneur whose real name is Shawn Carter, was accused in a lawsuit Sunday of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 allegedly along with Sean “Diddy” Combs. The anonymous accuser, identified only as “Jane Doe,” said the assault happened after she was driven to an MTV Video Music Awards after-party. The federal lawsuit was originally filed in October in the Southern District of New York, listing Combs as a defendant. It was refiled Sunday to include Carter. Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee, who filed the suit, did not comment. Carter called the allegations "idiotic" in a lengthy statement Sunday evening and alleged that Buzbee was engaged in unprofessional behavior. "These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!! Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree?" Carter said in a statement to NBC News. "These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case."

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Lead Stories

Texas House Republicans choose their speaker candidate, but the loser declares victory

It took three rounds of voting, but two-term Rep. David Cook emerged Saturday as the choice of most House Republicans for speaker when the Texas Legislature convenes in January. It may not be enough. Shortly after the closed-door meeting at the Capitol ended with Cook’s selection, his opponent — Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock — announced that with support from Democrats, he had the votes needed to become speaker. “I have secured the votes of enough of my colleagues,” Burrows said. “It is bipartisan.” Burrows declined to answer questions from reporters but later released a list of 76 supporters with 38 Republicans and 38 Democrats. All 150 representatives will select a speaker as one of the first orders of business when the Legislature’s regular session begins Jan. 14. It takes a majority, or 76 votes, to be chosen as House leader. Speaking after the meeting, Cook acknowledged the race for the gavel is not over.

“I’ll continue working between now and Jan. 14 to earn [the vote] of every member of the Texas Republican caucus — as well as any Democrat,” Cook said. Rep. Nate Schatzline, a Cook supporter, called Burrows’ announcement a declaration of war on the state Republican Party and a betrayal of Texas “for power.” ”Ask your rep where they stand,” he said on social media. The Texas Republican Party’s executive committee responded with a resolution urging House Republicans to unite behind Cook and calling on Burrows to end his campaign for speaker. The resolution also condemned “any effort by Republican Representatives to ally with Democrats to elect a Speaker.” All 88 House Republicans, including incumbents and incoming freshmen, participated in Saturday’s meeting, which was called to choose a consensus GOP candidate for speaker, a powerful position long coveted by the party’s right wing. The secret-ballot votes came a little more than 24 hours after Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, announced he would not seek a third term leading the House. Phelan’s return as speaker was opposed by the right wing of his party, including lawmakers and activists who blamed him for the failure of conservative priorities in the House, and he couldn’t muster the support for a third term in leadership.

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Can stocks pull off a third consecutive year of big gains?

Wall Street is grappling with whether another year of robust gains is possible for a stock market that is looking precariously expensive. The S&P 500 has surged 28% in 2024 and is on pace for back-to-back annual jumps of more than 20% for the first time since a four-year stretch that ended in 1998. Strategists at some of the nation’s biggest banks are projecting more modest returns in 2025. JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs project that the S&P 500 will reach 6500 by the end of next year, a 6.7% increase from Friday’s close of roughly 6090. Others are a little more bullish. Barclays recently raised its price target to 6600. Bank of America and Deutsche Bank expect the benchmark index to hit 6666 and 7000, respectively. Analysts generally agree that President-elect Donald Trump’s pro-growth policies will be a boon for stocks, but some question how much farther they can run. A backdrop of high interest rates, geopolitical turmoil and potential trade wars could dent the market’s gains, some warn. Yet many investors are hesitant to call an end to a rally that has repeatedly defied expectations.

“We’re kind of in the honeymoon phase of the new administration,” said Matt Miskin, co-chief investment strategist for John Hancock Investment Management. “But the Fed is going to be on the hook for reacceleration of the economy, when it’s doing pretty well, frankly, and perhaps a bit firmer inflation.” In the coming days, investors will parse another round of inflation data to see whether price pressures are continuing to ease. That report will be one of the final readings on the state of the economy before the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, where the central bank is expected to cut interest rates again. Friday’s jobs report suggested the labor market remains healthy. One reason for optimism heading into next year? More stocks are joining the rally. Traders are bidding up economically sensitive stocks that lagged behind the wider market during the first half of the year. The small-cap focused Russell 2000 index is within striking distance of its first record close in three years, and its November gains nearly doubled those of the S&P 500. More than 220 stocks in the benchmark index have closed at a 52-week high since the end of October. It would now take erasing the gains of the top 171 stocks in the S&P 500, including Nvidia and Apple, to negate the index’s total return this year, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices data as of Wednesday. Traders typically take a more inclusive rally as a sign that it has legs because the market is less vulnerable to a downturn if a few sectors stumble. “I don’t think there’s any surprise about the broadening,” said Hal Reynolds, co-chief investment officer at Los Angeles Capital Management. “I’d say the only surprise is that it’s taken so long to occur.”

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Assad regime falls. Retreat of Syrian forces threatens ‘Saigon moment’ for Russia

A fast-advancing rebel offensive in Syria threatens to dislodge Russia from a strategic linchpin that Moscow has used for a decade to project power in the Middle East, in the Mediterranean and into the African continent. It also challenges Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to portray Moscow as a flag bearer for an alternative global order to rival Western liberalism, and his defense of the Syrian regime as evidence of successful pushback against American dominance in the region. A coalition of Syrian rebels launched a surprise offensive last week, reigniting a dormant civil war and seizing significant swaths of territory in Syria, which hosts important Russian air and naval bases. The rebels have already taken the cities of Aleppo and Hama and on Saturday, they said they seized the crucial city of Homs. The Russian air force has been supporting Syrian government forces by carrying out airstrikes on rebel positions. The Russian military also plans to carry out naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, Russian state news agency TASS said.

Russia intervened in Syria’s civil war in 2015 to prop up President Bashar al-Assad against an armed uprising prompted by the Arab Spring, giving it a role as an influential foreign power in the Middle East. It sought to leverage its relations with rival powers such as Iran and Israel, as well as Turkey and Gulf states, to mediate conflicts and claim status as a regional power broker. Moscow co-sponsored peace talks with Tehran and Ankara to try to end the Syrian war. At Israel’s request, it agreed to hold Iranian and Iranian-backed forces away from Syria’s border with Israel. Syria has partly been an ideological project for Putin. The intervention in Syria became a way for Russia to extend its vision of a multipolar world opposed to the Western liberal order, said Nicole Grajewski, fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of a coming book on Russia’s relationship with Iran, including in Syria. “To see Russian planes leave Syria as rebel forces move onward towards their air bases, and their assets in Damascus fall, this would be so devastating for the Russian image of itself,” she said. “It would be akin to a Saigon moment for them.”

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‘It’s a very dangerous strategy’: The controversial tactic super PACs used to boost Democrats this year

A sudden cash infusion boosting Libertarian candidates for Congress. An independent expenditure for a far-right gadfly in Pennsylvania. A mysterious group using offensive messaging against Hispanic Republicans. These were a few of the unusual, controversial and even desperate tactics deployed as part of a forceful embrace of a traditionally little-used strategy: super PACs helping Democrats by elevating conservative third-party candidates. Campaigns and parties generally avoid the gambit, which can be seen as dirty or underhanded because it tries to win an election by using a third-party candidate to siphon votes from the opposition instead of competing directly against them. But it was used significantly more this year than in other recent elections, a POLITICO analysis found. Three outside groups poured in some $3.5 million to support longshot candidates in 10 races, part of a broader $5.8 million spend in more than two dozen. And new campaign finance reports shed light on their donors and ties to the Democratic Party. One group, Voter Protection Project, dropped more than $3.8 million, much of which went to aid Libertarian or independent candidates in five House seats. Its single largest donor was House Democrats’ top outside group, House Majority PAC.

Another group entered the Pennsylvania Senate race to prop up a Constitution Party candidate, spending over 50 times more than the truck driver himself reported raising. The group, ostensibly supporting a third party, used Democratic vendors. Most controversially, a group calling itself Save Western Culture popped up in the final days of the election, taking elaborate steps to conceal its funders and strategists as it enraged and offended Republicans with its messaging. One text warned that “Mexican-born” Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) was working against U.S. interests. A robocall slammed Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan for acknowledging that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. And one of their ads dubbed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) a “cucked-king”. “I’m against a lot of Ted Cruz’s views, but I don’t want to insult him personally like they did, like making fun of him,” said Ted Brown, the Libertarian nominee who was the unwitting beneficiary of the group’s ads in the Texas Senate race. “Definitely not my style.” All together the three groups boosted third-party candidates in the Pennsylvania, Texas and Maryland Senate races and in seats held by Reps. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), Don Davis (D-N.C.) and two open Michigan seats. Only Davis, Chavez-DeRemer and Kaptur won or lost their races by margins small enough that the Libertarian candidate could be considered a possible spoiler. The most compelling case is Kaptur, who won her northwestern Ohio seat by 2,382 votes while Libertarian nominee Tom Pruss — supported by Voter Protection Project — received more than 15,000 votes.

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Border drownings rose as migrants rushed to cross and Texas clamped down

Angelica had journeyed with her parents, older brother, aunt and uncle by foot from South America through a muddy jungle, ridden atop sooty train cars and slept in noisy city plazas hoping to reach the United States. Now it was dawn and the 4-year-old girl’s family could see their destination from across the Rio Grande. The adults sent messages to relatives back in Venezuela before stepping into the river with the two children. “Ya no aguantamos más,” wrote Robiet Farías, Angelica’s uncle, saying he could not bear waiting anymore to enter the United States. The family held one another’s hands and formed a chain with other migrants crossing the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass that November day in 2023. But as they got deeper into the river, something went wrong. Panic set in. The Farías family disappeared into the water. This stretch of the Rio Grande has become a graveyard as the number of people dying while trying to cross rises. An investigation by The Washington Post; Lighthouse Reports, an investigative news organization, and the El Universal newspaper in Mexico found that hundreds more people have drowned than the U.S. and Mexican governments have reported. And nowhere in Texas have more people died than in Eagle Pass, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s $11 billion border security initiative, Operation Lone Star, is concentrated.

The news organizations collected death records from every Texas county and Mexican state that borders the Rio Grande since 2017, when President-elect Donald Trump first took office pledging to crack down on illegal migration, to examine the effects of enforcement and migration policies on asylum seekers, and whether these factors have increased drownings. The data shows that at least 1,107 people drowned trying to cross the river in the seven years from 2017 to 2023. The deaths peaked in 2022 as the number of people trying to enter the United States soared. A rising number of women were among the dead. In 2023, more than 1 in 10 drownings involved a child. The spike in deaths coincided with a record surge in people attempting to cross into the United States illegally. Many of those migrants chose to cross the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, a city of 28,000 that has emerged as a flash point in the nation’s debate over migration. Abbott and the Biden administration have clashed over how to respond to the surge, with the Texas governor installing dozens of miles of razor wire, shipping containers and buoys, and the White House accusing the state of blocking its access to the river. Migrants often choose Eagle Pass because it is across the river from a part of Mexico that is considered safer than other regions controlled by criminal gangs. But the river there has a significant current in certain areas, and gets deeper as people reach the midpoint. Weeds and rocks can make it difficult to get one’s footing.

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State Stories

Texas left with plenty of what-ifs after falling to Georgia in SEC Championship

The legend of Gunner Stockton will ring across Georgia’s rolling hills and down through Bulldog lore after the untried, unflappable sophomore orchestrated a league title and improbable 22-19 overtime win Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, preserving the natural order of the Southeastern Conference. For at least a couple of weeks, anyway. Texas, representing the SEC’s new order, will look back on its first championship game in its new league as an exercise in “What if?” What if a false start hadn’t wiped off a Bert Auburn field goal in regulation? What if Jahdae Barron had gotten the pick-six he envisioned?

What if Texas hadn’t knocked Carson Beck out of the game? Stockton actually “sparked” Georgia’s floundering offense after Beck appeared to injure his right shoulder on the last play of the first half, Steve Sarkisian said, which was about as unlikely thing you’d have expected him to say going in. Beck, who finished 7 of 13 for 56 yards, is on the brink of an NFL career. Stockton’s numbers weren’t much better — 12 of 16 for 71 yards — but the kid who’d thrown 16 passes before Saturday produced 19 points in the second half and OT. He even got a little luck to go with his pluck late in regulation. On third and 15 and a shot at a winning field goal within his grasp, Stockton tried to throw away a pass that instead fell into the hands of Jahdae Barron. Texas’ stellar corner gathered the ball, looked up and saw... “Green grass,” he said. He didn’t cover much of it, though, because Jaylon Guilbeau whiffed on a block when all he had to do was get in the way. Of course, it was hardly Texas’ first mistake of the night. Besides a season-high 11 penalties for 94 yards, there were a couple flags that went uncounted because of off-setting penalties. They were called for false starts on a punt and field goal attempt. The latter on Malik Agbo cost them three points when Auburn missed a 42-yarder on his second try after making it from 37. Colin Simmons was off-sides on consecutive plays.

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Texas semiconductor players get millions in CHIPS Act funding

Two North Texas technology companies are the latest beneficiaries of the CHIPS and Science Act, poised to reap over $80 million collectively as President Joe Biden prepares to leave office. The Commerce Department on Friday announced three individual preliminary memoranda of terms that allocates up to $33 million to Sherman-based Coherent, and up to $50 million to X-Fab, headquartered in Germany but with U.S. operations in Lubbock. Both entities will use the money to expand and modernize facilities, and create upwards of 200 jobs, according to a statement. A third company, SkyWater Technology headquartered in Bloomington, Minn., will get up to $16 million.

All told, X-Fab and Coherent are set to reap the rewards of the federal government’s newfound largesse on semiconductors — a strategically-important sector — both as a linchpin of U.S. government industrial policy, and efforts to counter China’s geopolitical influence. “The Biden-Harris Administration’s bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act is making targeted investments to meet market demands for technology critical to our national and economic security,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “Today’s proposed investments across Texas and Minnesota would help bolster domestic chip production and help secure our supply chain for decades to come,” she added. GOP Senator John Cornyn, one of the CHIPS Act’s authors, hailed the funding as a boost as a means to buttress “this vulnerable supply chain, boosting our national security and global competitiveness, and creating new jobs for Texans,” he said in a statement. “The chipmaking capabilities these resources will enable at Coherent in Sherman will help the U.S. reclaim its leadership role in the critically important semiconductor industry, and I look forward to seeing more Texas-led advancements in the years to come.”

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‘Deaths will be in vain’: Texas body to skip 2 years of maternal death data amid pushback

Advocates are pushing back against a Texas committee’s decision not to conduct in-depth investigations of pregnancy-related deaths from 2022 and 2023, the years immediately following the implementation of the state’s abortion ban. The Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee describes the move as an attempt to catch up on its backlog of data, and to provide more up-to-date reviews of maternal deaths. But Texas residents, maternal health advocates and medical providers on Friday urged the committee to reverse its decision, citing concerns that the state will be left without adequate data on the impact of the abortion ban. “When we don’t have a clear picture of what’s been happening, we cannot make effective changes to better or improve the future,” said Serita Fontanesi, who works at the advocacy organization Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity.

In 2021, Texas enacted a ban on abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy, followed by a near-total ban on abortion a year later. Currently, terminating a pregnancy is only allowed in life-threatening situations, an exception that has caused confusion among medical providers. The investigative news outlet ProPublica has reported on numerous cases where pregnant women died under Texas’ abortion ban. Fontanesi worries that, without investigations into deaths from after the ban, the state will not be able to improve care. “Too many birthing people and their children whose lives were lost, perhaps for preventable reasons, will go unheard, unseen, unremembered,” she said. “Their deaths will be in vain.” Committee members said at Friday’s regular meeting that their decision was not politically motivated. Dr. Patrick Ramsey, the committee’s vice-chair, said at the meeting that the reporting jump “was completely needed.”

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Can recycled oilfield water quench the thirst of drought-stricken West Texas?

There is water in all the wrong places in this corner of West Texas. The Pecos River runs dry through this small town mired in severe drought. But Lake Boehmer, a pool of toxic water flowing from underground, lies just a few miles south. To the north, a well blew out on a ranch late last year and spewed salty water sky high. Early settlers built canals to divert water from the Pecos River here and named the town for the Imperial Valley of California. But today Imperial is surrounded by oilfields and farmland that has gone fallow. Oil and gas companies are injecting vast quantities of wastewater, also known as produced water, into the subsurface of the Permian Basin. These injection wells have been linked to surface deformation, blow-outs and earthquakes. Eric Selinger’s family used to farm shrimp on their property along the Pecos River outside Imperial. But the aquaculture ponds have long lain empty. He sees a potential solution in produced water and is seeking business partners to treat it for irrigation on his land. Selinger hopes that repurposing produced water can reduce the volume injected underground, and in turn, the risk of blow-outs and earthquakes.

“I’ve got the vision and I’ve got the piece of land,” he said on a warm October afternoon. Selinger isn’t the only one betting that produced water can be used outside the oilfield. The Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates oil and gas waste, has two pilot projects to test the concept. The Texas Produced Water Consortium, based at Texas Tech University, is running its own set of treatment pilots. The Texas legislature is expected to review the issue next year. “I believe produced water in the next five years will be a viable supply alternative in some areas that need it,” said state Sen. Charles Perry of Lubbock during a hearing of the Committee on Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs on September 3. “If … for nothing else [in] the agricultural community.” But scientific study of using treated produced water is still in the early stages. Produced water can contain hundreds of constituents that are costly to test for and treat. Many of the constituents do not have toxicity standards approved by federal or state regulators. The cost of treating produced water remains prohibitive. Those challenges will have to be addressed to responsibly use produced water outside the oilfields.

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Conroe ISD no longer employs teacher who banned restroom breaks for first graders

A Conroe ISD first-grade teacher is no longer employed by the district after she refused to let her students use the restroom as punishment for losing the classroom restroom pass. Conroe ISD officials declined to comment on whether the teacher quit or was fired. About five students soiled themselves during class Wednesday and were not provided clean clothes, according to the district. "Bartlett Elementary and district administrators were made aware of a situation after school dismissed on Wednesday in which a first-grade teacher at the school denied students access to the restroom as a punishment. We have conducted a comprehensive investigation, and the teacher is no longer employed by Conroe ISD. This incident is not a reflection of the thousands of exceptional educators teaching in classrooms across the district. We are committed to supporting the students and families impacted by this upsetting event and are dedicated to fostering a culture of mutual respect and care among all students, families, and staff," said Sarah Blakelock, executive director of communications for Conroe ISD, in a statement Friday.

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Calif. city says it didn’t expect Dickies move from Fort Worth

Leaders in Costa Mesa, California, say they were just as surprised as those in Fort Worth when the parent company for Dickies announced last month it plans to relocate the brand’s headquarters to the city near Los Angeles. VF Corp. will move Dickies’ operations from its hometown in Fort Worth into an existing California headquarters for Vans footwear this spring. The Denver-based conglomerate owns both brands, as well as The North Face, Timberland and other active-lifestyle labels. VF has struggled in recent years to return some of its brands to profitability. About 120 employees in Fort Worth will be affected by the Dickies move. The news that Dickies would leave Fort Worth, where it was founded in 1922, came as a shock to Fort Worth politicians and business leaders. Cities often try to work with companies that are considering a move, but VF Corp. didn’t inform anyone in City Hall until it made the public announcement Nov. 21. VF Corp. recently spent several million dollars moving Dickies into new offices in downtown Fort Worth. The company was not receiving business incentives from the city.

Tony Dodero, a spokesperson for the city of Costa Mesa, said VF Corp. didn’t discuss its plans with officials there, either. Costa Mesa did not provide the company with any economic incentives. Costa Mesa Mayor John Stephens said in a statement to the Star-Telegram that Dickies is a welcome addition to the region. “It is very meaningful that Dickies chose to relocate in Costa Mesa. The city is dedicated to supporting the relocation in any way we can, and we appreciate the economic opportunity Dickies brings to our community and the Central Orange County region,” Stephens said. Dickies’ move is expected to be complete by May 2025. VF Corp. acquired the Dickies brand in 2017 for $820 million. The publicly traded company has struggled financially since the pandemic and is in the middle of a turnaround plan that includes cutting $300 million. The company said the move to the Vans campus in California “will help us revitalize Dickies so we can carry on the brand’s heritage for years to come.” Fort Worth officials reacted to the news by pointing out how many California companies have relocated to North Texas’ more business-friendly climate. “Fort Worth has enjoyed its relationship with Dickies and we wish them well,” Robert Allen, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership, said in November. “It’s worth noting that since 2005, more than 230 companies have left California and more than half of them have relocated to Texas.”

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How J&J uses obscure Texas law to stall baby powder lawsuits

What Alice Salas misses most about her life before her two cancer diagnoses is her hair. On a recent November afternoon, she displays photos of herself at a younger age: full, waist-length locks that sheen like obsidian over the shoulders of a woman who appears to be in her late 20s, at the oldest. “I was close to 50 in that one,” Salas, 72, said as the afternoon sun slanted through the windows of the east Dallas home she grew up in. Her hair is notably shorter, noticeably thinner, and graying at the roots. Doing herself up now involves applying hair thickening fibers and drawing on the eyebrows she lost with a makeup brush. “I wanted you to see what it’s caused me, and what I have to go through every day now, you know, having to use products on my hair to cover my scalp, having to put on eyebrows,” she said. The chemo caused Salas’ toenails to fall off and grow back so hard that she can no longer cut them herself. She now gets pedicures to trim them. She is convinced that she can feel dead cells left over from the treatments.

The cruel irony of her situation is that she holds what was an ostensibly harmless personal hygiene product responsible for making the last 16 years of her life so difficult: Johnson & Johnson’s talcum-based baby powder. And she is far from alone. Salas is one of thousands of people who have brought personal injury suits against the company with claims that its baby powder gave them ovarian cancer due to likely asbestos contamination. But the company’s use — or abuse, her lawyers say — of an obscure statute in the Texas Business Organizations Code has put her claim and thousands of others on hold. Known colloquially as the “Texas two-step,” the stratagem has offered New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson and other large multinationals a way to try and minimize their liability in such cases by filing for bankruptcy. Johnson & Johnson has a market cap of more than $372 billion and around $20 billion in cash. The company has already filed for bankruptcy twice using the Texas two-step, and bankruptcy courts in other states have twice dismissed the cases. With its liabilities now rebranded as Red River Talc, Johnson & Johnson has brought its bankruptcy plan to a Texas bankruptcy court. The company and its bankruptcy lawyers have said in court filings and media reports that the move will help plaintiffs obtain payouts on their claims, but plaintiffs’ attorneys say it is meant to force them into accepting pennies on the dollar.

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Abbott supporting Hunter in Corpus Christi mayoral runoff

A statewide leader has weighed in on the Corpus Christi City Council election. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is supporting City Councilman Michael Hunter in the mayoral race, according to an email sent from Abbott’s political campaign. Hunter is challenging incumbent Mayor Paulette Guajardo in the runoff. Abbott’s involvement illustrates the competitiveness of the race and the volume of resources going into it — as well as political capital, said Paul Gottemoller, a political science professor at Del Mar College. “I can’t think of the last time a governor got involved” in a mayoral race in Corpus Christi, he said. Hunter, who is the son of Texas Rep. Todd Hunter, did not immediately respond to the Caller-Times’ requests for comment Thursday or Friday. The statement was first posted Tuesday on a Facebook page run by Hunter’s campaign.

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Eleanor Dearman: Embracing the ups and downs after getting breast cancer at 28

Leave it to me to turn “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” into my unofficial cancer anthem. For those of you who don’t know the Taylor Swift earworm, there’s one line in particular that often played on my head in repeat in the final stretch of my cancer treatments: “I was grinning like I’m winning, I was hitting my marks ‘cause I can do it with a broken heart.” Substitute “broken heart” with “breast cancer” and that was basically me for the past year. I’m not saying it was the best coping mechanism. I’m not encouraging others going through similar experiences to emulate, because frankly I’m still processing the past year and the longterm effects — physical and emotional — are TBD. But for me, smiling even as I wanted to cry and staying focused on the path ahead was all I knew to do. And with that, let’s go back to fall 2023.

I’d just bought a house after years of saving. I was newly engaged and eagerly planning a wedding. It was one of the best years. Then, I found a lump in my left breast, and it took a turn. I was 28. At first I thought maybe it was in my head. I had my now-husband check. He felt it too. I had two close friends check. So did they. But Google cooed that most lumps are benign and only about 4% of breast cancer diagnoses in the U.S. are in patients under 40. I almost didn’t go to the doctor for it, but at the insistence of others, I mentioned it at the very end of a routine doctor’s appointment about something unrelated. An afterthought. The nurse practitioner ordered some tests to be safe. I wasn’t concerned until about halfway through the tests. I went to a diagnostic imaging office, where cheery technicians took some ultrasounds and assured me that people my age usually don’t need a diagnostic mammogram. When they came back to let me know they were going to do that mammogram after all, I knew something was up. When they sat me down in a back room to explain that the results were indicative of cancer but more testing was needed, the real worrying began. I did those tests and within days I was diagnosed with breast cancer — Stage 3, I’d later learn.

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Family says Texas journalist Austin Tice, kidnapped in Syria, is alive and treated well

Kidnapped investigative journalist Austin Tice’s family is pushing White House officials to work harder for his release from captivity as the clock ticks down on the Biden administration. It’s been more than 12 years since the Houston native and former U.S. Marine was abducted in Syria. He has not been heard from since a video released shortly after his capture showed him blindfolded in the custody of armed men. During a meeting Friday with White House officials, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan, his family expressed frustration over the lack of progress in securing his release. They recounted the meeting during a news conference at the National Press Club and shared some good news. “We have from a significant source that has already been vetted all over our government: Austin Tice is alive. Austin Tice is treated well,” his mother Debra Tice said. “There is no doubt about that.”

amily members said they would like to release more information about his well-being, which they received in August, but government officials won’t allow them to do so. Seventeen family members appeared on stage for the news conference, including Tice’s parents and six siblings. The siblings shared memories of their brother and highlighted requests made during the White House meeting, including President Joe Biden’s commitment to reach out directly to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Austin’s behalf. They said the officials declined to make that commitment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the family’s frustrations. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, asked during Friday’s briefing about Austin Tice, said she had no information to share about his condition but said the administration would continue efforts to free detained Americans. Family members said they asked if Tice’s release could be helped by the situation in Syria, where a long-running civil war has flared anew and Assad’s regime is under intensifying pressure. “How can we leverage this moment and everything that’s happening in Syria as a potential opportunity for Austin?” sister Naomi Tice said she asked in the White House meeting. “We were basically just told that we need to wait and see how it pans out.” Hearing that is “beyond frustrating” for loved ones who have been told for 12 years to wait and see how things pan out, she said.

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Fairview residents decry Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple compromise

The battle between Fairview and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church, continued this week as a new, compromised proposal for the McKinney Texas Temple went to the public for discussion. Comments from Fairview residents at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting show the fight is far from over. While some were grateful the town negotiated the church’s requested temple down, opposition in green “Fairview United” T-shirts expressed dissatisfaction with the concessions made under threat of a lawsuit from the church, according to town officials. “I thought y’all were going to be a hero, not only for the residents of Fairview, but for others who have been trampled on by the LDS,” said Fairview resident Alycia Kuehne to the Town Council at Tuesday’s meeting. “Y’all were so fearful about a lawsuit. I say, bring it.” Residents in the town of nearly 11,000 people about 30 miles north of Dallas have fought for months against the proposed temple, which originally was a 43,200 square-foot building, 65 feet tall with a spire reaching almost 174 feet.

The temple is planned for a lot next to an existing meetinghouse in the town, which falls under residential-area zoning restrictions that state buildings can have a maximum height of 35 feet. If built, the original temple would have been the tallest building in the town. The Town Council denied a permit request for the temple in August after months of debate. Those opposed said the building would be out of place in the town, while church members said the space is needed to accommodate a growing congregation. Last month, Fairview and church leaders reached an initial compromise after mediation to help avoid legal action. The non-binding settlement reduces the temple’s height by around 50 feet and its size by 13,000 square feet. The new proposal is a one-story, 35-foot building just under 30‚000 square feet. A tower coming up from the main structure reaches 120 feet, according to statements from the mayor at Tuesday’s meeting. A “lightning rod” reaches from the top.

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City Stories

Lago Vista city leaders take fight over water infrastructure funding to Washington

Lago Vista's growing population is putting a strain on the city's water infrastructure, and city leaders are concerned about the burden on taxpayers to expand wastewater and drinking water systems. Because of this, they went to the White House this week to ask for federal help. In the last 10 years, the city's population has grown from around 6,000 to around 14,000. According to projections, it could grow to 22,000 in the next 10 years, reach 51,000 by 2040 and eventually top out at around 86,000. "That's an immense amount of growth out here that we don't have the infrastructure for," Place 1 Council Member Shane Saum said. Lago Vista is going through a lot of growing pains, and Place 5 Council Member Paul Roberts said it creates an untenable situation for growth. "We can't grow infinitely and continue to try to bring in funding through impact fees to fund these water and wastewater developments," Roberts said.

So they took the fight for water from Hill Country to Washington D.C. after Saum requested a meeting with the White House. On Tuesday, Saum, Roberts and Place 2 Council Member Adam Benefield met with the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, which serves as a bridge between the federal government and elected officials in state and local government and works to address issues in communities across the country. Saum said they discussed water supply concerns in small towns like Lago Vista and federal funding opportunities for water infrastructure projects. "My initial message to them was not just about Lago Vista, but I was trying to convey, I think this is something cities all over Texas are dealing with," Saum said. "If you're located near a high growth city like Austin, their policies are leading to many people moving into your community, but you have to pay for it." For the city council members, walking through the gates of the White House and into the West Wing was a surreal experience. "It was a sense of great reverence, honestly," Roberts said. "It was amazing getting to the White House for something like this on behalf of the citizens of Lago Vista."

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National Stories

Why finding the suspected CEO killer is harder than you might think

He killed a high-profile CEO on a sidewalk in America’s largest city, where thousands of surveillance cameras monitor millions of people every day. But the man who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a busy hotel keeps evading capture. Now, authorities say he might have slipped out of New York – meaning the elusive gunman could be anywhere. It could take weeks to find and scrub through a massive array of video footage from all the places where the gunman may have traveled. Police believe the suspect arrived in New York City 10 days before the killing – on November 24, a law enforcement official told CNN. Throughout his stay, the suspect appeared on camera numerous times – but always kept his hood over his head and wore a mask in public places. “He knows he’s on camera – it’s New York,” said John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.

Police are searching for and scouring countless hours of video footage in hopes of finding more clues, such as whether the suspect met with anyone while in the city. “It will take them weeks. … They will build out every step of his trip that’s on video,” Miller said. “They will create a movie of his every move.” While the gunman meticulously planned many parts of his crime and getaway, he might be surprised by “how far the NYPD is going to go in collecting video,” said former NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey. “And they’re not just going to take it from the crime scene to his escape route,” Corey said. “They’re actually going to rewind now, and they’re going to try to account for all 10 days that he spent in New York City. And I don’t think that he anticipates that.” Minutes after Thompson was gunned down Wednesday, surveillance video captured the suspect riding an electric bike into colossal Central Park at 6:48 a.m. Spanning 843 acres, Central Park is larger than the country of Monaco. “It’s a big park, and it’s complicated terrain,” Miller said.

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An archbishop's knock formally restores Notre Dame to life as winds howl and heads of state look on

Howling winds couldn’t stop Notre Dame Cathedral ’s heart from beating again. With three resounding knocks on its doors by Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, wielding a specially designed crosier carved from fire-scorched beams, the monument roared back to life Saturday evening. For the first time since a devastating blaze nearly destroyed it in 2019, the towering Gothic masterpiece reopened for worship, its rebirth marked by song, prayer, and awe beneath its soaring arches. The ceremony, initially planned to begin on the forecourt, was moved entirely inside due to unusually fierce December winds sweeping across the Île de la Cité, flanked by the River Seine. Yet the occasion lost none of its splendor. Inside the luminous nave, choirs sang psalms, and the cathedral’s mighty organ, silent for nearly five years, thundered to life in a triumphant interplay of melodies.

The restoration, a spectacular achievement in just five years for a structure that took nearly two centuries to build, is seen as a moment of triumph for French President Emmanuel Macron, who championed the ambitious timeline — and a welcome respite from his domestic political woes. The evening’s celebration, attended by 1,500 dignitaries, including President-elect Donald Trump, US first lady Jill Biden, Britain’s Prince William, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, underscored Notre Dame’s enduring role as both a spiritual and cultural beacon. Observers see the event as Macron’s, and his intention to pivot it into a fully fledged diplomatic gathering, while highlighting France’s ability to unite on the global stage despite internal political crises.

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Trump hesitates to personally lobby for endangered Cabinet picks

President-elect Donald Trump, a lifelong teetotaler whose brother struggled with alcoholism and died at 42, was shaken by reports about a history of heavy drinking by his choice to lead the Pentagon, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth. Trump’s response was to encourage Hegseth, who has said he has never had a drinking problem, to fight for his job. Trump instructed aides to defend Hegseth, activating his campaign’s rapid-response apparatus and encouraging surrogates to publicly show support. Allies have threatened primary challenges for senators who oppose his picks, and a group funded by billionaire Elon Musk released an ad pressuring senators to back Hegseth. “Pete is doing well now,” Trump said in a prerecorded clip of an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that’s due to air Sunday morning. “People were a little bit concerned. ... He loves the military, and I think people are starting to see it.”

But Trump has held back on pushing hard himself, according to advisers who, like many of the more than a dozen figures interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to relate private conversations. He hasn’t aggressively lobbied senators on Hegseth, according to Capitol Hill lawmakers and their aides. And he has hedged by discussing a backup plan with his former archrival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — often the first sign that he is souring on someone. Before the “Meet the Press” interview, Trump’s public statements of support for Hegseth this week were limited to promoting a weeks-old New York Post article that praised Hegseth and a Friday post calling him a winner who is doing well. “It’s clear the president has chosen not to express out loud his every thought, which is a good thing,” Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-Louisiana) said, when asked how Trump’s quieter approach to advocating for his Cabinet picks compared with 2017. “I think he’s learned that, as president, you don’t have to always say it. And I think that’s a good thing. Obviously, his picks have been less traditional, and we’ll see how it turns out.”

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Federal employees scramble to insulate themselves from Trump’s purge

As President-elect Donald Trump’s transition teams move into federal agencies, thousands of civil servants — and some of the Biden appointees they work for — are scrambling to insulate themselves from the new administration’s promised purge. Federal employees are scrubbing their Facebook and X accounts for any negative posts about Trump. Some, including at least one prominent official who testified in Trump’s first impeachment inquiry, are weighing putting in retirement papers, while others maneuver to transfer to seemingly safer agencies. D.C. recruiting firms are seeing booming business from those looking for private-sector work. Meanwhile, some agencies have moved to reclassify jobs with titles that could clash with Trump’s agenda, especially those promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, boosting environmental justice and fighting the effects of climate change. For the first time, some civil servants are taking out liability insurance to cover lawyers if they’re demoted or fired. And in a rare alliance, outgoing Biden administration appointees are joining forces with labor unions to extend collective bargaining agreements, locking in benefits before the incoming administration can seek to undo them.

Before Trump takes office Jan. 20, career staffers are racing to outmaneuver his plans to gut and radically reshape the nonpartisan bureaucracy of 2.3 million. The president-elect has promised to fire thousands of professionals and replace them with political loyalists, slash trillions of dollars from the federal budget, eliminate departments and relocate others away from what he derides as the “deep state” of intransigent bureaucrats in the capital. Russ Vought, Trump’s pick to run the Office of Management and Budget, told supporters earlier this year that Trump’s second term would “put the bureaucrats in trauma.” Beyond these sweeping structural changes, many federal employees also fear they’ll be singled out by Trump or Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the tech moguls tapped to run his new “Department of Government Efficiency,” who have begun calling out public servants on social media to ridicule what they see as wasteful or politically tinged jobs. “There is shock and there is actual fear, and there is self censure in the sense that people are scared about retaliation,” said Jesus Soriano, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403, which represents more than 1,000 scientists and administrators at the National Science Foundation.

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Musk and Ramaswamy's DOGE echoes past budget promises that faced big hurdles

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy test drove their new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, on Capitol Hill this week, visiting House and Senate Republicans, who celebrated their promise of reduced government and dramatically lower federal spending. But the duo kept their remarks short. While tossing out a number with a dozen zeroes in it – Musk has spoken of saving "at least $2 trillion" in federal spending -- they offered little by way of programmatic detail. To their credit, they were there to hear from members who have been on the frontlines of the budget wars for decades. And if they were listening to people like Tom Cole, the Oklahoma Republican who will now chair the House Appropriations Committee, they heard a cautionary note. Cole was among the members meeting with Musk and Ramaswamy this week and told the New York Times they were "trying to understand the full scope" of the DOGE project and "how much would be done by executive action."

People typically talk about "the budget," but the real business of spending takes place in the appropriations process, where the notional becomes real. Such appropriations are the fundamental and ultimate business of Congress, as per the Constitution. Whatever the DOGE winds up offering or contributing, it cannot pass appropriations without Congress. Efforts to circumvent the Hill by using impoundment or other executive maneuvers will confront the Budget Control and Impoundment Act of 1974 – a major victory for Congress' spending powers in the year President Richard Nixon was weakened by impeachment proceedings that led to his resignation. Yet the DOGE team has an unmistakable swagger, not unlike their sponsor in President-elect Donald Trump. Still, for those with long Washington memories, DOGE stirs echoes of similar promises made in the past – that recall frustrations and futility.

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'It's like Game of Thrones': Inside the jockeying for Trump administration jobs

President-elect Donald Trump is building his second administration at a breakneck speed, announcing his choices for nearly all of the roughly two dozen top-tier nominations, including Cabinet posts, at earlier dates than he did when starting his first term. It’s a sign not only that Trump’s team has more experience than it did in 2016, but also that it has a much more defined sense of what it wants: loyalty. The expedited pace, however, has not come without setbacks and intrigue. Trump has long skipped the careful vetting of the backgrounds and financial records of potential picks that most incoming administrations undertake. This approach has led to surprise controversies and unexpected bumps for some of his more contentious choices. Trump has “botched up the nomination process pretty bad,” a Republican senator said, adding, “They clearly aren’t vetting these people.”

“It’s like ‘Game of Thrones’ over there. I think Don Jr. has been trying to do things at times. It’s like Susie will have a meeting and then Don Jr. will say something else," a transition source said, who said they were not implying there's any tension between the two, just that there are big personalities on the team. "Some of it has been kind of weird.” Trump Jr.’s most overt influence to date was felt in his negative feedback of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for another administration role. Pompeo is now disliked by much of the MAGA base and faced direct pushback from Trump’s eldest child. This account of the Trump transition effort is based on interviews with a dozen people familiar with or involved in the process. Many were granted anonymity to speak candidly or because they were not authorized to speak on the record. “President Trump was re-elected by a resounding mandate from the American people to change the status quo in Washington. That’s why he has chosen brilliant and highly-respected outsiders to serve in his Administration, and he will continue to stand behind them as they fight against all those who seek to derail the MAGA Agenda,” Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “Alongside his highly-qualified nominees, President Trump will shatter the Deep State and restore government that is controlled by the people.”

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Donald Trump says he won't try to remove Fed chief Jerome Powell

President-elect Donald Trump said he will not try to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whose term runs through May 2026. In an exclusive interview with “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, Trump said, “I don’t,” when asked if he plans to cut short the central bank chief’s term. “The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, said he will not leave his post even if you ask him to. Will you try to replace Jerome Powell?” Welker asked during the interview at Trump Tower in New York City. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t see it,” Trump replied. “But, I don’t — I think if I told him to, he would. But if I asked him to, he probably wouldn’t. But if I told him to, he would.” Welker followed up, “You don’t have plans to do that right now?” “No, I don’t,” Trump said.

Trump appointed Powell, a Republican and a former private equity executive, as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in February 2018. Soon after, during a dispute about interest rates, Trump floated removing him. The two clashed several times during Trump’s first term, with Trump threatening to fire him on repeated occasions. In 2022, President Joe Biden reappointed Powell to a second four-year term. Powell has offered a sharp “no” to recent questions over whether he would leave his post early to allow Trump to pick a replacement sooner. He has also said he does not believe Trump can fire him. “Not permitted under the law,” Powell said at a postelection news conference. The relationship between Trump and Powell will be closely watched as Trump returns to office. Trump lashed out at Powell during his first term, arguing that he was not moving quickly enough to ease monetary policy. Trump swiped at Powell again in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, telling reporters that he had the “right to remove” Powell from the post and criticizing what he said were “a lot of bad decisions, in my opinion.” Trump has lately argued that the president should have the power to weigh in on interest rate decisions, which are made by the Fed.

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Lead Stories

Growing 'chatter' about Dade Phelan possibly preparing to exit Speaker's race

There is no confirmation State Representative Dade Phelan from Beaumont has decided to exit the Speaker's race ahead of Saturday's Republican House Caucus, during which they'll vote to endorse a candidate, but there is growing 'chatter' about the possibility. Harvey Kronberg, a veteran journalist in Austin who owns and edits the Quorum Report, an online publication covering Texas politics, posted late Thursday night that "House Democrats have been informed by their leadership that Speaker Phelan will exit the race, per sources tonight." He says some Republicans believe Democrats have a lot of leverage because the GOP Caucus is divided ahead of Saturday's meeting. Phelan was elected Speaker in January of last year. David Cook is challenging him for Speaker. KFDM/Fox 4 reached out to Phelan and his staff for comment. We've not heard back.

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As Hegseth's fight to head Pentagon lags, Trump not working the phones to save him: Sources

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary, was back on Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet with Republican lawmakers as misconduct allegations continued to cloud his selection to lead the Pentagon. Behind the scenes, Trump's political team is focused on figuring out where female Republican senators stand on Hegseth, according to two people involved in the conversations. Trump's advisers are fully aware that with such a thin GOP Senate majority, Hegseth's fate could all come down to the women in the conference. Sen. Joni Ernst, a key Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee that will hold his confirmation hearings, notably declined to voice support for Hegseth after meeting with him on Wednesday and then again on Thursday on Fox News, which Trump is known to watch.

Ernst told Fox News host Bill Hemmer she had a "very frank" and "productive" discussion with Hegseth. When pressed by Hemmer that that didn't sound as if she had gotten to a yes on his confirmation, she replied, "I think you are right." Ernst is the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate and a sexual assault survivor herself. Hegseth has faced allegations of sexual assault (which he's denied) and previously said that women should not serve in ground combat roles in the military. ABC News was told Trump has expressed to those close to him that Hegseth should have been more honest and forthcoming about the challenges he could face getting through the confirmation process given his history. Trump, who is considering other options (a list that includes Ernst) for the role, has not been working the phones for Hegseth -- as he did for Matt Gaetz. Gaetz was Trump's original pick for attorney general but said he withdrew his name from consideration as he faced his own allegations of sexual misconduct. Trump has since tapped former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi to head up the Justice Department, pending Senate confirmation.

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Texas’ new business court works to stay free of taking old cases

A fight is brewing in Texas’ three-month-old business court system, threatening to eliminate one-third of cases docketed so far. Texas created these courts to streamline complex business disputes with legislation that applies to “civil actions commenced on or after” the courts opened on Sept. 1. Most litigators take that to mean the courts can accept new cases filed since that date, not cases that already existed in non-business courts. But a competing argument—rejected so far by three business court judges—points to language some lawyers say opens the court’s doors to older cases. The law, H.B. 19, never says it applies to litigation brought “only” on or after the court’s launch date. Lawmakers must’ve intentionally omitted the word, they say, because in other laws restricting a court’s jurisdiction to a certain date the use of “only” does appear. “I thought it was a ridiculous argument and I still think it’s a ridiculous argument,” said Joel Reese of Reese Marketos.

Reese represents Culberson Midstream LLC, a Texas natural gas operator that got a Dallas business court judge to reject plaintiff Energy Transfer LP’s bid to transfer a two-year-old case from a district court. Energy Transfer’s lawyer, Jared Eisenberg of Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann, declined to comment about the judge’s decision. His firm is appealing the order, along with separate orders from business courts rejecting two other pre-Sept. 1 filings. If they prevail on appeal, business courts would have to accept pre-existing cases so long as they meet other non-timing qualifications. The initial rollout of business courts in Texas’ five biggest cities—Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, and Fort Worth—has garnered a total of 50 cases, through Dec. 3. Sixteen of the 50 combined cases pre-dated the opening of the business courts and may be too old to stay, according to a Bloomberg Law analysis. Judges have rejected four of them for that reason, while lawyers in three others opted to walk away on their own. A decision is pending in nine others. Thus far, no judge has ruled business courts can try a case filed before the courts opened. The judges in Houston account for 26 cases, more than half of the overall caseload. Dallas has 13 cases, San Antonio and Austin have four apiece, and Fort Worth has three. “The legislature could have made its wishes clearer, more explicit, but it still seems pretty clear to me,” said Barry Barnett of Susman Godfrey. Barnett convinced Judge Bill Whitehill of the Dallas division in late October to turn back a suit brought in 2019 against his client, Hinduja Global Solutions. Accepting cases that existed before the business courts opened would overwhelm the system, Barnett reasoned.

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Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick vows to ban THC products, threatening dispensaries

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said late Wednesday that banning THC products would be a top priority in the state legislature next year, a move that could shutter dozens of marijuana-adjacent businesses across the state. Patrick, who presides over the state Senate, said he would clear the path for lawmakers to prohibit all forms of consumable tetrahydrocannabinol when lawmakers return in January. Recreational marijuana is illegal in Texas, but the state opened the door to THC varieties that can still produce a high when it legalized hemp in 2019. Patrick argued in a statement that the 2019 law had been taken too far, leading to the proliferation of products with higher levels of THC, the main compound in cannabis that produces a high.

e-Edition Account Politics Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick vows to ban THC products, threatening dispensaries By Isaac Yu, Austin Bureau Dec 5, 2024 Gift Article FILE - Products advertised as containing synthetically derived delta-8 THC are offered for sale at a smoke shop in north Seattle on Feb. 25, 2022. FILE - Products advertised as containing synthetically derived delta-8 THC are offered for sale at a smoke shop in north Seattle on Feb. 25, 2022. Gene Johnson/AP Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said late Wednesday that banning THC products would be a top priority in the state legislature next year, a move that could shutter dozens of marijuana-adjacent businesses across the state. Patrick, who presides over the state Senate, said he would clear the path for lawmakers to prohibit all forms of consumable tetrahydrocannabinol when lawmakers return in January. Recreational marijuana is illegal in Texas, but the state opened the door to THC varieties that can still produce a high when it legalized hemp in 2019. Patrick argued in a statement that the 2019 law had been taken too far, leading to the proliferation of products with higher levels of THC, the main compound in cannabis that produces a high. READ MORE: Senate Commitee weighs hemp regulation challenges weeks after Houston THC business owners charged “Retailers exploited the agriculture law to sell life-threatening, unregulated forms of THC to the public and made them easily accessible,” Patrick said. The 2019 law, part of a broad bipartisan agriculture package, allowed Texas farmers to grow hemp, a form of the cannabis plant with low levels of THC, and required that consumable products contain no more than 0.3% THC. Marijuana products, which are also derived from cannabis plants, contain higher levels of THC than hemp and are still banned in Texas outside of a limited medical marijuana program. But the change complicated enforcement of marijuana-related crimes because now law enforcement has to test THC levels to determine whether products are illegal marijuana or legal hemp. Patrick’s announcement comes after the hemp law’s lead sponsor, state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, expressed misgivings about the state of regulation on hemp products for intoxicating levels of THC and said that products should be taken off the shelves. Critics of the hemp market say the proliferation of products and growth in dispensaries around the state are not sufficiently regulated and pose a public health risk. Hemp industry groups note that their products are regulated by the Texas Department of State Health Services, but argue the state has too few regulators for the growing sector.

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State Stories

Trump's pick for ag secretary Brooke Rollins vows to defend farmers. Why did her nonprofit push to cut farm subsidies?

Brooke Rollins, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for agriculture secretary, has little track record in the multi-billion-dollar industry she is set to oversee. But one of the few policy positions the Texan has been tied to through her conservative advocacy is cutting farm subsidies that many say are key to maintaining the nation's food supply. In 2016, the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, which Rollins led at the time, published a report on "corporate welfare" that advocated the elimination of a state loan program for farmers, arguing it distorted the markets for crops and animal products. "Eliminate the Agricultural Loan Guarantee Program and other agricultural subsidy programs," the report read.

In doing so, the Austin-based group that Rollins helmed for 15 years took on a farm support system that is widely viewed by Republicans and Democrats alike as critical to keeping farmers in business. The recommendation was never acted upon by the Republican-controlled state Legislature. It's unclear whether Rollins, who served as domestic policy advisor in the first Trump term but has little history working on agriculture policy, would pursue the kind of cuts to agricultural support programs advocated for by the organization she led through 2017. Rollins did not respond to requests for comment through the Washington think tank she currently leads, the America First Policy Institute. A spokesperson for Trump's transition team said Rollins, "had nothing to do with that policy, period," but declined to comment on what specific policies she would pursue. "Rollins will implement the President’s agenda and defend American farmers," she said.

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JuanRaymon Rubio and Mary Closmann Kahle: How property rights legislation is decimating Texas heritage

(JuanRaymon Rubio works as a preservation consultant at Architexas, volunteers on the board of directors of Preservation Austin, and serves on the city’s Historic Landmark Commission. Mary Closmann Kahle serves on the board of Preservation Austin and as chair of its advocacy committee. She is an oral historian with experience in environmental and community history.) Property rights legislation is decimating Texas heritage. During past sessions, the Texas Legislature has given property owners expansive rights against historic designations that would protect historic/cultural heritage from demolition. Since 2018, supermajority votes (9 out of 11 members) are required by City Council to designate individual landmarks and historic districts when an owner is opposed – an extreme hill to climb. This threshold ensures that a city’s historic and cultural fabric are being actively removed from our local streetscapes. Austin City Council has voted fewer than eight times to designate a property against owners’ objections, zero times since the law change. At risk of extinction is East Austin, where 130 historic-eligible buildings have been demolished since 2016.

On Dec. 12, Council will hear about 1500 E. 12th St., a commercial structure built between 1889 and 1911. The building traces the diverse heritage of East Austin and is eligible for a local landmark zoning for its vernacular architecture, German and African American historical associations, and community value. Situated at a key intersection, the building anchors East Austin’s 12th Street corridor, an area filled with the cultural heritage and legacy of Austin’s Black and Brown communities. This legacy is under threat today as Dallas-based Eureka Holdings pursues plans to demolish and redevelop the site, one of dozens of properties along East 12th Street in their holdings. Make no mistake – this is the first of many on East 12th Street they plan to tear down. It was recently announced that the popular East 12th nightclub, Outer Heaven Disco Club, is being forced to vacate in a few months for Eureka to redevelop. When does this end? We lost Rainey Street. South Congress Avenue, East Sixth Street, and East Cesar Chavez are slowly slipping away, and East 12th Street will follow. East Austin residents recently had some faith that a historic home on East Second street, the Sinnigson House, would meet the threshold for designation at City Council. It failed by an 8-3 vote in July. The Sinnigson House passed all the necessary hurdles and requirements, yet three votes proved more powerful than thousands of voices and dozens of community volunteers and city staff. What is the solution? Advocate groups like Preservation Austin are working tirelessly to shape proactive preservation policy and stave off rampant demolitions, but we are just one voice.

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Bret Biggart and Mark Stover: Don’t get burned by solar; it’s time to get bad actors out of Texas

(Bret Biggart is CEO of Freedom Solar Power, a Texas solar company. Mark Stover is executive director of the Texas Solar+Storage Association.) The San Antonio Express-News and other publications have exposed the worst kind of behavior among fly-by-night or undercapitalized solar outfits. Wrenching stories from numerous consumers have exposed suspect characters dressed as solar salespeople. These stories besmirch and undermine an industry that needs to succeed. One of us runs Freedom Solar Power, one of Texas’ longest-standing solar and storage companies. The other heads the Texas Solar+Storage Association, a statewide industry advocacy group. We believe in this industry. We have spent much of our careers working to advance solar power and deliver its benefits — lower power bills, better reliability, increased resiliency and a stronger economy. We also know that growing the Texas rooftop solar industry means protecting Texans from unscrupulous salespeople and amoral companies.

When sold transparently and installed properly, rooftop solar systems help keep people free and safe from high bills and blackouts, strengthen the power grid, protect families and communities from extreme weather, and deliver power affordably and effectively. The numbers also show that in the vast majority of cases, rooftop solar projects, such as those delivered by Texas Solar+Storage Association members, are being installed properly and customers are satisfied with their services. But as the Express-News has demonstrated, there are far too many deceptive practices and victimized consumers. Rooftop solar supporters must not turn a blind eye to these unfortunate practices and experiences. We also acknowledge that no one is perfect. That’s true for every company; even Freedom Solar has had missteps. But it’s every company’s responsibility to resolve mistakes as quickly as possible, be transparent and seek to continuously improve. Solar systems are complicated; things sometimes go wrong.

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13 Investigates: 100 Texas teachers under review in 'ridiculous' cheating scandal

Dozens of local teachers are now having their certifications reviewed by the state after being accused of paying someone to take a teacher certification test for them. 13 Investigates has obtained from the Texas Education Agency a list of 102 of the approximately 200 teachers the Harris County District Attorney's office said were involved in the teacher certification scandal. The new information shows just how widespread the scheme was across Texas. Thirty-eight teachers who previously worked in the Houston area were suspected of paying someone to take a certification test, 49 from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, five in East Texas, and even one in Central Texas.

"It's really disheartening," said Jacob Kirksey, an assistant professor in the College of Education at Texas Tech University. "As an educator, you would not want your own students to cheat, and so I think it's a bit ironic that we have teachers who are willing to pay someone else to sit and take a test, particularly when that test is intended to measure some really important things that you should be able to know and do in your classroom." In October, the Harris County District Attorney accused Vincent Grayson, a basketball coach at Houston ISD, of being "the kingpin" of an operation that allowed about 200 teachers across Texas to cheat on their certification exam. Prosecutors said the teachers would pay someone to take the certification exam for them while two other people involved in the scheme worked as proctors for those administering the exam. The Texas Education Agency, which oversees teacher certification, told 13 Investigates it just finished reaching out to impacted districts on Tuesday to inform them about educators who are under investigation for allegedly paying someone else to take their certification exam.

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New, blue bee discovered by researchers in Texas and Oklahoma

A new species of metallic blue bee, found so far in Texas and Oklahoma, was recently discovered by researchers. The bee, called Andrena androfovea, is part of a family of bees known as mining bees for their solitary lifestyle — unlike the social honey bee — and underground nests. However, in the new study detailing the bee’s discovery, the researchers note that Andrena androfovea appears to be a new branch of the mining bee family, with a peculiar penchant for nightshade plants. “The process of documenting bee biodiversity started centuries ago, but scientists are still discovering new species all the time,” James Hung, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Oklahoma who co-authored the paper, said in a press release.

Andrena androfovea was first found in the late 1980s by entomologist Jack Neff of the Central Texas Melittological Institute in Austin. Neff, another co-author of the study, caught the bee near the Texas-Mexico border while it was pollinating flowers of the purple groundcherry, part of the nightshade family. Mining bees tend to avoid nightshades, so seeing one cozying up to them was a curious sight. It wasn’t until over three decades later when Neff met Hung and Silas Bossert, an evolutionary biologist at Washington State University, that the trio discovered the nightshade-loving bee was a new species in the Andrena family. “This new species, however, is so distantly related to any other Andrena that we think it has formed its own branch on the Andrena family tree about 12.6 million years ago,” Bossert, the study’s lead author, said in the press release. “We know this because we sequenced and compared its genome to those of other bees. Using a technique called ‘molecular clock’, we can approximate how much time has passed since this lineage has separated from the other bees based on differences in its genome.”

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Rep. Pat Fallon of Frisco tangles with Secret Service chief in fiery Capitol Hill exchange

A congressional hearing on Secret Service lapses surrounding attempted assassinations of President-elect Donald Trump erupted into a screaming match Thursday between the agency’s acting director and U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Frisco. Fallon, an outspoken critic of the Secret Service’s recent failures, is a member of the special House task force investigating where the agency has fallen short protecting Trump in two attempts on his life. Ronald Rowe Jr. took over after former director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the face of intense criticism after the assassination attempt at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pa., where Trump was shot in the ear, a rally attendee was killed and two others critically injured.

Rowe testified Thursday as the task force wrapped up its investigation and prepared to submit its final report. Rowe said the Butler attempt represented an “abject failure” by the agency that underscored critical problems. He said he has sought to implement reforms and be an “agent of change” to improve the agency’s performance. Fallon peppered Rowe with pointed questions before asking aides to display a photo of a Sept. 11 remembrance event in New York attended by President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump and other high-profile officials. Rowe was visible in the photo standing just behind the VIPs. Fallon asked Rowe if he was the special agent in charge, who would typically be closest to the president. Rowe quickly cut in to say the agent in charge was outside the picture’s frame and talked about the 3,000 people who died in the terror attacks. “I actually responded to ground zero. I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center. I was there at Fresh Kills…” “I’m not asking you that,” Fallon cut him off, his voice rising. “I’m asking you if you were, were you the special agent in charge? You were not!” “I was there to show respect for a Secret Service member that died on 9/11,” Rowe shouted back. “Oh, that’s a bunch of horse hockey,” Fallon interjected.

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Texas judge blocks anti-money laundering law's enforcement nationwide

A federal judge in Texas has issued a nationwide injunction blocking the enforcement of an anti-money laundering law that requires corporate entities to disclose to the U.S. Treasury Department the identities of their real beneficial owners. U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant in Sherman, Texas, on Tuesday sided, with the National Federation Of Independent Business and several small businesses and non-profits by concluding the 2021 Corporate Transparency Act was likely unconstitutional. The decision marked the second time a judge has deemed the law unconstitutional. An Alabama federal judge reached a similar conclusion in March in response to a separate challenge to the law but issued a narrower injunction, blocking its enforcement as applied to the parties before him, including the National Small Business Association.

Mazzant said the law was an "unprecedented" attempt by the federal government to legislate in an area traditionally left to the states by monitoring companies created pursuant to state law and ending the anonymity various states provide in the formation of corporations. "For good reason, Plaintiffs fear this flanking, quasi-Orwellian statute and its implications on our dual system of government," Mazzant wrote. He said Congress had no authority under its powers to regulate commerce, taxes and foreign affairs to adopt such a law and that it likely violated states' rights under the U.S. Constitution's Tenth Amendment. The Justice Department declined to comment on Wednesday. The bipartisan measure was enacted as part of an annual defense spending toward the end of Republican President-elect Donald Trump's first term in early January 2021, after Congress overrode a veto Trump issued for unrelated reasons. Supporters of the legislation said it was designed to address the country's growing popularity as a venue for criminals to launder illicit funds by setting up entities like limited liability companies under state laws without disclosing their involvement.

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Will President-elect Trump kill Fort Worth’s Panther Island?

The flood control portion of Fort Worth’s Panther Island did not find favor in the first Trump administration. The project to reroute a section of the Trinity River north of downtown was viewed skeptically by former White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, leading the Trump administration to allocate only $7.5 million of the $526 million authorized by Congress in 2016. The project was estimated to cost roughly $1.17 billion in 2017, however those costs haven’t been updated to reflect post-pandemic inflation. There’s still a lot of unknowns about the incoming administration, but one thing is clear: It is prioritizing cuts to federal spending. Trump has tapped Billionaire entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to form the “Department of Government Efficiency” to reduce the size of the federal government through cutting regulations and reducing the federal workforce.

The pair outlined their plans in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed that called for using a pair of recent Supreme Court decisions to rollback what they referred to as executive overreach by “unelected, unappointed civil servants within government agencies.” Musk has estimated the administration could cut “at least $2 trillion” from the $6.75 trillion federal budget. “If that’s what they seek to do, and they can get anywhere close to that number, that’ll mean a lot of projects are going to be on the chopping block,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, an associate professor of political science at the University of Houston. It’s really too early to know how the new Trump administration will impact Panther Island specifically, but on a more general level a lot of federal spending could be cut, he said. “It’s too early to know, but it’s not too early to worry,” said Matt Angle, the director of the Democratic-supporting Lone Star Project who is originally from Tarrant County and has tracked the project since its inception. The only reason the project got funding under the Biden Administration was because of the respect for Fort Worth Congress members Rep. Kay Granger and Rep. Marc Veasey, Angle said.

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“City Hall must listen”: Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson assesses state of the city

In the council chambers on Thursday, flanked by 14 of his peers on the Dallas City Council, Mayor Eric Johnson began his assessment of the city’s track record with an emphasis on 4 P’s: public safety, parks, potholes and property tax relief. “These four pillars are essential to Dallas remaining a city of opportunity for everyone,” Johnson said. He also announced he will release the city’s “first-ever comprehensive public safety policy” in the coming months — though it’s unclear what that entails. Johnson’s state of the city address, a tradition mandated by the city’s charter, echoed much of what he’s said before. The speech is generally a roadmap of what the city government has accomplished and wants to accomplish. This year’s edition comes exactly a month after the November elections, where the passage of propositions S and U was widely seen as a “wake-up call” for municipal government.

The passed propositions waive government immunity and open the city up to lawsuits if it doesn’t adhere to the charter. They direct half of any new revenue year after year to the police and fire pension system and other public safety initiatives and also mandate the city figure out a way to hire nearly 900 more police officers. “These calls from our residents for greater public safety and stronger government accountability could not be more clear,” Johnson said. “And City Hall must listen.” The opposition to these propositions came from a big bipartisan coalition of former mayors and council members. Several saw these amendments as legal mandates that could negatively affect city operations. Almost immediately after the propositions passed, Moody’s Ratings, a top credit rating firm, downgraded the city’s debt outlook from “stable” to “negative” due to the passage of Proposition U. The firm said the proposition lowers the flexibility the city has when it comes to its expenses and in the world of stocks and bonds, that type of an assessment can impact a lender’s confidence in the city’s management of its debt. Johnson was absent from the public effort.

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Houston lawyer charged in son's death waited 17 hours to report killing to Sabine County deputies

A Houston lawyer accused of killing his 20-year-old special needs son at their rural Sabine County property waited 17 hours to call deputies about the shooting. By then, he burned his son's body in a way he believed was honoring his wishes, authorities said. Michael Howard, a Houston-based lawyer licensed since 1984, was arrested Monday after calling family members and then authorities to report his son's weekend death. He purportedly told deputies in Sabine County, around 170 miles northeast of Houston, that he killed Mark Howard with a shotgun after mistaking him for an intruder. Investigators noted in court records that the son rarely left Howard's side. Howard waited nearly a day to report the death, Sheriff J.P. MacDonough said Thursday during a news conference.

The accused lawyer drove his son's body in the bucket of a backhoe tractor out to the woods of his expansive property, spanning more than 2,000 acres, on the banks of the Toledo Bend Reservoir. He used gasoline to torch his son's body on a pile of wood and told police that's what the younger Howard would have wanted, MacDonough said. Howard described the burning as cremation. No one else was home at the time of the shooting, police said. The son, the eldest of Howard's two children, had Down Syndrome, with the sheriff characterizing him as high-functioning with a job. He arrived at the home around Thanksgiving. The sheriff said what remained of the son's body, fragile pieces of charred bones, was found about a mile and half from their lake home. Authorities, which included the Texas Rangers, also found evidence that Howard cleaned the area of the shooting with a water hose.

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Fort Worth council to vote on Jay Chapa as next city manager

Fort Worth’s top choice to be the new city manager will be a familiar face in city hall. Jay Chapa, who previously served as an assistant city manager, was named the finalist to succeed outgoing city manager David Cooke. The city manager is responsible for the day-to-day operation of city government, oversees the budget and carries out the policies approved by the City Council. Cooke announced in July he would step down from the position in February 2025 after serving as city manager for over 10 years. The City Council will vote on whether to hire Chapa at its Dec. 10 meeting. If approved, Chapa would be the first person of Hispanic heritage to hold the city’s top job. Chapa spent 25 years working for the city of Fort Worth before retiring in January 2022 to open a private consulting business.

During his time with the city he led the development of the 2022 bond program and helped shepherd several economic development projects, such as the city’s partnership with Texas A&M and the development of the Crescent Hotel in the city’s cultural district. “Jay is a man of brilliant creative thinking, has led most of the public-private partnership efforts in the city over the past 10 years, and has an unmatched ability to hit the ground running,” said Mayor Mattie Parker in a news release. While the city did not use a national search firm, Fort Worth received over 150 applicants for the position, according to the city’s news release. That’s triple the number of applicants who applied to the city of Dallas’ open city manager position. Fort Worth’s process drew criticism from council member Chris Nettles, who advocated that a national search firm would produce a wider array of candidates. He accused the city of tailoring the process to select Chapa, saying it’s emblematic of the negative view some have of what’s called the “Fort Worth way,” where decisions are made by a small group of insiders.

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Who will be TCU’s AD after Donati goes to South Carolina?

TCU director of athletics Jeremiah Donati’s exit to the University of South Carolina caught his bosses by surprise, but this move was inevitable. Donati talked extensively with the University of Southern California in 2023 to become its AD, but late in the process he changed his mind, due primarily over family concerns. One year later, and seeing the chasm widening between The BigSEC10 and the rest of the world, Donati is following a similar path as one of his predecessors. In 2005, TCU athletic director Eric Hyman also went to South Carolina for the same job. Donati is not expected to attend TCU’s women’s basketball game on Sunday against South Carolina at Dickies Arena. Finding a new AD becomes the immediate priority for new TCU chancellor Daniel Pullin.

“It’s the season for it, right?” Pullin said. “Coaches change, the transfer portal, so this is just part of it.” TCU has hired a search firm to pool potential candidates, and Pullin put a four to six week timeline on this process. Both he and outgoing chancellor Victor Boschini will collaborate on this search. Unlike when Chris Del Conte left the TCU AD role for the same job at University of Texas, in December of 2017, TCU has no obvious internal candidate to fill this role. Del Conte hired Donati to join TCU’s staff as an assistant, in 2011, to groom him to become an AD. Pullin, who came to TCU in 2019 to lead TCU’s business school, has deep ties to his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, and a long relationship with its athletic director, Joe Castiglione. Expect a candidate or two to have Sooner ties. Expect most of the candidates to have served as an AD. Since Frank Windegger retired as TCU’s AD in 1998, three of the school’s next four people in that position had been ADs at previous schools: Hyman had been the AD at Miami of Ohio; Danny Morrison had been the AD at Wofford; Del Conte had been the AD at Rice. Only Donati had not previously served as an AD. The TCU AD job is not the one Donati grew to thrive in after he replaced Del Conte. The creation of NIL, paying players, increased conference consolidation, and the transfer portal has added layers of responsibility to the job.

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Austin startup teams with home builder to boost Texas grid reliability

An Austin-based electricity startup company announced this week its partnership with home construction company Lennar amid efforts to offer stronger grid reliability to Texans. Base Power launched in May and centers its work around installing batteries that offer on-site storage capacity for customers. When the electrical grid is up and running, the batteries are designed to support that power grid; when the grid goes down, the battery kicks in and provides electricity to the attached home. Through Base Power’s partnership with Lennar, new communities in the greater Austin area and Dallas-Fort Worth region will include Base Power’s battery technology. Here in Central Texas, Firefly Pointe in Hutto and Rancho Del Cielo in Jarrell include Base Power as an electrical service provider option as part of the Lennar collaboration.

“Over the past summer, more than 3.5 million Texans lost power due to extreme weather and other factors,” said Eric Feder, president of LENx, which manages Lennar’s innovation and venture capital investing, in a statement. “Our investment in Base helps Lennar homeowners avoid this increasingly common occurrence with a worry-free solution. Lennar is always innovating and the inclusion of Base in select markets gives buyers peace of mind that their new home can weather almost any storm – literally and figuratively.” Austin-based electricity startup company Base Power announced this week its partnership with home construction company Lennar amid efforts to offer stronger grid reliability to Texans. (Courtesy Base Power) Zach Dell, co-founder and CEO of Base Power, told KXAN his team connected with Lennar early on in their company’s formation process to discuss this level of collaboration. The rapid growth happening across Texas comes with additional demand and strain on the grid — something burgeoning suburbs like Hutto and Jarrell are familiar with. “Growth is good. It leads to a lot of great things, but also creates challenges,” he said. “And one of the biggest challenges it creates is stress on the existing power grid.” The partnership with Lennar is an outgrowth of Base Power’s existing product model, where customers can lease on-site batteries and have them installed onto their homes. Tapping into home builders, Dell said his goal is for this to offer more resiliency protections for both existing and new homeowners at a more affordable rate.

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National Stories

Growth of sports betting may be linked to financial woes, new studies find

While states have cheered the new tax revenue from sports gambling, some new studies have linked the burgeoning industry to lower consumer credit scores, higher credit card debt and less household savings. With access on their cellphones, gamblers can bet more often and easily than in traditional casinos, heightening concerns about problem gambling and the financial fallout for sports fans. The rate of gambling problems among sports bettors is at least twice as high as it is for other gamblers, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling. Legal sports gambling is more widespread than ever. Missouri voters in November became the latest to approve it, making it legal in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Last year, Americans bet more than $121 billion on sports, according to the American Gaming Association. While betting revenues are exploding, the industry is still relatively young — only blossoming after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling opened the door for states to authorize sports gambling.

So far, researchers have not reached a consensus about potential harms, though three papers released this year found poor financial results for consumers in states with legalized sports gambling. In a working paper released in August, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California determined access to legal online sports betting led to lower credit scores and higher rates of bankruptcies. That study examined credit bureau data of more than 4 million American consumers. “Our results ultimately suggest that gambling legalization does harm consumer financial health,” the report said. That paper did not assess specific solutions but called on policymakers to find ways to protect residents at risk of becoming problem gamblers. “If no action is taken, it is highly likely that the large increase in sports betting will lead to a long-term increase in financial stress on many consumers and policymakers and financial regulators should be prepared for this.” A study led by a Southern Methodist University professor released in June found problem gambling increased in states that introduced online casino gambling alongside online sports gambling. Another working paper from researchers at several U.S. universities found legalized sports betting drained household finances more than other types of gambling and diverted money from saving and investing.

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Murder at dawn: A top executive’s final moments in Manhattan

UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor day began much like any other corporate event. There was breakfast and then around 8 a.m. Wednesday the collection of investors, executives and Wall Street analysts filed into a capacious third-floor ballroom at the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan to hear upbeat presentations about the company’s future. Unbeknown to them, one of the company’s top executives had been killed earlier that morning on the street below in what police say was a targeted attack. Brian Thompson, chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, the largest U.S. health insurer, had been steps from the Hilton’s entrance at 6:44 a.m. when an assassin wearing a dark hoodie and gray backpack stepped from behind a parked car in the predawn darkness, calmly pursued him for a few steps, and then shot him with a 9-millimeter pistol.

Thompson staggered, appeared to turn toward his pursuer, and then collapsed. The killer fled down an alley and then escaped on a bike, according to police. Inside the conference room of one the city’s busiest hotels, the show went on. It wasn’t until around 9 a.m. that Andrew Witty, chief executive of UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, interrupted the proceedings to announce that the event was being canceled due to “a very serious medical situation with one of our team members.” “And as a result, I’m afraid we’re going to have to bring to a close the event today,” he added. “I’m sure you’ll understand.” The news had already started to ripple through the crowd, according to people who were there. Nearly everyone with a mobile phone and a social-media account seemed to know what the medical emergency was. Within the hour, many of the attendees were in the Hilton lobby, luggage in tow, checking out. Even for a city inured to shootings and macabre headlines, the killing of a star executive just before sunrise was stunning. It was all the more so because the shooting—which Jessica Tisch, the new New York Police Department commissioner, called “a brazen, targeted attack”—unfolded at the height of the holiday season in a Midtown Manhattan thronged with tourists admiring festive store windows, taking in the Rockettes show at Radio City Music Hall and the like.

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New clues emerge as investigators hunt for the gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare’s CEO

New clues emerged Thursday in the hunt for the masked gunman who stalked and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, including possible leads about his travel before the shooting and a message scrawled on ammunition found at the crime scene. The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were found emblazoned on the ammunition, echoing a phrase used by insurance industry critics, two law enforcement officials said Thursday. The words were written in permanent marker, according to one of the two officials, who were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Investigators also now believe the suspect may have traveled to New York last month on a bus that originated in Atlanta, one of the law enforcement officials said.

Police and federal agents have been collecting information from Greyhound in an attempt to identify the suspect and are working to determine whether he purchased the ticket to New York in late November, the official said. Police also released new photos Thursday of a person wanted for questioning in connection with Thompson’s killing. The images, showing an unmasked man smiling in the lobby of a Manhattan hostel, add to a collection of photos and video that have circulated since the shooting — including footage of the attack itself, as well as still frames of the suspected gunman stopping at a Starbucks beforehand. Thompson, the head of one of the largest U.S. health insurers, died in a dawn ambush Wednesday as he walked from his midtown hotel to the company’s annual investor conference at a Hilton across the street. The reason for the killing remained unknown, but New York City police say evidence firmly points to it being a targeted attack.

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Obama hails 'power of pluralism' as some Democrats push to pass the torch

Former U.S. President Barack Obama, who has mostly stayed quiet in the weeks since Vice President Kamala Harris' election loss, on Thursday urged a new generation of American leaders to talk with people they disagree with. In a speech at a "Democracy Forum" sponsored by his foundation, the former president said he was convinced that a renewed commitment to pluralist principles was essential to ensure the survival of democracy. "The alternative is what we've seen here in the United States and in many democracies around the globe - not just more gridlock, not just public cynicism, but an increased willingness on the part of politicians and their followers to violate democratic norms, to do anything they can to get their way."

Obama discussed the "power of pluralism" with thousands of live and online attendees at a deeply divided time in U.S. history and an unsettling one for Democrats as Republican Donald Trump returns to the White House. Building lasting majorities that supported justice required "framing our issues, our causes, what we believe in, in terms of 'we' and not just 'us and them,'" he said. But that did not mean rolling over when opponents abused power, he said. "That's a problem. And when that happens, we fight for what we believe in." While Obama, 63, remains in high demand to campaign for his fellow Democrats, some in the party are calling for a crop of younger leaders to take the baton after Harris lost every battleground state and the popular vote and Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

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Concerns mount over Musk’s taste for revenge

Elon Musk’s growing criticism of President-elect Trump’s opponents and industry competitors is raising concerns he may use his increasing influence to intimidate adversaries. These fears are compounded by Trump’s repeated vows for revenge against his perceived enemies, with experts warning Musk could echo and carry out the same rhetoric on his social media platform, X, in the coming months. “Musk is a good fit for Trump, because Musk clearly enjoys … vengeance and gets off on retribution,” said Matt Dallek, a political historian and professor at George Washington University. “This is partly, at least, what animates him, maybe even more so at this point than his business enterprises.”

Neither X nor a spokesperson for the Trump transition team responded to The Hill’s request for comment. Concerns were amplified last week after Musk went after retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who became an outspoken critic of President-elect Trump after testifying in his first impeachment trial. “Vindman is on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs and has committed treason against the United States,” Musk wrote on X, responding to comments Vindman made in an interview about Musk’s reported conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Musk said Vindman, who served as the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council under Trump, “will pay the appropriate penalty,” to which Vindman responded, “You, Elon, appear to believe you can act with impunity and are attempting to silence your critics. I’m not intimidated.” Some Democrats rallied in defense of the combat veteran, including Vindman’s twin brother — Rep.-elect Eugene Vindman (D-Va.), who called Musk’s comments “really false and defamatory.” In another message to Musk, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said the “Vindman family embodies patriotism and public service. You know nothing about either.” While Trump has remained mostly mum about Alexander Vindman in recent years, Musk appears to be using his immense platform, where he has more than 206 million followers, to reignite the retaliatory tone.

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Johnson woos his sharpest critics in preparation for Speaker vote

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is wooing his sharpest critics in the House GOP ahead of his official election for Speaker on the House floor, working to eliminate opposition and secure the strongest leadership mandate possible in a razor-thin majority. In the latest development, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — one of the leaders of an unsuccessful move to oust Johnson earlier this year — is no longer ruling out supporting Johnson for Speaker. The two chatted over the Thanksgiving break, and have been having conversations that appear to be leaving a positive impression on Massie. “We’ve been talking,” Massie told The Hill when asked if he is still opposed to Johnson. “We talked last week.” Massie cautioned that he is “not to the support levels yet.” But his openness to voting for Johnson is a major development, given his prior opposition. Earlier this year, Massie had said he would not vote for Johnson “come hell or high water.”

The Kentucky Republican’s softening on Johnson comes as the Speaker has also secured the backing of his most vocal former critic, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). Greene, the main leader of the failed motion to vacate earlier this year, confirmed on Wednesday that she will vote for Johnson to be Speaker in the Jan. 3 floor vote. “Nobody’s running against him,” Greene told The Hill. Greene had first signaled openness to supporting Johnson after the November election resulted in a win for President-elect Trump and Republicans in both chambers of Congress. After a “productive” private meeting between the two last month, which The Hill first reported, Greene is now set to chair a Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee, to complement the Trump administration DOGE commission headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Johnson already won renomination for Speaker last month in a voice vote by House Republicans, with no member vocalizing opposition. The unanimous vote came after he struck a deal with hardline conservatives and anti-chaos Republicans on rules changes — which included raising the threshold to force a vote on ousting the Speaker. That caused hardliners to abandon a plan to force a recorded vote to display opposition to Johnson.

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Ambitions, bills and grudges: Reasons DeSantis for defense secretary may never happen

While Gov. Ron DeSantis is a top contender to be nominated as defense secretary under President-elect Donald Trump, people around the two men see obstacles that could keep Trump from offering the job, and DeSantis from accepting it. The Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau spoke to 11 political insiders close to both DeSantis and Trump for this story. The potential hurdles are both personal and political. Trump’s current nominee isn’t sunk yet. And he has a major champion in U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican who has never had a warm relationship with DeSantis, who succeeded him when he left office in January 2019.

It’s well known that DeSantis and Trump traded barbs during the Republican presidential primary last year. And while they have since buried the hatchet, with DeSantis offering to fundraise for Trump during the general election, both DeSantis and the president-elect have reputations for holding grudges. One potential comparison drawn was between DeSantis and Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney. In 2016, Romney called Trump during his first presidential bid “a phony, a fraud.” But Romney still wanted to be his U.S. Secretary of State when Trump floated his name as a possible nomination after he won the election. The about-face came to nothing in the end. Trump ultimately passed over Romney – but not before publishing a picture of Trump and a sheepish-looking Romney meeting over dinner. There have been different opinions on this. The defense secretary job is high-profile and would keep DeSantis in D.C. and potentially on television, both of which would help him build support for a potential 2028 presidential bid. But the job is a federal governmental position, which would make raising money more difficult thanks to a 1939 law called the Hatch Act that prohibits executive branch employees from participating in certain political activities, including soliciting and accepting campaign contributions. On the other hand, the restriction may not all be all that enforceable. The Office of Special Counsel investigated Hatch Act complaints and found in a report released in 2021 that 13 senior Trump officials had violated it during his first term as president. The report notes that “discipline is no longer possible once subjects leave government service.” It’s also a new job. DeSantis would be pivoting to a whole new agenda, which is always a risk. He’s overwhelmingly powerful in Florida, ground zero for the new Republican party. And when he terms out of his governorship in 2027, he could easily transition into campaigning for president.

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Why a two-year surge in global warmth is worrying scientists

As 2023 came to a close, scientists had hoped that a stretch of record heat that emerged across the planet might finally begin to subside this year. It seemed likely that temporary conditions, including an El Niño climate pattern that has always been known to boost average global temperatures, would give way to let Earth cool down. Instead, global temperatures remain at near-record levels. After 2023 ended up the warmest year in human history by far, 2024 is almost certain to be even warmer. Now, some scientists say this could indicate fundamental changes are happening to the global climate that are raising temperatures faster than anticipated. “This shifts the odds towards probably more warming in the pipeline,” said Helge Goessling, a climate physicist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany.

One or two years of such heat, however extraordinary, doesn’t alone mean that the warming trajectory is hastening. Scientists are exploring a number of theories for why the heat is been so persistent. Whatever the mix of factors or how long they last, scientists say the lack of clear explanation lowers their confidence that climate change will follow the established pattern that models have predicted. “We can’t rule out eventually much bigger changes,” Hausfather said. “The more we research climate change, the more we learn that uncertainty isn’t our friend.” Experts had been counting on the end of El Niño to help reverse the trend. The routine global climate pattern, driven by a pool of warmer-than-normal waters across the Pacific, peaked last winter. Usually about five months after El Niño peaks, global average temperatures start to cool down.

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Copyright December 13, 2024, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved