Lead Stories

Trump indicted on 7 charges in classified docs probe

A federal grand jury has indicted Donald Trump on seven criminal charges in connection with his mishandling of more than 100 classified documents that were discovered last year at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, making the twice-impeached former commander-in-chief the first former president to face federal criminal charges. Trump said Thursday night that his attorneys were informed that he has been indicted in the special counsel’s investigation into his handling of classified documents. Two sources familiar with the matter confirmed the indictment, one adding that Trump had received a summons to appear in U.S. District Court on Tuesday. In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said: “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax.”

The charges mark the second time Trump has been indicted since he left office, but the news still reverberated through the country, with supporters and critics weighing in on the magnitude of the development. While the first round of charges dealt with Trump's conduct when he was trying to get elected in 2016, the new charges touch on his actions as he was leaving the White House and focus on how he handled some of the country's most sensitive secrets. Two sources briefed on the seven charges said the charges include false statements and conspiracy to obstruct. All charges are related to retaining documents and obstructing justice. One source noted that seven charges don’t necessarily mean seven counts — multiple counts can be associated with each charge. The nature of the charges was first reported by The New York Times. Trump lawyer Jim Trusty told CNN a summons his legal team received from the feds included at least one charge related to the Espionage Act, "several obstruction-based type charges, and then false statement charges." Asked whether there was a conspiracy charge, as well, he said, "I believe so." NBC News confirmed that one of the charges was related to the Espionage Act.

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Man at center of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton impeachment in jail on FBI detainer

Nate Paul, the man at the center of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment, is in jail on an FBI detainer, according to jail records. Paul, 36, was booked into the Travis County jail at 4:25 p.m. Thursday on “undetermined” felony charges. The arresting agency is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. No attorney for Paul was listed. It’s unclear what the charges are or whether they are connected to Paxton, a staunch conservative Christian and third-term Republican. Trista Moxley, a public affairs specialist in the FBI’s San Antonio Division, declined to elaborate. She noted: “Department of Justice guidelines do not allow me to provide more information at this time.” One of Paxton’s impeachment attorneys, Dan Cogdell, said he didn’t know what the charges were and that the FBI did not reach out to him ahead of time. But he assumes they involve Paxton in some way, and added that he believes the FBI is going to try to get Paul to turn on his client.

“You don’t have to be Nostradamus to assume that they’re going to try to flip Nate Paul to testify against Ken [Paxton]. I don’t know that for a fact. But I’d be very surprised if that wasn’t the case,” Cogdell told The Dallas Morning News. “Because otherwise, you know, logically [the FBI] would have arrested them both at the same time.” Paul has been under FBI scrutiny since at least 2019, when the agency raided his home and commercial real estate company. The next year, the FBI launched an investigation into Paxton after several of his high-ranking employees reported the attorney general had repeatedly abused his office to help Paul, including in ways they said would have shielded the developer from law enforcement scrutiny. Those employees later, all of whom are no longer at the agency, sued Paxton under state whistleblower laws alleging retaliation. Earlier this year, they agreed to a settlement that would have resulted in Paxton apologizing and the state doling out $3.3 million to the whistleblowers. But House lawmakers bristled at the funding request from Paxton’s agency, and instead quietly launched their own investigation into the whistleblowers allegations and the attorney general’s alleged misdeeds.

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Impeached AG Ken Paxton has a star defense team, but who's paying for it?

Suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton has retained for his upcoming Senate impeachment trial two top Houston attorneys, who will be assisted by six of his employees who took leaves of absence to help, including four of his top aides. But a key question remains unanswered: How will they all be paid? Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee, who will lead Paxton’s defense, on Wednesday told reporters at a news conference he himself was “not being paid by the public.” “That’s all you need to know,” Buzbee said, without clarifying if that meant his paycheck would come from Paxton’s personal checkbook, his campaign account, a legal defense fund or some other source.

Dan Cogdell, a Houston lawyer who represents Paxton in his securities fraud case, on Wednesday did not immediately respond to an emailed question about how he’ll be paid. A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office did not respond to questions about whether the agency employees who are on temporary leave to help their boss hold onto his job will be paid or unpaid. Legal and government ethics experts said how all of these lawyers will be paid is extremely important. “Ethically speaking, there’s a lot up in the air,” said political attorney Andrew Cates, an expert in Texas campaign finance and ethics laws. “If we want to all be sure that his attorneys are being paid in the correct way, then we should have some sunlight on those payments.” The Texas Ethics Commission has ruled that under the state’s election laws, elected officials can use campaign contributions to pay their legal expenses if they are brought against them in their status as an officeholder. The laws say that is not considered a personal use in that case. Paxton has about $2.3 million on-hand in his campaign coffers, campaign finance records show. Jeremi Suri, professor of public affairs and history at the University of Texas at Austin, said that while going that route may be legal, it still may not inspire public confidence.

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Saudi crown prince threatened ‘major’ economic pain on U.S. amid oil feud

Last fall, President Biden vowed to impose “consequences” on Saudi Arabia for its decision to slash oil production amid high energy prices and fast-approaching elections in the United States. In public, the Saudi government defended its actions politely via diplomatic statements. But in private, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman threatened to fundamentally alter the decades-old U.S.-Saudi relationship and impose significant economic costs on the United States if it retaliated against the oil cuts, according to a classified document obtained by The Washington Post. The crown prince claimed “he will not deal with the U.S. administration anymore,” the document says, promising “major economic consequences for Washington.” Eight months later, Biden has yet to impose consequences on the Arab country and Mohammed has continued to engage with top U.S. officials, as he did with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the seaside Saudi city of Jiddah this week.

It is unclear whether the crown prince’s threat was conveyed directly to U.S. officials or intercepted through electronic eavesdropping, but his dramatic outburst reveals the tension at the heart of a relationship long premised on oil-for-security but rapidly evolving as China takes a growing interest in the Middle East and the United States assesses its own interests as the world’s largest oil producer. The U.S. intelligence document was circulated on the Discord messaging platform as part of an extensive leak of highly sensitive national security materials. A spokesperson with the National Security Council said “we are not aware of such threats by Saudi Arabia.” “In general, such documents often represent only one snapshot of a moment in time and cannot possibly offer the full picture,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence matter. “The United States continues to collaborate with Saudi Arabia, an important partner in the region, to advance our mutual interests and a common vision for a more secure, stable, and prosperous region, interconnected with the world,” the official added. The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

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State Stories

Rhetta Bowers running for reelection instead of vying to replace Colin Allred in Congress

Rep. Rhetta Andrews Bowers, who was poised to mount a campaign for Congress to replace U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, has instead decided to run for reelection to the Texas House. “I am running for reelection to the Texas House because we’ve still got important work to do,” Bowers said in a statement on Thursday. The Rowlett Democrat had been eyeing a run to replace Allred in Congressional District 32 but changed course days after a story about her potential congressional bid appeared in The Dallas Morning News. Allred is challenging incumbent Republican Ted Cruz for Senate. “I’m excited about that opportunity and the possibility of serving some of my constituents and gaining some new constituents,” Bowers told The Dallas Morning News last week. “It’s an honor to be thought of, and even more an honor to have so much early support, even before I announce.”

On Thursday, she dropped dreams of Congress. “We entered this legislative session with a record surplus, but failed to deliver pay raises for teachers or meaningful property tax relief to homeowners,” she said in the statement. “At a time when the state had the resources to lift everyone up, the Legislature instead chose to spend too much time engaging in culture wars against our fellow neighbors. “In addition to these issues, I want to focus my attention on the needs of District 113 and continue to engage on my committees to protect our children and families from gun violence,” she added. When asked if she still planned to run in the Democratic primary to replace Allred, Bowers texted, “Not at this time.” The Democratic Party race to replace Allred in Congress includes Rep. Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch, who is planning an announcement in the coming days. Also in the contest is Dallas trauma surgeon Dr. Brian Williams and Dallas lawyer Justin Moore. Bowers has represented Texas House District 113, which is anchored in parts of northern, eastern and southern Dallas County, since 2018.

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Wade Goodwyn, longtime NPR correspondent known for distinctive Texas voice, dies at 63

Wade Goodwyn, the longtime NPR correspondent known for his stellar reporting and distinctive Texas voice, died Thursday of cancer. He was 63. NPR announced Goodwyn’s death on Thursday, saying the news organization had lost one of its “singular and most recognizable voices.” Goodwyn worked for NPR for more than 30 years, mostly from his home in Dallas. He was a National Desk correspondent who reported on Texas and the southwest United States. His first big story came in 1993 when NPR assigned him to cover the Waco siege. He went on to report on high-profile events like the Oklahoma City bombing, the Boy Scouts sexual abuse scandal, the American Sniper murder trial, hurricanes and school shootings.

Goodwyn’s penchant for storytelling and his deep, rich voice made him a listener favorite, NPR said. A profile in the Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate Magazine once described his voice as sounding “like warm butter melting over barbecued sweet corn.” “For generations of public radio listeners, including me, he was one of NPR’s iconic voices,” NPR CEO John Lansing said in a statement. “Aside from that instantly recognizable voice, Wade was a uniquely gifted storyteller and a brilliant reporter. From the first words of one of his stories, you always knew you were being taken on a journey by a master of our craft. You were in for a true treat, whatever the subject matter.” Goodwyn majored in history at the University of Texas. After college, he moved to New York City to work as a political organizer, but he fell in love with radio storytelling while listening to WNYC, the local NPR affiliate. In addition to his coverage of breaking news, Goodwyn was also known for his profiles of political figures including George W. and Laura Bush, Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Dick Cheney and Beto O’Rourke; his coverage of the Enron financial scandal and trial; and his reporting on the rise of the Tea Party.

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He once led 1,000 National Guard troops at the Texas border. Now he says the mission makes no sense

Texas taxpayers have spent $4.5 billion on Gov. Greg Abbott’s border crackdown initiative known as Operation Lone Star since it began in the spring of 2021, and lawmakers recently agreed to spend billions more in the next two years. One reason the operation is so expensive is the deployment of more than 5,000 National Guard troops to the border. Several have died by suicide after being uprooted from their jobs and families and posted at the border for months on end, and the Texas Military Department (TMD,) which is in charge of the National Guard in the state, has struggled to ensure they've been adequately paid. Nevertheless, Abbott calls the mission crucial to securing the border and wants to send even more troops.

Retired U.S. Army Col. Clarence Henderson, who commanded 1,000 National Guard troops at the Texas-Mexico border in 2014, has been trying to convince lawmakers to rethink Operation Lone Star, to no avail. He says the troops aren’t getting the retirement compensation they deserve, and he also believes the border operation has morphed into a ‘deterrence’ mission that is doing little more than enabling illegal immigration. Republican state lawmakers, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s office, and the Texas Military Department did not respond to several detailed requests for comment on Henderson’s critique. The Legislature tried to create a new "Texas Border Force" this spring in order to replace some of the troops, but so far nothing has come of those efforts. Lawmakers did successfully add death benefits for the families of soldiers deployed to the border. In a statement, Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said the National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety are essential to “fill in the dangerous gaps created by President Biden's reckless open border policies.” Mahaleris added that the soldiers and state troopers have “apprehended over 380,000 illegal immigrants, repelled more than 40,000 illegal immigrants,” and “arrested over 29,000 criminals.” He added that a “new Texas tactical border Force … immediately began repelling and turning back migrants.”

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Texan from tiny Tokio is a vote away from being the first Latina judge on U.S. appeals court

Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez remembers her father, a Mexican immigrant who worked in cotton fields in West Texas, telling her, “Estudia, mija — study, so that you don’t have to work in the fields like I do.” “My summers spent hoeing cotton in those fields only served to reinforce his message,” Ramirez told the Senate Judiciary Committee, which advanced her nomination to the federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals almost unanimously Thursday. “Becoming a judge, or even a lawyer, was so far beyond his hope of an inside job for me that we couldn’t even begin to imagine it, much less dream it.”

Now the North Texas magistrate judge — who was nominated by President Joe Biden and has the support of Republican U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas — is poised to become the first Latina to serve on the appeals court, based in New Orleans, which handles cases from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Ramirez, 59, is expected to easily clear a full Senate vote after just one senator, Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, opposed her confirmation in committee. Hawley did not explain his opposition, and his office did not respond to a request for comment. Ramirez’s historic confirmation comes as Biden has nominated more women and racially diverse candidates to the federal bench — which is still overwhelmingly white and male — than any other president, according to an analysis by the American Bar Association. Three-quarters of Biden’s nominees were women, and nearly two-thirds were lawyers of color as of August, when the analysis was published. They include Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis stops in Fort Worth to raise campaign funds. Who is backing him?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made a stop in Fort Worth on Thursday on a three-day fundraising tour across the state as he pursues the Republican nomination for president. The breakfast at Fort Worth’s City Club, which cost $3,300 per person, was closed to the press, and a Star-Telegram reporter was turned away at the door. But the list of hosts provide an idea of who wanted to write checks to hear what DeSantis has to say amid a growing field of GOP candidates for the 2024 ticket. The Fort Worth event hosts were:

Steve Brauer Jr. of Hunter Engineering Co.; Tara and Cody Campbell of Double Eagle Energy Holdings; Fort Worth attorney Dee Kelly; Hal Lambert of Bridge Point Capital; Fort Worth philanthropist and TCU board of trustees chair Kit Moncrief; Fort Worth philanthropists Therese and Tom Moncrief; Tracy and John Sellers of Double Eagle Energy. Many of the hosts have donated large sums to some of the state’s most prominent Republican lawmakers, according to state campaign finance data. Federal campaign contribution data shows some supported former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign. Cody Campbell, John Sellers and Hal Lambert gave a combined $126,500 to groups supporting Trump’s re-election. At the local level, Campbell made a $100,000 donation to Texans for Dan Patrick as the lieutenant governor ran for his position again, and he made a $25,000 donation to now-impeached Ken Paxton as he ran for attorney general. Campbell also gave $255,000 to Texans for Greg Abbott, $2,500 to Texas House Rep. Stephanie Klick, and $5,000 to House Speaker Dade Phelan. Sellers gave $10,000 to Texans for Greg Abbott, $15,000 to Texas Rep. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth, and $10,000 to Phelan last year. To railroad commissioner candidates Wayne Christian and Christi Craddick, Sellers gave $10,000 and $25,000, respectively. Dee Kelly also gave $10,000 to Texans for Greg Abbott last year. He supported Geren with a $1,000 donation. Lambert donated $2,000 to Paxton last year. Several Tarrant County elected officials were in attendance Thursday morning. Republican state Reps. Craig Goldman and Giovanni Capriglione were there but declined to speak with the Star-Telegram about the event.

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Granbury-based Oath Keepers attorney not competent to stand trial, DOJ and defense say

Evaluators hired by the government and defense have determined the former general counsel for the Oath Keepers militia is not currently competent to stand trial, both her lawyer and a federal prosecutor said in court Thursday. Kellye SoRelle, of Texas, was indicted in September on felony counts of conspiracy and obstruction for allegedly instructing members of the Oath Keepers to destroy evidence after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol Building. SoRelle, a lawyer and former Republican candidate for the Texas House of Representatives, was on the grounds of the Capitol with militia leader Stewart Rhodes but did not enter the building. She was also filmed taking part in a meeting between Rhodes, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and others in the garage of the Phoenix Hotel in D.C. on Jan. 5. Tarrio has claimed the meeting was about him seeking legal representation following his arrest a day earlier for burning a D.C. church's Black Lives Matter flag.

After the riot, the Justice Department says SoRelle passed along messages from Rhodes through the Oath Keepers' Telegram chats telling militia members to get ready to oppose the government by force. Prosecutors argued at trial in November that Rhodes used SoRelle's phone as a way to try to distance himself from messages he wrote instructing his militia members to destroy evidence — including one telling Oath Keepers to "DELETE your self-incriminating comments." SoRelle was scheduled to begin a jury trial on July 10 with co-defendants Donovan Crowl and James Beeks. On Thursday, however, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Hughes and SoRelle’s public defender, Horatio Aldredge, told U.S. District Judge Mehta they had been informed by separate evaluators that SoRelle was not currently competent to stand trial. Hughes said the Justice Department expected to receive the full report back from their evaluator by the end of the week. Mehta, who has presided over the previous three Oath Keepers conspiracy trials to date, said that put him in an unusual position because SoRelle has been free on a personal recognizance bond since her arrest last year. Mehta has served on the federal bench since being nominated by former President Barack Obama in 2014 and has never in that time, he said, encountered a situation where a defendant on release has been deemed incompetent.

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SWBTS trustees release 20 years of financials that show devastating decline began under Patterson

Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have released 20 years of audited financial records — more than any Southern Baptist Convention entity has done — documenting a devastating pattern of overspending while enrollment plummeted. The spending spree began with former President Paige Patterson, abated a bit after his firing, then resumed anew under his successor, Adam Greenway. This culminated in an operating deficit of $8,165,997 for fiscal year 2022. But that is only a small portion of the story. A trustee report released June 7 explains: “During the period from 2002-2022, annual operating expenses increased by 35% while SBC FTE enrollment decreased by 67%. The result of this failure to reduce operating expenditures was a $140.1 million cumulative operating deficit from 2002-2022.”

The report begins: “Over the past 20 years, the financial health of Southwestern Seminary has progressively deteriorated.” Glimpses of these financial problems have surfaced periodically — including when Greenway was pressured to resign in September 2022 — but the full scope of the problem never has been made public or reported to the SBC, which technically owns the seminary. Greenway was hired in 2019 to stabilize the Fort Worth, Texas, seminary. However, the newly released financial reports show he also fell into a pattern of what trustees previously called “out of control spending.”

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Dallas Morning News Editorial: Feral hogs have overrun Texas. This might just rid us of them

While Washington politicians don’t agree on much these days, on this they see eye to eye: The nation has an out-of-control feral hog problem, and more must be done to get a hold of it. A bipartisan group made up of U.S. Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas; Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M.; Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., recently introduced the Feral Swine Eradication Act, which would make permanent a successful $75 million pilot program launched as part of the 2018 Farm Bill. Congress should approve this measure and keep federal money flowing to Texas and other states overrun by this dangerous and destructive invasive animal. More than 6 million feral hogs roam the United States, nearly half of them in Texas. A previous estimate of $1.5 billion in crop damage nationwide to date is now believed to be much higher. According to a March 2023 federal report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agricultural damage in Texas alone is estimated to be at least $100 million and possibly as much as $230 million a year.

In rural areas, these hogs eat corn fields and other crops, contaminate watersheds and damage whole ecosystems in places where they root and roam looking for food. In more urban areas, they dig up cemeteries and golf courses, cause car accidents and threaten pets. As omnivores, they seem willing to eat just about anything. They’re often diseased and they reproduce more quickly than they can be controlled. State wildlife officials for years have tried just about everything to get rid of them. They’ve lifted hunting restrictions and are trying to develop contraceptive methods. Texas even enacted the 2011 “pork chopper” law that allowed hunting from helicopters. But so far none of the measures have proved very effective, leaving managed trapping and shooting programs as the best options. Cornyn and his Senate colleagues say results from the federal pilot program give them hope. In Texas, several federal agencies partnered with the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute and the Texas Wildlife Damage Association to funnel money into 16 counties with particularly bad hog problems. They established small trap loan programs with landowners and provided assistance in building and maintaining the traps. The agencies also used social media to spread the word about their grants. The result: Hog populations have declined in those counties and are completely gone in Dallam County in the far upper-west corner of the Panhandle. At least for now.

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Texas Medical Board: Houston doctor violated laws with COVID care, acted unprofessionally

The Texas Medical Board has filed a formal complaint against Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, a Houston ear, nose and throat specialist, accusing her of violating the standard of care and acting unprofessionally in 2021 when she prescribed medication to a hospitalized COVID-19 patient in Fort Worth whom she had never examined, according to court documents. The complaint, filed in April with the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), accuses Bowden of multiple violations of the Texas Medical Practice Act and board rules for her dealings with the Fort Worth hospital and, separately, her decision to resign her privileges from Houston Methodist Hospital during an investigation into her conduct. The alleged violations include failing to maintain patient confidentiality and “behaving in a disruptive manner” toward medical personnel.

A private practitioner in River Oaks, Bowden’s national profile has grown since she first clashed with Houston Methodist in late 2021 over what the hospital said were “harmful” views on COVID care. She has been a vocal opponent of vaccine mandates and an advocate of the deworming drug ivermectin for COVID treatment, even as a National Institutes of Health panel recommends against using it as a COVID therapy. She continues to espouse anti-vaccine claims on social media to her 216,000 followers. “I’m kind of excited to have this case go forward, because then the public will get to see what’s going on,” Bowden said during a phone interview Monday. “… And, really, we can expose the Texas Medical Board and this politicized witch hunt.” The medical board is composed of 12 physician members and seven public members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. It had previously offered Bowden a settlement through informal mediation — one of several stages of the board’s enforcement process. The doctor said on Twitter that she rejected their proposal — which she said included a $5,000 fine and 8 hours of additional education — and chose to proceed with a formal public hearing. Most medical board cases are either dismissed early or resolved through the informal process, said board spokesman Jarrett Schneider. He said only about 10 percent of cases that reach informal mediation cannot be resolved and end up at the SOAH, which handles disputes between Texas agencies, other governmental entities and private citizens.

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Houston Chronicle Editorial: Supreme Court win on voting rights may not help Texas

For the past decade, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority has pummeled Americans who care deeply about voting rights. Led by Chief Justice John Roberts, this court repeatedly plunged a knife through the heart of the Voting Rights Act. It upheld shameless voter purges. It punted on partisan gerrymandering. At times, some of the court's justices seemed to live in alternate realities: In the Shelby County v. Holder decision of 2013, Roberts reasoned that racism had so diminished in America that the federal government no longer needed to "pre-clear" changes to voting rules in jurisdictions with a history of discrimination. Those days, he seemed to think, are over. Ironically, Roberts has now authored a decision preserving what's left of the hollowed-out Voting Rights Act.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4, in Allen v. Milligan, that an Alabama congressional voting map had undermined the power of Black voters. Roberts wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the court's three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Black residents make up 27 percent of Alabama's population, according to the latest Census, but they're a majority in only one of the state's seven congressional districts. The ruling upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars election practices that result in a denial of the right to vote based on race. In effect, the Court now requires Alabama to re-draw its congressional districts. Rather than packing Black voters into just one "hyper-minority" district, the new map should have Black majorities in two — giving Alabama's Black population its fair share of voting power. The Milligan decision seemingly contradicts Roberts' rosier view a decade ago that states should no longer be subjected to federal oversight. And yes, those states included Texas, which had violated the Voting Rights Act in every single redistricting cycle since 1970.

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Workers will fuel Huston's energy transition. Why are they so hard to find?

Houston, long a leader in just about every aspect of the fossil fuel industry, is poised to assume the same mantle when it comes to the greener sources at the heart of the energy transition. If only there were the workers to take up the challenge. A lack of interest in the energy industry among young people and the need for rapid training in technologies that are evolving at lightning speed could be stumbling blocks in Houston's energy transition, panelists said Thursday during an event hosted by the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, the Greater Houston Partnership and the Center for Houston's Future. The groups are working to help Houston weather the shift toward cleaner forms of energy such as hydrogen, which is gaining traction as a potential fossil-fuel alternative. Houstonians are well-versed in oil refining and oil and gas production, but new technologies would require new training and new support from the community.

But the first hurdle the region faces is declining interest among young people to participate in the field, panelists said. Messaging that the energy industry has no future as countries around the world attempt to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and shift to cleaner energy sources has turned off many who are about to embark on a career. But that notion is not true, said Tim Tarpley, president of the Energy Workforce and Technology Council, a Houston-based trade association that represents energy technology and services companies. "There is tremendous opportunity,” he said. “But we need to be better as an energy industry at telling that story." It would help if people in the energy industry mentored kids in middle school and high school, said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, the University of Houston’s chief energy officer. "They just need to see what you’re doing and how much you enjoy doing that work." Houston has the workforce needed for new energy jobs, but some of the potential recruits may be adults working in the service industry or in fast food, so they'd need to be sought out and trained, said Mary Beth Gracy, managing director for the Houston office of consultancy Accenture. Her office is working with the Greater Houston Partnership on an effort to recruit and train people within economically disadvantaged communities, who could benefit from the new investment and new jobs headed for Houston.

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Uvalde parents, teachers sue gunmaker Daniel Defense, gun store over school shooting

In the latest lawsuit over the Uvalde school shooting, 30 family members, teachers and others are suing the manufacturer of the rifle the gunman used, the gun store where he collected it and a company that makes devices that increase the firing rate of semiautomatic weapons. The plaintiffs include Federico Torres, whose son Rogelio was killed in the May 24, 2022 rampage at Robb Elementary School; Arnulfo Reyes, a teacher who was shot and wounded; and a fellow teacher, Tiffany Massey, who is the wife of a Border Patrol agent whose team killed the shooter. Also among the plaintiffs are teachers who kept their students in lockdown until they were evacuated and the parents of some of those students. One of the parents who is suing is Angeli-Rose Gomez, who snuck past police lines at Robb to remove her three children from their classrooms.

The federal lawsuit, filed in Del Rio, accuses Georgia gun-maker Daniel Defense, Oasis Outback of Uvalde and Arkansas-based Firequest International Inc. of marketing and distributing unreasonably dangerous products and engaging in deceptive trade practices, among numerous other claims. Daniel Defense made the assault-style rifle that the 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, purchased online. Outback Oasis took delivery of the gun and transferred it to Ramos, a requirement for Internet sales. Firequest manufactured the "hell-fire" trigger device police found next to Ramos' body. The devices, when installed on a firearm's trigger guard, push the trigger forward again after an initial shot, thus allowing for lightning-fast firing. The suit said Ramos ordered the device online. The suit accuses Daniel Defense and Oasis Outback of making a negligent sale and Oasis Outback of negligence in its hiring, training and supervision of employees. The suit seeks both compensatory and punitive damages. Lawyers for Daniel Defense and Oasis Outback did not respond to messages seeking comment. An employee of Firequest said company officials were not available for comment. Ramos ordered the Daniel Defense rifle online for more than $1,800, investigators have said. He picked it up on May 20, 2022, at Oasis Outback, where a manager asked him how an 18-year-old could afford such an expensive firearm.

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Texas to deploy long string of buoys in middle of Rio Grande in new bid to deter migrants

Texas will soon deploy a string of buoys in the middle of the Rio Grande in a new effort to deter migrants, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday. A 1,000-foot long set of marine floating barriers will be placed in the river near Eagle Pass by July 7, state officials said. Each buoy is about 4 feet in diameter. If the initial test works, “we can put mile after mile after mile of these buoys” in the water at locations where crossings by large groups of migrants are expected, Abbott said. It’s unclear how long the test will last. The buoys will create “a layering effect,” combined with concertina wire laid on the bank of the river by Texas National Guard and swiftly mobilized formations of state police and soldiers standing nearby, Abbott said. “What these buoys will allow us to do is to prevent people from even getting to the border,” the three-term Republican governor said at a Capitol news conference.

Abbott spoke after signing six border-related bills sent to him by the Legislature in the session that ended on Memorial Day. The measures are in addition to $5.1 billion in the new state budget that’s on Abbott’s desk and a bill before lawmakers in their special session that would authorize a prison sentence of at least 10 years for smugglers of migrants. The new laws compensate farmers and ranchers whose land is damaged by migrants, authorize the Texas Military Department to use drones at the border and declare Mexican drug cartels “foreign terrorist organizations.” Posters the governor displayed showing aerial and close-up photos of the buoys included the logo of Cochrane USA, a subsidiary of the fencing company Cochrane International. DPS spokesman Travis Considine confirmed the buoys are from Cochrane. The cost of the initial deployment in Maverick County will be “under $1 million,” said Col. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Reaction from staunch opponents of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies was favorable.

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Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans among world's most profitable sports teams, according to Forbes

The Dallas Cowboys are the most profitable professional sports team in the world, but the Houston Texans are not far behind, according to Forbes, which regularly tracks the value of pro teams. According to Forbes, the Dallas Cowboys earned $1.17 billion in operating income in the past three years. That includes earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and debt. The Texans ranked No. 6, with $356 million in three years. Forbes listed the top 25 sports teams from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and professional soccer teams.

For hockey, basketball and baseball, the figures end in the 2022 season; whereas the data for football ends with the 2021 season. According to Forbes, the Dallas Cowboys are worth $8 billion, tops among all professional teams. The NFL alone takes up over half of the list with 13 teams, despite the cap on players’ salaries to about 48 percent of the league’s revenue. The Houston Rockets also made the list. The Rockets ranked No. 23, with $240 million over that span. The NBA took up seven slots on the list: No. 4 New York Knicks; No. 7. Golden State Warriors; No. 8. Los Angeles Lakers; No. 14. Chicago Bulls; No. 16 Dallas Mavericks; No. 18. Boston Celtics. Five soccer teams made the list, but no hockey or baseball teams made the cut. According to Forbes, this is because the pandemic dragged down profits and these leagues have less lucrative broadcasting deals than the NBA and NFL.

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Ethan Blevins and Duncan Schroeder: Texas should end judicial deference

(Ethan Blevins is a legal fellow. Duncan Schroeder is a research assistant at Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit legal organization that has defended Americans’ liberties from government overreach for 50 years.) In 2011, Hermenia Jenkins, the principal at a public school in a Houston suburb, was surprised to learn that despite her term contract, the superintendent had demoted her to assistant principal and was moving her to a different school. She took umbrage, arguing that her contract shielded her from this reassignment because the new job was not in the “same professional capacity” as a principal under the Texas Education Code. But the school argued otherwise — interpreting “same” to mean generally the same, not exactly the same. The Texas Court of Appeals that took up her case did not decide what “same professional capacity” actually means. Instead, it simply deferred to the school’s interpretation. That’s called “judicial deference.” Texas courts defer to state agencies rather than decide the meaning of the laws on their own. This lets government agencies do the interpreting, almost always in a way that favors the agency’s own interests.

Since the 1940s, federal and state courts have practiced judicial deference by allowing unelected regulators to decide the meaning of the laws they are charged with enforcing. More than two centuries ago, Chief Justice John Marshall declared that the courts have the duty to “say what the law is.” Judges should interpret the law independently and impartially. This seemingly technical issue has a real-life impact on Texans’ rights. Bureaucrats wind up making important tax determinations, and occupational licensing boards are stocked with industry insiders restricting entry to their profession to maximize their own profits. In Texas, courts “defer to the agency’s interpretation unless it is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the language of the statute.”In Jenkin’s case, the court decided that the school’s interpretation of “same professional capacity” as including both principal and assistant principal was reasonable. To end this systemic bias favoring the government and restore the independence of the Texas courts, a group of Texas legislators tried to pass Texas House Bill 1947 this session. The bill made it out of committee, but unfortunately, it failed to gain a vote on the House floor.

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County Stories

Tarrant County's longtime administrator, G.K. Maenius, announces retirement

Tarrant County Administrator G.K. Maenius will retire in September, capping off more than 35 years of service, the county announced in a press release Thursday morning. Maenius, 71, is Texas' longest-serving county administrator, according to the press release. He's also the only one Tarrant County has ever had. He was the first person to take the job in January 1988. “G.K. Maenius is a Tarrant County institution,” Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare said in the press release. “He is a man of the utmost integrity and is simply irreplaceable. He has faithfully served Tarrant County for over 35 years, leaving a lasting legacy of service to this amazing place we call home. We celebrate G.K. and his accomplishments. His retirement is well-earned.”

The county administrator is not an elected official. Maenius is an appointed staff member who oversees a county government with 4,600 employees and a $900 million operating budget. He also steers the biweekly County Commissioners meetings. His annual salary is about $410,000, county records show. Government officials around the country look to Maenius as "the quintessential county administrator," said County Commissioner Roy Charles Brooks, who has worked alongside Maenius for decades. "He has been a calming force on Commissioners Court for all these years, and he will be missed," Brooks said. "We will find someone to take over the job, but there's only one G.K. Maenius. He really can't be replaced." Maenius' expertise leaves "quite a pair of shoes to fill," said Susan Garnett, the CEO of MHMR, the county's mental health authority. "He knows every square inch of the budget, and every square inch of the county, and has been zealous and tireless in doing the right thing for Tarrant County residents," she said. Before becoming county administrator, Maenius worked in governmental affairs for the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and was executive director of the Fort Worth Crime Commission, his official bio says.

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City Stories

HISD board approves Mike Miles' interim contract over protesters' objections at heated first meeting

New Superintendent Mike Miles' interim contract was approved Thursday in a lively inaugural meeting of HISD's new Board of Managers, over the objections of at least 150 students, parents, teachers and civil rights groups who protested Miles' appointment. Miles will be paid $25,000 for relocation expenses and receive $1,473 for each day he works under the interim contract, which was prorated to align with former Superintendent Millard House II's annual salary of $360,000, according to a spokesman for Miles. Miles will be paid identically to House once the interim contract is replaced with a long-term agreement in about two weeks, he said. The ratification of Miles' contract, along with the approval of other items on the meeting agenda, could barely be heard over the clamor from the audience, which remained consistent throughout the nearly 90-minute meeting.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves!" one audience member yelled, as the rest of the crowd broke out in chants of "no justice, no peace." Miles was tardy to Thursday's meeting, only joining for the agenda item in which his contract would be ratified, but said he watched the majority of the public comment over the live stream. He said he was proud of how the Board of Managers — who remained silent as speakers approached the podium one by one, calling them "puppets" and pleading with them not to reject Miles' appointment — handled the heightened tensions of their first meeting. "They're volunteers who stepped up to serve the public interest, they serve HISD's kids," Miles said. "So to see them act so calm and professional under that sort of pressure just made me proud." Miles said he only joined for the end of Thursday's meeting because it was the first time the board "would face questions or input from the community and we wanted the focus to be on them." Many community members shouted "Where's Mike Miles?" throughout the meeting.

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Manny for mayor? District 8 councilman hints at running for SA's top office

District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez was sworn in for his fourth and final term last week, but he’s already considering the next election cycle in two years. Pelaez sent out an email survey today asking San Antonians about their priorities in the city, hinting that it was his first step in determining if he would run for mayor. “During the campaign, many of you asked if my name will appear at the top of the ticket in the next election cycle,” his email reads. “That’s an important question and it merits an answer. In order to provide you an answer, I first want to start a conversation with you and San Antonians throughout our city about the priorities and issues that matter to you.”

The survey asks respondents about how to increase opportunities for people to thrive, how the city should uphold its character and culture, how to ensure equitable growth, and how to prioritize public safety. Mayor Ron Nirenberg is serving his fourth and final term, so the seat will be open during the next election cycle. Pelaez, 49, is an attorney. He was first elected to the District 8 seat in 2017 and easily won the election in May with 70 percent of the vote against a single challenger. Pelaez chairs the council’s Economic and Workforce Development and Intergovernmental Relations committees. He has been a strong advocate for helping people affected by domestic abuse.

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National Stories

Trump can still run for president in 2024 after being indicted twice

Donald Trump is the first former president to be charged with a crime after leaving office. But it doesn’t prevent him from continuing his campaign to return to the White House as president in 2024. Even a guilty verdict in either of the cases pending against him would not disqualify Trump’s bid for office, according to Anna G. Cominsky, a professor at New York Law School, or keep him from serving if he were elected. “There are actually not that many constitutional requirements to run for president,” Cominsky said. “There is not an explicit prohibition in the Constitution in respects to having a pending indictment or even being convicted.” Trump announced on social media Thursday night that he’s been charged by the Justice Department in connection with the discovery that hundreds of classified documents were taken to Mar-a-Lago, his private golf club and residence in South Florida, after he left the White House in 2021. He called the federal case a hoax and professed his innocence.

Separately, the former president is charged in Manhattan with nearly three dozen felony counts related to payments that were intended to silence an adult-film actress during his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has pleaded not guilty in that case and a trial is scheduled to begin in late March, a few weeks after Super Tuesday. The Constitution includes three requirements to run for president: A candidate must be at least 35 years old, have been born in the United States or a territory and have resided in the United States for at least 14 years, according to Caroline Fredrickson, a law professor at Georgetown Law School. Beyond that, there are few restrictions to holding the presidency — or any lower elected office. Among the exceptions: “Engaging in insurrection or rebellion,” a provision that was codified in the 14th Amendment in the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era. A New Mexico judge disqualified a county commissioner from holding office in 2022 because the person had participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Some advocates and left-leaning legal observers have similarly argued that Trump — who is leading in most Republican polls — should be disqualified from holding office, alleging that he played a role in inciting that attack.

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Supreme Court rules in favor of Black Alabama voters in unexpected defense of Voting Rights Act

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a surprising 5-4 ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case from Alabama, with two conservative justices joining liberals in rejecting a Republican-led effort to weaken a landmark voting rights law. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh aligned with the court’s liberals in affirming a lower-court ruling that found a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act in an Alabama congressional map with one majority Black seat out of seven districts in a state where more than one in four residents is Black. The state now will have to draw a new map for next year’s elections. The decision was keenly anticipated for its potential effect on control of the closely divided U.S. House of Representatives. Because of the ruling, new maps are likely in Alabama and Louisiana that could allow Democratic-leaning Black voters to elect their preferred candidates in two more congressional districts.

The outcome was unexpected in that the court had allowed the challenged Alabama map to be used for the 2022 elections, and in arguments last October the justices appeared willing to make it harder to challenge redistricting plans as racially discriminatory under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The chief justice himself suggested last year that he was open to changes in the way courts weigh discrimination claims under the part of the law known as section 2. But on Thursday, Roberts wrote that the court was declining “to recast our section 2 case law as Alabama requests.” Roberts also was part of conservative high-court majorities in earlier cases that made it harder for racial minorities to use the Voting Rights Act in ideologically divided rulings in 2013 and 2021. The other four conservative justices dissented Thursday. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the decision forces “Alabama to intentionally redraw its longstanding congressional districts so that black voters can control a number of seats roughly proportional to the black share of the State’s population. Section 2 demands no such thing, and, if it did, the Constitution would not permit it.” The Biden administration sided with the Black voters in Alabama.

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Pat Robertson, broadcaster who helped make religion central to GOP politics, dies at 93

Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, has died. He was 93. Robertson’s death Thursday was confirmed in an email by his broadcasting network. No cause was given. Robertson’s enterprises also included Regent University, an evangelical Christian school in Virginia Beach; the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends the First Amendment rights of religious people; and Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organization. For more than a half-century, Robertson was a familiar presence in American living rooms, known for his “700 Club” television show, and in later years, his televised pronouncements of God’s judgment — usually delivered with a smile, as a gentle lament — that blamed natural disasters on gays and feminists and accused Black Lives Matter demonstrators of being anti-Christian.

Robertson was a “happy warrior” who was soft-spoken, urbane and well-read, said Ralph Reed, who ran the Christian Coalition in the 1990s. “He was not some backwoods preacher,” Reed said. “He was very enthralling, avuncular and charming. He had a great sense of humor.” The money poured in as he solicited donations, his influence soared, and he brought a huge following with him when he moved directly into politics by seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 1988. Robertson pioneered the now-common strategy of courting Iowa’s network of evangelical Christian churches, and finished in second place in the Iowa caucuses, ahead of Vice President George H.W. Bush. His masterstroke was insisting that three million followers across the U.S. sign petitions before he would decide to run, Robertson biographer Jeffrey K. Hadden said. The tactic gave him an army. ?He asked people to pledge that they’d work for him, pray for him and give him money,” Hadden, a University of Virginia sociologist, told The Associated Press in 1988. ?Political historians may view it as one of the most ingenious things a candidate ever did.? Robertson later endorsed Bush, who won the presidency. Pursuit of Iowa’s evangelicals is now a ritual for Republican hopefuls, including those currently seeking the White House in 2024.

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On the tee, from Washington: Bipartisan anger over Saudi golf mega-deal

The PGA Tour’s planned merger with Saudi-backed LIV Golf has sparked a surprise bout of bipartisan harmony on Capitol Hill: Conservatives and liberals are uniting to thrash the deal. Some lawmakers are calling for congressional investigations. Others are looking to the Justice Department and other federal regulators to first explore the case for blocking the move on antitrust grounds. Only after regulators act, they say, is there likely to be appetite for Congress to enter the picture — even as a majority of its members are openly wary of the deal. “I would want to make sure it passes antitrust scrutiny — that’s my principle,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said. “I would hope DOJ would go through their merger analysis. I would want to see what they come back with on that.” Scores of members of Congress have criticized the golf mega-merger, warning that it would help consolidate the Saudi government’s U.S. influence despite deep bipartisan concerns about its human rights record.

“If the three major auto companies in America decided to merge, the Department of Justice would be all over it. That’s what we have here,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said. “We’re thinking about the ways that we can continue to highlight the antitrust issues that the Department of Justice has to examine, but they’re pretty obvious.” Outside groups are also pushing Congress to stay out of the merger and instead lean on agencies to block the deal on antitrust grounds. “This is a pretty straightforward antitrust violation,” said Katherine Van Dyck, senior legal counsel to the American Economic Liberties Project, a progressive anti-monopoly group. “To the extent Congress intervenes, I think it should be to investigate the harms that could result from this.” Lawmakers are highly aware that antitrust questions could arise from comments by PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan that the LIV deal would “take the competitor off the board,” in addition to reports that no antitrust lawyers were involved in inking the final agreement that emerged in a surprise announcement Tuesday.

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Biden decries rash of ‘cruel’ state laws targeting rights of LGBTQ+ individuals

President Biden forcefully pushed back Thursday against a rash of “cruel” state laws curtailing the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, including transgender youths, saying the measures are being adopted by “prejudiced people” and pledging that his administration will stand up for those being targeted. “It’s wrong that extreme officials are pushing hateful bills targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors,” Biden said. “These are our kids. These are our neighbors.” Biden made his comments during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Earlier in the day, the White House unveiled several new initiatives aimed at bolstering the LGBTQ+ community.

The White House planned to hold an event Thursday night billed as “the largest Pride celebration in White House history.” The event, with thousands of invitees and featuring entertainment by the singer Betty Who, was postponed to Saturday because of the hazardous air quality in the region. During the news conference, Biden mentioned several of the initiatives unveiled earlier Thursday. They are aimed at protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, addressing mental health and homelessness issues prevalent in the community, and countering book bans at state and local levels. While touting those and other measures he has embraced as president, such as reversing a ban on transgender troops in the military, Biden acknowledged the political head winds he faces. “Our fight is far, far from over because we have some hysterical and, I would argue, prejudiced people who are engaged in what you see going on around the country,” he said.

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Republicans buckle down for what could be marathon blockade

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is racing to break the lower chamber deadlock triggered this week by disgruntled conservatives, but rank-and-file members aren’t holding their breath for a resolution. A number of House Republicans left Washington on Thursday warning the sides remain so far apart that it might require weeks — maybe longer — to get the House back to working order. The conservatives are furious with McCarthy’s handling of last month’s debt ceiling negotiations, which led to a deal with President Biden loathed by GOP hard-liners who think the Speaker caved too easily on the Republicans’ deficit reduction demands.

As payback, 11 conservative firebrands — most of them members of the far-right Freedom Caucus — bucked tradition and opposed a procedural motion on Tuesday, blocking four Republican messaging bills from reaching the floor this week. Given the Republicans’ razor-thin House majority, that number was more than enough to sink the rule, bring McCarthy’s legislative agenda to a screeching halt and force GOP leaders to cancel three days of scheduled votes. The House is slated to vote again Monday. But as the chamber recessed on Thursday, some of the detractors were signaling the blockade will continue until McCarthy can satisfy their ill-defined demands. “I’m in no hurry,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who voted in favor of the rule Tuesday but has joined opponents in meetings with GOP leaders, expressed the same sentiment. “Let’s face it, when we pass things around here that are messaging bills that don’t do anything, is it really a loss that we’re not passing anything?” Perry said. “And when we do pass things around here that actually hurt the American people, is it a loss that we’re not doing any of that?”

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Lead Stories

Ken Paxton’s home renovation payment disclosure shows new ties to donor

A Houston lawyer defending Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his impeachment proceedings flashed up a bank statement at a press conference Wednesday, intended to disprove allegations that a Paxton donor had paid for extensive renovations at the politician’s Austin home. The bank statement, lawyer Tony Buzbee said, showed a payment by Paxton for the work. It also showed it was performed by a construction company tied to the donor, a previously unknown arrangement that raises new questions. The Republican-majority Texas state House late last month voted to impeach Paxton, a fellow Republican who has gained national attention because of his battles against President Biden and close ties to former President Donald Trump. The impeachment arose from allegations of some of Paxton’s former deputies that he had abused his office to benefit the donor, Austin real-estate investor Nate Paul.

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Fox News tells Tucker Carlson he violated his contract with new Twitter show

Fox News told Tucker Carlson's lawyers Wednesday that the former star anchor breached his contract with the conservative network when he released the first episode of a new show on Twitter this week, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Carlson, a firebrand right-wing media personality known for his conspiratorial rhetoric, parted ways with Fox News in late April, days after the network agreed to pay nearly $800 million to Dominion Voting Systems to avert a high-stakes defamation trial. In a letter to Carlson's lawyers, Fox News general counsel Bernard Gugar said the broadcaster was "in breach" of his contract, which was signed in November 2019 and amended in February 2021.

"Fox defends its very existence on freedom of speech grounds," Freedman said. "Now they want to take Tucker Carlson’s right to speak freely away from him because he took to social media to share his thoughts on current events." The news was first reported by Axios. NBC News has not seen a copy of the letter; the source with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed that all of the information in the Axios article was accurate. Top spokespeople at Fox News did not immediately respond to an email and a text message requesting comment on the Axios report. Carlson launched his new show Tuesday night with a roughly 10-minute video titled "Ep. 1." In the video, Carlson claimed without evidence that Ukraine perpetrated an attack on a large dam in Russian-occupied territory that unleashed devastating floods. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has forcefully accused Russia of carrying out the attack, and U.S. officials have said intelligence suggests Putin's regime was behind the incident. In a briefing Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said President Joe Biden's administration was assessing reports that Russia was responsible.

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Gov. Greg Abbott’s property tax cut plan raises alarm from Texas school districts and advocates

Although the Republican-pushed property tax cuts under consideration in the Legislature backfill the revenue they’re taking from local school districts, education policy experts around Texas are concerned about what they mean for the long-term finances of schools. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas House favor a $12.3 billion plan based on tax rate compression that sends state funding to schools to cover maintenance and operation costs, the largest item on most property tax bills. Texas schools face major funding hurdles, and education advocates who tried and failed to win extra financial support from the Legislature — through an increase to what’s known as the “basic allotment,” or per-student funding — are warning that property tax compression will make school districts even more reliant on the state over time.

Meanwhile, Abbott and the conservative state Senate prioritized a private school voucher program that would divert per-student funding away from public schools. “Not only do we not know where the money is going to come from in the future to replace this, but then we’re not going to be able to make any improvements,” said Chandra Villanueva, a policy expert with the left-leaning think tank Every Texan. “Instead of raising the basic allotment which would allow districts to keep more money, they started messing with the tax rate.” Under existing state law, passed as part of a massive school finance overhaul in 2019, property value growth greater than 2.5 percent automatically triggers compression, costing the state billions. Under consideration currently is pouring additional billions to speed up that compression process, with the ultimate goal of eliminating certain property taxes altogether. “Texans want to own their own property, not rent it from government. We must provide that by eliminating property taxes in Texas,” Abbott said in a recent public appearance.

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Trump informed that he is target of special counsel investigation over classified docs: Sources

Former President Donald Trump received a letter from special counsel Jack Smith's office in recent weeks informing him that he is the target of an ongoing investigation related to his handling of classified information while out of office, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News. The point of a target letter is to put the subject on notice that they are facing the prospect of indictment. Department of Justice guidelines state that "the prosecutor, in appropriate cases, is encouraged to notify such person a reasonable time before seeking an indictment in order to afford him or her an opportunity to testify before the grand jury."

Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and argues he is being singled out by enemies. "I've done NOTHING wrong, but I have assumed for years that I am a Target of the WEAPONIZED DOJ & FBI," he wrote on social media this week. Lawyers for Trump on Monday met with officials at the DOJ, sources previously said. That meeting included Smith and a career justice official but neither Attorney General Merrick Garland nor Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, sources said. Last month, Trump's lawyers requested a meeting with Garland amid fears that the coming weeks could bring a possible indictment regarding Trump's alleged efforts to retain materials after leaving office and obstruct the government's attempts to retrieve them. The lawyers said they had questions surrounding the integrity of the grand juries investigating the former president.

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State Stories

Ken Paxton defense lawyer Tony Buzbee blasts ‘baloney’ impeachment, predicts long Senate trial

Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, hired to lead Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment defense, on Wednesday criticized the House’s case as “baloney” and suggested the upcoming Senate trial could last up to a year. “The whole thing’s a sham engineered by someone with a personal vendetta against Attorney General Paxton. And if it takes us a year to show that, then we’ll take a year to do it,” Buzbee said, noting his team had identified 66 witnesses they are looking to depose. The comments, delivered at a news conference at the Texas Republican Party’s office in downtown Austin, marked the first public rebuttal from Paxton’s legal team since the GOP-controlled House voted overwhelmingly to impeach the attorney general, suspending him from office.

The Texas Senate has agreed to set rules for the trial on June 20 and to hold the trial no later than Aug. 28. Buzbee is being joined on Paxton’s defense team by Dan Cogdell, a fellow Houston lawyer who also represents the attorney general in his felony securities fraud trial. Their addition to the case sets the stage for a trial that’s certain to bring fireworks, after Houston star lawyers Dick DeGuerin and Rusty Hardin announced last week they would be the lead prosecutors bringing the House’s case against Paxton. Cogdell criticized DeGuerin and Hardin for saying at their own news conference last week that the case was not about politics, but rather Paxton’s alleged misdeeds. “To say this case is not about politics has the credibility, the believability and the sincerity of the fellow that’s trying to convince his wife that he goes to the strip joint for the food,” Cogdell said. “‘It’s not about the naked women, sweetheart, it’s about the food!’ Nonsense.” In a statement to Hearst Newspapers, DeGuerin said Paxton is "entitled to the best defense he can buy, and he will need it."

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Houston passes $6.2B budget, with funds for employee raises and ditch maintenance plan

Houston city staff will see pay raises, money will go toward sidewalk repairs and residents won’t have to maintain their own drainage ditches anymore. All are part of the $6.2 billion budget that passed through Houston City Council with just two no votes Wednesday. The council voted, 15-2, to approve Mayor Sylvester Turner’s final spending plan, which features the largest net savings in decades. The budget includes previously announced pay raises for all city employees, a drastic increase in tax dollars for Houston’s streets and drainage program, and a plan to revive a long-discarded program for staff to proactively clean and maintain open ditches across neighborhoods. At-Large councilmembers Mike Knox and Michael Kubosh voted against the budget. Knox, who has consistently voted no to the past seven budget proposals, said there needs to be a larger reform to ensure Houston’s finances are structurally sound. Kubosh voiced concerns about the uncertain impact of state bills on the city’s financial position.

Turner, on the other hand, said this is the strongest budget his administration has adopted in his eight-year tenure. The city’s savings are set to rise to $405 million, surpassing the legally required level by approximately $220 million. The mayor said the high fund balance will set a strong foundation for the next administration after he leaves office early next year. “Any mayor that comes in has got to deal with the challenges that come before you. For me, I’ve had to deal with unfunded pension liabilities that had not been addressed in 20-something years … and a $160 million budget deficit,” Turner said. “There are a lot of good things in this budget. It not only factors in fiscal year ’24, but it also provides an additional cushion for the next mayor and City Council as they deal with fiscal year ’25.” Overall, the city’s $3.3 billion taxpayer-funded general fund, which covers core services, will see a 7.7 percent increase from the previous budget. Most of the additional spending will go toward already announced pay hikes for city workers — 6 percent for firefighters as a part of the three-year, 18 percent increase and 3 percent for police officers and municipal workers. In line with previous years, police, at $1 billion, and fire, at $593 million, make up about half the operating budget.

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Border security bills pass Texas Senate, but will they reach Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk?

Several proposals to beef up border security passed the Texas Senate on Wednesday, including a bill to slap a minimum 10-year prison sentence on smugglers of migrants. The plan is central to Gov. Greg Abbott’s agenda for the special session. The Senate also passed two bills that stray from Abbott’s call for the overtime session. One would create a new state crime for unauthorized entry by a migrant into Texas, and the other would establish a new policing unit along the state’s border with Mexico. Senators changed the House’s version of the human smuggling bill by Rep. Ryan Guillen, R-Rio Grande City. Guillen’s bill cleared the House last week. The House version allows for a lighter penalty of five years if someone is caught smuggling a relative, unless they were cavalier about their relatives’ physical safety or sexually abused them.

The Senate version tightens the House’s definitions of who is a relative, and also disqualifies a smuggler from a lighter sentence if they use a firearm while committing the crime. The bill — passed on a bipartisan 27-2 vote — will head back to the House. There, House members can concur with the Senate’s changes or refuse, which normally would trigger appointment of five people from each chamber who would try to sort out differences in closed door negotiations. However, last week, on the first day of the current special session, the House adjourned after it passed a property tax relief package and Guillen’s human smuggling bill. Unless the House returns to Austin and reverses its previous vote, the anti-smuggling can’t move on to the Governor. Special sessions can last up to 30 days. Abbott has said he’ll keep calling overtime sessions until the tax and border measures are passed.

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Lina Hidalgo says her 'F-word' comment about DA Ogg wouldn't have drawn attention if she were a man

After years of public feuding with the region's top prosecutor, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo derided her colleagues in a profanity-laced, on-the-record statement Tuesday about their loyalty to District Attorney Kim Ogg. The moment during the formal meeting came after Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia suggested reaching out to the sheriff’s office and the district attorney’s office about a program aimed at reducing violence by partnering mentors with at-risk youth. Hidalgo pushed back against the idea, explaining it would risk getting the mentors labeled as snitches and would undermine their work.

“If my colleagues want to put this in the district attorney’s or the sheriff’s office, then we are going to take a vote and be on the record about who wants it to go where,” she said. “So that I can explain to my community what else we’re doing, because some of us are wrapped around the little finger of a woman who, I don’t know what the f--- she’s threatening you with.” The judge’s comments, prompted in reaction to Garcia’s suggestion, drew condemnation from the lone Republican on the court, Tom Ramsey, who said Tuesday he would wait all day for an apology to Garcia. Hidalgo's office Wednesday said her comment wouldn't have drawn attention if she were a man. “The judge is a passionate defender of programs that support the well-being and safety of Harris County families," said Brandon Marshall, Hidalgo's communications director. "Women, and women in positions of power in particular, constantly navigate a world that expects them to be both strong and vulnerable, assertive but not aggressive. Judge Hidalgo is not interested in dwelling on a passing remark that no man would be asked to justify.” Moments after Hidalgo used the four-letter word Tuesday, Commissioner Rodney Ellis halted discussion, recommending the court take a 10-minute break. When they returned, Ramsey requested an apology, but the court, with Hidalgo at the helm, instead turned its focus to other business.

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Ousted HISD Superintendent Millard House II lands top job at Prince George's County Public Schools

Former Houston ISD Superintendent Millard House II is taking a job as head of a Maryland county school district, according to local news reports. House is expected to be named superintendent of the Prince George's County Public Schools system on Wednesday, according to 7News, the area's local ABC affiliate. The Prince George's County Public Schools system covers Maryland's second-largest county, just east of Washington D.C., with a population of nearly 1 million people and a public school district that serves over 131,000 students. House will be tasked with turning around some of the lowest-performing schools in the state, 7News reported.

House could not be reached for comment Wednesday, and the Prince George's County Public Schools did not return a request for comment. House's roughly two-year tenure in Houston ended last week when the Texas Education Agency officially took over HISD and appointed Mike Miles as superintendent. House was praised by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and teachers union president Jackie Anderson for his leadership, under which about 40 schools were lifted from failing grades. House "shepherded the district in difficult times. I want to thank him and apologize to him for how the State treated him," Turner tweeted ahead of the takeover.

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Texas Public Utility Commission names Kathleen Jackson as interim head

Texas Public Utility Commissioner Kathleen Jackson will serve as interim head of the electricity and water regulator until a permanent chairman is appointed, Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday. Peter Lake, the previous chairman of the five-member PUC, resigned June 2, but agreed to serve on the commission through the end of the month. Jackson was appointed to the commission in August 2022. The Beaumont resident, an engineer, had previously served on the state’s Water Development Board and is a member of the Texas Farm Bureau. She was among the commissioners appointed to the PUC in the wake of an unprecedented winter storm that knocked out much of the state’s electric grid in February 2021, resulting in millions of outages and hundreds of deaths across Texas.

During the storm, freezing temperatures hampered the state’s power production, and demand for electricity outstripped the power grid’s available supply. Lawmakers largely criticized the state grid operator and the PUC for not preparing for the storm nor warning of the shortfall. All of the commissioners serving at the time of the freeze resigned within weeks of the disaster. In the session following the big winter freeze, the legislature directed the PUC to research and potentially implement a redesign plan for the state's electricity market in hopes of boosting the grid’s reliability. Lake’s commission did put forward a plan this year, but lawmakers made significant changes to that plan in the most recent legislative session. Jackson takes over as the PUC decides if it wants to move forward with the legislature’s amended market redesign, or if it will go back to the drawing board.

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UTSW settles discrimination lawsuit with renowned scientist Dr. Ellen Vitetta

Last summer, Ellen Vitetta was one of 60 women featured on a multimedia display at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center celebrating women trailblazers at the university. Only a few months after the display went live, she settled her lawsuit against UTSW for age and sex discrimination and retaliation. The irony of UTSW’s celebration of a renowned scientist who happens to be suing the organization was not lost on Vitetta, who is one of several current and former UTSW employees who discussed a troubling work environment in the medical center. After years of legal battles and COVID-19 delays, Vitetta settled with the university for an undisclosed amount last fall. She initially asked for more than $1 million to cover legal fees, back pay, and other damages, but isn’t able to disclose the settlement details.

D CEO Healthcare spoke to multiple current and former female UTSW employees who shared similar stories of what they call gaslighting, discrimination, and unprofessional behavior by leadership at the university. Vitetta is a Distinguished Teaching Professor at UTSW, holds the Scheryle Simmons Patigian Distinguished Chair in Cancer Immunobiology, is a Piper Professor, and is the first female Texan biomedical scientist to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences. She was also elected to the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a member of the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame, past President of the American Association of Immunologists and the recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award, among countless other awards. Importantly she has received over 15 teaching awards from the medical students at UTSW and trained a graduate student who won a Nobel Prize.

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NTTA announced an increase in its toll rate. How much is it rising?

Your commute to work might get a little more expensive this summer, especially if you rely on North Texas toll roads to get there. The North Texas Tollway Authority said this month that it will be increasing its toll rate by an average of one penny per mile — from 20 to 21 cents — starting July 1. The NTTA, which operates the Dallas North Tollway, Bush Turnpike, Sam Rayburn Tollway and other toll roads, adjusts its toll rate every two years to help repay its $9.5 billion debt used to construct its roads. “The rate increase also helps fund our capital plan, including the current expansion of the Dallas North Tollway,” NTTA said in a statement.

The last time the NTTA increased its toll rate was in 2021, when it rose from 19 to 20 cents per mile. The organization does not receive tax funding and relies on tolls from drivers. For those with a TollTag account, the tollway authority equated the additional monthly expense to the “cost of a medium latte” — about $5.60 more per month. This comparison drew the ire of many users on Reddit. “I am getting a bit tired of every single rate hike recently being compared to the cost of a cup of coffee,” one user wrote. “What if I like my cup of coffee?” “It’s tone deaf nonsense,” another wrote. However, if you don’t have a TollTag and instead choose to pay by mail — known as ZipCash — you can expect your toll rate to be double the TollTag price. “Increasing the ZipCash toll rate helps offset the rising cost to collect tolls and the risk associated with the uncertainty of receiving payment from ZipCash users who choose not to have a TollTag,” NTTA said in a statement. NTTA advises drivers to be cautious of workers on its roads. They will be updating signs to reflect the rate hike in the coming weeks.

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Suspect in killing of Dallas man who testified in Amber Guyger trial jailed after 4 years

A man accused in the slaying of Joshua Brown, a witness in the murder trial of Amber Guyger in 2019 who was found killed just days after his testimony, is in a Dallas County jail after evading arrest for nearly four years. Records show Thaddeous Green, 26, was booked May 18 into a Dallas County jail. He faces a charge of capital murder, and his bail is set at $2 million. It was unclear Wednesday if he has an attorney in the murder case. Dallas police, the arresting agency, did not immediately respond to an inquiry into the nature of his arrest. Police had not made the arrest public as of Wednesday.

Brown was a neighbor of Botham Jean, the man shot and killed by former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger in 2018. Guyger is serving a 10-year prison sentence for the conviction. Brown testified during the trial about what he saw and heard the night of the shooting. Brown, 28, was fatally shot outside of an apartment complex on Cedar Springs Road just over a week after his testimony. After days of speculation as to whether the slaying was connected to his testimony, Dallas police said Brown was shot in a drug deal gone bad. Police identified three suspects in connection with Brown’s death, two of whom were taken into custody within a month of the slaying. Green, who was then 22 years old, was identified as armed and dangerous at the time.

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Fort Worth diocese alleges cannabis use among cloistered nuns

Arlington police said Wednesday they have begun investigating a dispute between the Fort Worth Catholic Diocese and a reverend mother who says she was wrongly accused of “sexual misconduct” with a priest. The diocese, meanwhile, told the Star-Telegram it has alerted police of “serious concerns” of marijuana and edibles inside the Arlington monastery of Carmelite nuns. It provided photos that show hordes of pill bottles and cannabis products, which the diocese says were taken by an informant and suggest broader problems within the 65-year-old cloistered order. The latest revelations Wednesday add to the increasingly contentious and highly unusual dispute playing out publicly between the Reverend Mother Teresa Gerlach and Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson. Both sides have apparently asked Arlington police to investigate the other.

Gerlach’s lawyer contacted police last week about her complaints, which include allegations that Olson and the diocese illegally seized data from her electronic devices before she was dismissed last week. Police interviewed the nun Wednesday, said her lawyer, Matthew Bobo. The diocese has said the bishop dismissed Gerlach after its internal investigation found she violated her chastity vow with an unnamed priest. Gerlach, who is 43 and uses a wheelchair and feeding tube, denies the allegations and is appealing her dismissal. The Arlington police investigation is in its “early stages,” a spokesman said. “The department has launched an investigation to determine whether any criminal offenses have occurred, which is standard anytime a criminal complaint is made.” A representative of the diocese told the Star-Telegram “neither the Bishop nor anyone at the Diocese have been involved in any criminal activity” regarding the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity. “The mere fact that Attorney Bobo initiated and made a report to the Arlington Police Department was not unexpected given the aggressive manner he has litigated this ecclesiastical dispute in the press,” the diocese spokesman said. The diocese then went one step further, saying it has evidence of illegal substance use among nuns. “The Diocese initiated and is in communication with the Arlington Police Department regarding serious concerns it has regarding the use of marijuana and edibles at the monastery, along with other issues that the Diocese will address at another time and in a proper forum.”

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Betsy Price: Texas expands Medicaid for moms, a big step against mortality

(Former Mayor Betsy Price is a Fort Worth philanthropist and businesswoman.) Give credit where credit is due: The Legislature stepped up and, in a rare show of bipartisan support, made it clear that the health of women and their babies is a Texas priority. Crucial legislation designed to curtail maternal mortality, House Bill 12, passed overwhelmingly and is awaiting the governor’s signature and, ultimately, approval from the federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. We should be proud of the leadership from our Tarrant County delegation. With all the hyperpartisan rhetoric at the Capitol, our leaders in the House and Senate opted for frank, open conversations on the health and safety of mothers and their babies. HB 12 takes a small but important step toward addressing the crisis by extending Medicaid coverage for qualifying mothers from two to 12 months postpartum.

In addition, the December 2022 Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Biennial Report found that 90% of pregnancy-related deaths could have been prevented. Women of color are in disproportionate danger — Tarrant County, for example, has the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the state for Black women. We should all be able to agree — these numbers and outcomes are unacceptable. In 2021, the House passed a similar bill, but the Senate voted to limit coverage to six months. That extension got mired in the process of federal approval, which meant that vulnerable mothers and their babies spent more time lost in the ongoing crisis. Now, we must not squander the positive momentum for Texas moms. No single program can solve the maternal health crisis our communities are facing. Without question, we won’t get better care or better outcomes until we have expanded access to benefits and more education and increased financial support for community programs designed to assist mothers and their babies. I know these support systems — and the partnership between our public, private, and nonprofit sectors — can work because I’ve seen them in action. We must continue open conversations about Medicaid access to ensure that the nearly 500,000 Texas women who enroll each year understand that they can soon take advantage of 12 months of coverage, not two.

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Luther Elmore: A special session should focus on retired state workers

(Elmore lives in Austin and is president of AFSCME Texas Retirees, Chapter 12. He retired from the Texas General Services Commission in 2002 after working 26 years for the state.) Gov. Greg Abbott says he plans to call multiple special sessions this year so the Legislature can take care of its unfinished business from the regular session. For more than 120,000 retired state workers, our business has been unfinished since 2001. That was Rick Perry’s first year as governor. It was when Democrats still held a majority in the Texas House. And it was the last time state leaders gave any pension increase to the former state employees who dedicated our careers to making Texas safer, stronger, and healthier. We are going on 22 years without any cost of living adjustment or extra pension check, while historic global inflation makes it harder to put food on our table and gas in our cars and trucks. Talk about unfinished business!

Gov. Abbott has already called lawmakers back to cut property taxes and deal with border issues. He will likely call them back again to address “school choice,” teacher pay, and K-12 funding. It’s vital that he add fair pensions for retired state workers to the call. The Legislature still has the money available from Texas’s record $33 billion surplus. Retirees have the needeach and every day. And the governor has a history of putting multiple issues on special session calls, including in 2017 when he asked the Legislature to tackle 19 items in 30 days. What we need now is the recognition that retired state workers were essential to making Texas great — and deserve better. Too many people dismiss us as the “bureaucrats” who made Texans fill out forms or wait in long lines. We hear that all the time. But it’s not who we are. Retired state workers guarded prisons. We built roads. We stocked lakes and blazed trails in parks. We protected vulnerable children and seniors from abuse and neglect. We coerced checks from deadbeat dads. At the governor’s mansion and Capitol, where our policymakers work, we mowed lawns, cleaned toilets, wrote bill analyses, built websites, and turned the lights on in the morning. And more than 60,000 of us still live right here in Central Texas.

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Brittney Griner’s Texas homecoming vs. Wings seemed surreal for more than one reason

The introductions of the visitors Wednesday at College Park Center went about like you’d expect in a civilized society. Each name drew a smattering of polite applause. The Wings’ public address announcer sounded like a barista calling out customers to come get their cinnamon dolce lattes. Until he came to the guest of honor, that is. No sooner did he get out a hyper-caffeinated “center, 6-9 from Baylor . . . " than the crowd swallowed the rest of the intro whole. Brittney Griner was home. Or close enough, anyway. The return of the world’s tallest political prisoner to play in a basketball game in her home state seemed a little surreal, and not just because a member of the Phoenix Mercury got the royal treatment. Besides the intro, Wings officials, in partnership with Griner and the Mercury, made pitches on behalf of Bring Our Families Home, an initiative campaigning for the release of detained American citizens abroad.

The public display of conscience isn’t exactly a new look for Griner. Not like the close-cropped hairdo she’s worn since her release from a Russian prison in December. In 2020, she protested the death of George Floyd at the hands of police by sitting out the national anthem and calling for its ban at WNBA games, drawing the wrath of conservative pundits and politicians. In case you’re still keeping score, she was front and center during the anthem Wednesday. Griner has never been shy about acting on her convictions, and she’s paid for it. Long before protests or her status as a political pawn, she alienated a faction of Baylor’s fan base when she wrote that the Baptist school’s stance against homosexuality caused her “pain.” The distance widened after her coach, Kim Mulkey, reportedly asked her to cut back her comments in the interests of recruiting. Considering Griner’s status as the greatest women’s basketball player in school history and a game-changer in the sport, the distant relationship with Baylor wasn’t a good look for either party.

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'It is concerning' | Mayor Turner calls for full assessment after multiple security breaches at IAH

Airport officials in Houston are increasing their perimeter patrols after two security breaches at Bush Intercontinental Airport in less than two weeks. The latest breach, which happened Tuesday night, was by a 22-year-old woman who "gained access to the airfield under a portion of perimeter fence that meets federal regulation," according to Houston Airports officials. Ivori Howard was charged with intent to impair or interrupt the operation of a critical infrastructure facility, officials said.

IAH is a massive airport with a lot of ground to cover, but airport security experts said it's not uncommon for people to breach the infrastructure. It's an issue many airports are facing. Unauthorized people breaching security perimeters cause delays and confusion. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner called for a full assessment. He said he wants answers. "This has happened twice in the last two to three weeks. It is concerning," Turner said. "Our airport grounds should be the most secure." According to Sheldon Jacobson, a professor at the University of Illinois and an airport security expert, security at airports works in layers. "Perimeter security breaches are not rare. Since airport security is predicated on layers, breaching perimeter fences is just one of the layers," Jacobson said. The recent issues at IAH come a couple of months after another incident. A man in a stolen box truck was arrested after leading police on a chase, crashing through a fence at the airport and driving on taxiways, according to authorities. He eventually crashed near Terminal B, ditched the truck and ran. After a brief search, he was found in the tunnels at an airport hotel and was taken into custody.

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County Stories

ACC to launch eight-week business administration associate degree in fall

Austin Community College plans to launch an eight-week pathway for an associate degree in business administration this fall. The new program will offer an associate degree after eight weeks of courses at the college’s Northridge Campus in North Austin. ACC Provost Monique Umphrey said the new program will allow students to earn credits faster and help reduce roadblocks to earning a degree. “Finding innovative ways to support our students toward completion is at the heart of our mission,” Umphrey said. “We believe equitable student outcomes are the key to fulfilling that mission of open access to social and economic mobility pathways.”

According to an ACC news release, students in eight-week courses tend to complete more semester credit hours on average than those in more traditional 15-week semesters. Data show that students also see increased persistence, retention and completion rates when colleges transition to eight-week teaching sessions, ACC said. “Instead of juggling multiple courses simultaneously, students can concentrate on one or two classes at a time — dive deeper into the subject matter, engage more effectively with their instructors and peers, and ultimately achieve greater success,” said Lorlie Ellis, ACC’s dean of business studies. The college will also offer several eight-week course options in other programs and degree tracks. Students in the eight-week courses will have access to free tutoring, academic coaching and advising, and they also can receive full-time financial aid benefits if they enroll in at least 12 credit hours within a semester.

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City Stories

Rally demands Denton enforce referendum decriminalizing pot; council signals opposition

Six months have passed since Proposition B won 71% of votes in November’s election and established an ordinance to decriminalize low-level marijuana possession in Denton. But a City Council vote Tuesday night demonstrated the continued battle between city leadership, police and voters over its enforcement. After over two hours of hearing public comments and debating among themselves, council members ultimately voted against adopting a copy of the ordinance with its own power. While the referendum ordinance decriminalizing marijuana remains in place, the vote signals the law is not accepted by many of Denton’s leaders. The law bans arrests and citations for low-level marijuana possession in the city, prohibits police using the “smell test” as probable cause and disallows the use of city funds to test substances for THC. It does not legalize marijuana possession, but rather makes penalizing low-level offenses a low priority for the city.

Even after it passed, the marijuana enforcement ordinance faced opposition from officials including City Manager Sara Hensley and Police Chief Doug Shoemaker, who have said it cannot be fully enforced because of state and federal law. Additionally, Hensley said in February that ordinances brought by citizen petition, as Proposition B was brought to ballot, cannot dictate the city budget, taking issue with the ban on using city funds for testing substances. Mayor Pro Tem Brian Beck suggested the City Council adopt the ordinance itself, thereby eliminating the question of council vs. petition power. Additionally, Beck wrote in his May 16 pitch, “Council would be explicitly confirming the democratic will of the voters that elected them.” Before Tuesday’s council meeting, roughly 50 people rallied outside Denton City Hall in support of the ordinance’s full implementation, holding signs that read “Protect our democracy,” “Respect the people’s majority” and “End the war on drugs.”

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Fort Worth’s nondiscrimination ordinance offers both protections and liabilities for LGBTQ residents

Reed Bilz’s son, Brian, lives thousands of miles away in California. Although he’s now an adult, she still worries about him. Over the past few years, Bilz has become increasingly anxious about Brian, who is transgender, visiting her in Texas. “The transition has literally saved his life,” said Bilz, a Fort Worth resident. “He tried to commit suicide several times and now he’s just as happy as he can be.” While state lawmakers worked to pass legislation preventing trans youth from accessing transition-related care, Bilz is concerned Fort Worth city code is harming residents and city employees. Frustration with the city’s inaction prompted Bilz to speak out. A clause in the city’s human relations ordinance allows business owners and their employees to prevent anyone from using a bathroom designated for the “opposite sex.” The language could allow business owners and employees to prevent anyone from using the bathroom of their choice based on physical appearance.

Fort Worth has not had to enforce the language nor has the city received any complaints of discrimination, city staff said. The language contradicts other parts of the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance, which explicitly protects trans and gender non-conforming residents from discrimination. Joel Burns, who went viral in 2010 for a passionate “It Gets Better” speech to gay teens, served on Fort Worth City Council between 2008 and 2014. He was in office in 2009 when council members added gender expression and identity to the nondiscrimination ordinance. Burns doesn’t view the language as problematic, because protections for LGBTQ residents are included earlier in the ordinance. “I know the intent of the City Council was clear when we amended our nondiscrimination ordinance: That in Fort Worth we welcome everyone and will protect our citizens and visitors from discrimination,” Burns said. The language is not having a measurable impact on residents because the city has not received any complaints, said Christina Brooks, head of the city’s diversity and inclusion department. “I definitely think that as we become a more data-driven city, then there might be more questions as to what language is really helping produce the results that we want to see in Fort Worth,” Brooks said.

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National Stories

House heads home after hard-right Republicans defy McCarthy, block legislation

A two-day stalemate between hard-right Republicans and GOP leaders has effectively frozen the House from considering any legislation for the foreseeable future, as both groups failed to find a resolution to the standoff that would allow the majority to vote on bills. Just past 6 p.m. Wednesday, after GOP leaders gave up on resolving the impasse this week and canceled the remaining votes for the week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) addressed reporters and explained that part of the ongoing frustration is the hard-line faction’s inability to articulate their demands. “This is the difficult thing,” he said. “Some of these members, they don’t know what to ask for.”

McCarthy met with several members of the House Freedom Caucus on multiple occasions Wednesday to negotiate on their demands after 11 lawmakers — still angry over McCarthy’s handling of the debt ceiling bill — voted with Democrats against passing a rule Tuesday that would have set parameters for debate of several noncontroversial bills this week. The blockade presents a high-stakes challenge for McCarthy as he seeks to assuage the myriad demands by the far-right faction of conference; previous Republican speakers have had to confront similar challenges before they were eventually forced out of the position. The conflict not only threatens McCarthy’s tenure with the speaker’s gavel, but also the House’s ability to take up any legislation, contributing to growing irritation within the razor-thin majority. McCarthy admitted Wednesday he had been “blindsided” by Tuesday’s blocked vote, which became the first House rule vote to fail since November 2002. But he insisted that the Republican conference would emerge stronger, in similar fashion to when the same group of lawmakers challenged his bid to becoming speaker.

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GOP lawmakers preview defense if Trump indicted on federal charges

As Washington prepares for the possible federal indictment of a former president, congressional allies of Donald Trump have previewed a muscular public defense that paints potential prosecutors as politically biased. In letters, statements and media comments over the past days and weeks, Republicans in both chambers previewed their criticism of a possible indictment that some legal experts say could come as soon as this week from grand jury probes supervised by Special Counsel John L. “Jack” Smith. Congressional Republicans have cast Attorney General Merrick B. Garland as biased, threatened to strip funding from the FBI, questioned the role of the FBI in that special counsel probe and moved to impeach FBI Director Christopher Wray.

The words and actions resemble Republican criticism of state law enforcement officials in April, when a 34-count indictment was unsealed against Trump in New York City. And they fit with Trump’s effort to make his perseverance against perceived political foes a key part of his third presidential bid. Smith is supervising two probes into the former president and reportedly is nearing a charging decision. Those investigations focus on whether Trump committed any crimes in connection with his effort to overturn his 2020 election loss or in his retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida, after his presidency. Trump’s attorneys have attempted to fend off any charges, and the legal team was seen Monday at the Justice Department. After the meeting, Trump posted frequently on his social media site that investigations against him were “ELECTION INTERFERENCE” and an attempt to throw the 2024 election to President Joe Biden.

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Smoke from Canadian wildfires engulfs East Coast, upending daily life

Smoke from hundreds of wildfires raging across Canada engulfed the eastern United States on Wednesday, upending the rhythms of daily life for tens of millions of Americans, creating a sea of “Code Red” air quality alerts as far south as the Carolinas and prompting widespread health worries. Nowhere was the scene more haunting than in New York City, where a thick haze blanketed the Statue of Liberty, shrouded the skyscrapers of Manhattan, delayed a baseball game at Yankee Stadium and forced a temporary halt of flights into LaGuardia Airport due to low visibility. Mayor Eric Adams recommended people wear masks outdoors and canceled outdoor city events. For the second day in a row, New York logged some of the worst air quality of any major city on the planet. But that was hardly the only place to experience the eerie, unsettling and throat-burning smoke that scientists say could become a more common occurrence in a warming world.

In Philadelphia, as elsewhere, schools canceled field trips, moved recess indoors and postponed athletic matches. In Washington, where monuments along the National Mall sat shrouded in the afternoon gloom, commuters donned masks that for the first time in years had nothing to do with a pandemic. “It looks like Mars outside,” said Dennis Scannell, the co-owner of a typically bustling but now silent baseball and softball training facility in Syracuse. The city’s Air Quality Index — a measure of outdoor pollution — registered 402 late Wednesday morning. Healthy is considered below 50. In Binghamton, N.Y., the National Weather Service office tweeted about the dimming sky just before 10 a.m. “Sun is no longer visible, everything’s orange, the parking lot lights have come on,” it read, alongside a photo of the otherworldly scene. As of early Wednesday, Canadian officials reported more than 400 active fires, with roughly 240 listed as “out of control.” The worst-affected province is Quebec, where at least 154 fires have been recorded.

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Biden administration to announce new steps to protect the LGBTQ community Thursday ahead of White House Pride celebration

President Joe Biden will announce a slew of actions Thursday aimed at protecting the LGBTQ+ community ahead of hosting what White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden called “the largest Pride celebration in White House history.” The celebration on the South Lawn will demonstrate “that LGBTQ people belong in the People’s House,” Tanden said. As part of Thursday’s announcement, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights will appoint a new coordinator specifically tasked with combating book bans enacted at the state and local level. An April report from free speech organization PEN America found book bans rose during the first half of the 2022-2023 school year. Almost a third of the bans were the result of newly enacted state laws, according to the report, which found bans were most prevalent in five states: Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah and South Carolina.

“Across the country, our nation is facing a spike in book bans, and these efforts disproportionately target the LGBTQI+ community as well as communities of color,” an administration official told reporters on a call previewing Thursday’s announcement. “These aren’t just attacks on the rights of LGBTQI+ Americans, they are part and parcel of a coordinated attack on our democracy.” The administration is also expected to unveil a new partnership with the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to provide “dedicated safety training and resources,” an expanded DOJ LGBTQ working group, new advisories from HHS to help mental health providers care for transgender and gender-diverse youth, and initiatives to protect LGBTQ youth in foster care and combat youth homelessness in the LGBTQ community. The announcements are the latest in a series of outreach efforts from the Biden administration to members of the LGBTQ community, and come as the Human Rights Campaign – the United States’ largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization – declared a national state of emergency for members of the LGBTQ community.

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Senators to introduce a bipartisan AI bill aimed at keeping up with China

A bipartisan group of senators will introduce legislation on Thursday aimed at managing the rise of artificial intelligence and its use by U.S. adversaries. The new bill comes as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has vowed to make addressing AI a priority and members of both parties are eyeing Big Tech, and AI in particular, as key focuses for this Congress. The Global Technology Leadership Act would establish an office that analyzes how competitive the country is in critical technologies like AI in comparison to rivals such as China, according to bill text shared exclusively with NBC News. The federal entity — named the Office of Global Competition Analysis — would consist of experts from the intelligence community, the Pentagon and other relevant agencies that use both intel and private-sector commercial data to make these assessments.

A summary of the legislation notes that “although the Department of Defense evaluates how our battleships, tanks, and aircraft compare to other nations, there is no equivalent process for critical technologies” like AI. The legislation’s authors argue that creating the office would bolster American competitiveness, inform policymakers and strengthen U.S. leadership in strategic innovation. “There is nobody — and I say this with complete certainty — no one in the federal government who can tell us how — nor frankly in the United States of America really — who can tell us how the U.S. stacks up in comparison to China in critical technologies like AI,” Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., told NBC News in an interview. “The point of all this is to make sure that we can evaluate our technology leadership relative to other countries and inform the appropriate policy response so we don’t get caught by surprise again as we did with 5G,” he added.

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As states differ on the benefits of Bitcoin, is there a solution to its climate and power-system impacts?

Bitcoin advocates insist their energy-intensive digital “mining” is necessary to protect the cryptocurrency despite its power system impacts, which climate activists find unacceptable. But there may be a middle ground. Many Bitcoin miners are discovering clean energy is a cost-cutting electricity source, cryptocurrency analysts said. And a growing regulatory backlash suggests miners should capitalize on it before potentially costly new regulations are imposed on them by the Biden administration and some state policymakers unconvinced of its economic benefits, environmentalists said. Mining creates Bitcoins from algorithm-guided energy-intensive computations and digital transactions, the cryptocurrency’s foundational 2008 white paper acknowledged.

Power companies are pursuing increasingly ambitous sustainability goals around clean energy, but integrating rising amounts of renewables, minimizing environmental impacts, and achieving carbon reduction targets can be challenging. Power companies are pursuing increasingly ambitous sustainability goals around clean energy, but integrating rising amounts of renewables, minimizing environmental impacts, and achieving carbon reduction targets can be challenging. The white paper’s algorithm “will require increasing computing and electricity use, and the main variable miners can control is their electricity price,” Bitcoin Policy Institute, or BPI, Fellow Margot Paez said. “Bitcoin mining is being forced by its design toward low-cost renewables” and new strategies “that can reduce their costs and improve system reliability,” she added. But that cannot be the whole solution, climate activists responded.

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'Cop City' vote: Atlanta City Council approves funding for controversial project

The Atlanta City Council on Tuesday approved funding for the construction of a proposed police and firefighter training facility that has struck controversy in Georgia's capital. The council members voted 11-4 to approve $31 million in public funds for the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, as well as a provision that requires the city to pay $36 million -- $1.2 million a year over 30 years -- for using the facility, according to The Associated Press. Prior to the highly anticipated vote, hundreds of residents and activists packed into Atlanta City Hall and spoke before the council for roughly 14 hours. A vast majority of them opposed the project that they have dubbed "Cop City."

The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, which will be used for specialized training for both law enforcement and fire department service workers, has garnered national attention for the riotous protests against it. City officials assert the facility could improve policing, while critics claim the effort is militarizing police and endangering local forests. The center will include an "auditorium for police/fire and public use," a "mock city for burn building training and urban police training," an "Emergency Vehicle Operator Course for emergency vehicle driver training," a K-9 unit kennel and training, according to the center's website. The first phase of the training center is scheduled to open in late 2023.

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Lead Stories

Powerhouse Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee to represent AG Ken Paxton in impeachment trial

Add one more big-name Houston lawyer to the ensemble legal teams on both sides of the impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose defense will be led by Tony Buzbee. Buzbee wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post Friday that he had been retained to represent Paxton. After taking down the post, he did not return requests for comment. But Tuesday, he took to the social media platform again to announce a news conference Wednesday "regarding the fatally flawed impeachment." "Don’t believe all the foolishness you have read about this case in the media," he had written over the weekend. "We look forward to putting forth the actual truth and exonerating this public servant. I’m very confident that justice will prevail.”

Buzbee did not respond to requests for comment from Hearst Newspapers, but he told the Texas Tribune that he will lead the defense team, and that others "will take meaningful and important roles.” The addition of Buzbee sets the stage for a trial that's certain to bring fireworks, after Houston star lawyers Dick DeGuerin and Rusty Hardin announced last week they would be the lead prosecutors bringing the Texas House's case against Paxton. The Texas Senate has agreed to set rules for the trial on June 20 and to hold the trial no later than Aug. 28. Buzbee was part of the team that defended then-Gov. Rick Perry, who was indicted in an abuse-of-power case in 2014 that was ultimately dismissed by the Texas Supreme Court. Buzbee is also known for taking on high-profile cases involving prominent figures, ranging from the victims of alleged sexual misconduct who sued Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson to the victims of the Astroworld crowd crush who sued festival founder and rapper Travis Scott. This won't be the first faceoff between Buzbee and Hardin: The two were on opposing sides of the Watson case. Most of the victims reached settlement agreements last year.

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Texas Senate panel advances bill increasing penalty for human smuggling

A bill to stop the smuggling of migrants who enter Texas and that creates a minimum decade-long prison sentence for smugglers drew support from a Senate panel Tuesday. Their endorsement fulfills Gov. Greg Abbott’s agenda for a special session he called hours after the regular session ended last month. The proposal, written by Sen. Pete Flores, R-Lakeway, establishes a “mandatory minimum” prison sentence of 10 years. Prison time can decrease to five years if the suspect cooperates with officials for human smuggling. Currently, smuggling is a third-degree felony with a minimum two-year sentence that cannot exceed 10 years. The bill also increases the offense of operating a stash house from a Class A misdemeanor — punishable for maximum of a one-year prison sentence — to a third-degree felony with a minimum 5-year sentence.

Abbott, who has made border security one of his key priorities-made increasing the penalty for human smuggling one of his seven emergency items during his State of the State speech in February. “Illegal smuggling is being aided and abetted by U.S. residents,” Abbott said. “That must stop.” The Border Security committee voted 4-1. Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, joined the three other Republicans on the panel. The panel, however, decided not to support House Bill 2 by Republican Rep. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City. Smuggling received national attention in Texas last year following the deaths of 53 migrants inside a tractor trailer left under the scorching sun in June 2022. Two men were federally indicted in July over the tragedy. Opponents of the increased penalty proposal disagree that stiffening the punishment will deter or stop people from committing smuggling offenses. Nick Hudson, the policy and advocacy strategist for the ACLU of Texas, said creating a mandatory minimum system would ban judges from weighing different circumstances when considering individual cases that deal with smuggling. But, in what could signal more tension between the two chambers of the Capitol, the panel chose not to bring up Guillen’s bill and simply left it pending. At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Senate president, said there were flaws in the bill. “We have no one to work with,” Patrick said. “The Senate continues to work and the House continues to stay home.” After Patrick’s news conference, Cait Wittman, a spokeswoman for Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, said in a statement that the Senate is the chamber that has not passed bills relevant to Abbott’s agenda. “We encourage the Senate to follow the House’s lead so that Texans can have the property tax relief and the secure border they deserve,” Wittman said.

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Pence kicks off 2024 run, beginning extraordinary showdown with Trump

Mike Pence on Wednesday kicked off his campaign for president, officially beginning an extraordinary competition against his former boss, Donald Trump, more than two years after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol upended their relationship. “Today our party and our country need a leader that will appeal, as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature,” Pence said in a video announcement that touted his work as vice president but did not mention Trump. “My family and I have been blessed beyond measure with opportunities to serve this nation, and it would be easy to stay on the sidelines. But that’s not how I was raised. That’s why today, before God and my family, I am announcing I am running for president of the United States.” The former vice president’s decision to seek a return to the White House — this time in the top slot — represents his most direct challenge to Trump, after serving dutifully for four years but resisting his exhortations to overturn the 2020 election.

Pence’s entrance comes during a stretch of several Republican campaign launches, with former New Jersey governor Chris Christie kicking off his run Tuesday and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum doing so Wednesday. Pence has spent considerable time laying a foundation for his run this year, making trips to early nominating states and GOP gatherings promoting his vision for the country’s future. “It’s going to be a historic moment when you have a former vice president challenge a former president,” said Scott Reed, co-chair of Committed to America, a super PAC supporting Pence’s candidacy. “It just shows you how high the stakes of this election are. Now, Pence has addressed January 6 head on, but he’s going to continue to talk about ways in which he differs with the former president on policies — policies that they pursued together while they were in office. He’s not going to try to out-Trump Trump; he’s going to stand out as a leader of character.” Since they left office, there has been a stark divide between Pence and Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, in which a violent pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on the day lawmakers gathered to certify the electoral college results, some chanting, “Hang Mike Pence!” The aftermath of the 2020 election marked the only time Pence broke publicly with Trump during his four years as vice president.

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House conservatives block GOP bills, voice frustration in response to last week's debt ceiling vote

House conservatives staged a mini-revolt Tuesday in retaliation for Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership on last week’s vote to raise the debt ceiling, the right wing banding together to block progress on a mixture of bills and vent their frustration. Led by outspoken members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of 11 Republicans broke with their party on an otherwise routine procedural vote that threw the day’s schedule — and the rest of the week — into disarray. It’s the first such procedural rule vote to fail in nearly two decades. The group is among some of the same conservative Republicans who tried to stop the debt ceiling bill from advancing last week and who then threatened to try to oust McCarthy after passage of the debt ceiling package that President Joe Biden signed into law. Short of taking that step, they have demanded a meeting with McCarthy, leaving it unclear how the standoff will be resolved.

“We’re frustrated with the way this place is operating,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., one of the more outspoken members of the group. “We’re not going to live in the era of the imperial speaker anymore.” At issue is not just a gas stove bill and others that are now stalled as the conservatives wage their protest, but the political standing of the House Republican majority. Is it just a one-day spat that allows members to make a point or a more lasting fracture? McCarthy, R-Calif., is working with just a four-seat majority, which gives a small bloc of lawmakers considerable power to gain concessions from him. “We’re trying to resolve internal tensions within the House Republicans. And from time to time you have to have an airing within your family, and I think that’s part of what happened today,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C. Just hours earlier, Republican leaders were extolling how the House Republicans had learned to work together as a team after the rocky start of the year and the spectacle of McCarthy’s protracted election to become speaker. “In sports, it’s called a game plan,” said Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the top GOP vote-counter and a former hockey coach. “The debt limit last week displayed just how far House Republicans have come as a team.”

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State Stories

Chris Brown: Houston faces a ‘fiscal cliff’

(Chris Brown is Houston’s independently elected city controller.) As Houston’s independently elected taxpayer watchdog, it’s my job to sound the alarm on the fiscal health of our city when necessary. Just after taking office in 2016, I sounded the alarm on the need for pension reform. In 2017, I sounded the alarm to block a property tax rate increase following Hurricane Harvey. In 2018, I sounded the alarm to bring attention to the city’s growing unfunded retiree health benefit liabilities, the natural progression of an aging workforce and rising health care costs. Each year since elected, I’ve sounded the alarm to warn against the habitual passage of structurally imbalanced budgets. Since 2016, City Council has approved budgets with operating deficits between $160 million and $200 million. Traditionally these shortfalls were plugged by the sale of land, capital assets or pulling from savings. We consider these “nonrecurring” funding sources.

However, in recent years the administration has used federal COVID recovery funding — also nonrecurring — to plug this deficit. Akin to a homeowner selling furniture to pay for a mortgage, these practices are unsustainable. I believe that the robust sales tax receipts seen in recent months are buoyed by the waning federal stimulus. That means they are temporary and bound to taper off as the inflationary effects felt by residents depresses household discretionary spending. The Fiscal Year 2024 Proposed Budget reflects year over year expenditures growing at a faster rate compared to revenue. My office is projecting General Fund expenditures will increase by 4.32 percent, compared to the prior year, while recurring revenues are only expected to increase by 2.86 percent. City Council will enjoy the largest fund balance — or “savings” — in recent history. My office projects that balance to be $204.8 million. But despite this healthy fund balance, the consequences of years of inaction in narrowing our structural deficit will force the next mayor to exhaust a fund balance anticipated to be smaller than our projected deficit before returning to the practice of selling assets or land to balance the budget.

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Texas governor faces pushback over controversial campaign email

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is facing backlash over an email sent out by his campaign asking, “Now, we want to know which sanctuary city should migrants go to next?” This comes on the heels of Abbott ordering asylum seekers to be sent to a number of Democratic cities. The email touts the number of people sent from Texas to other parts of the country. It claimed that, so far, more than 19,000 people have been sent cities like Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Denver.

The email then asks people to respond to the controversial question with a list of cities like Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco. This is part of the governor's attempt to make the federal government more responsive to migrant issues. But, the League of United Latin American Citizens said it comes at the cost of human lives. "This kind of language puts a target squarely on our backs," said LULAC National Immigration Chair Lydia Guzman. "We know what this is about. This is nothing more and nothing less than political posturing. We want it to stop. Governor Abbott, this is un-American, it's un-Christian. Stop this rhetoric now." Guzman went on to call the email racist. KHOU 11 reached out to the governor's office for comment. At the time this story was posted, we had yet to hear back.

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Texas Rep. Chip Roy blasts PGA-LIV Golf merger: 'One-world golf government'

The shock announcement of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league's merger with the PGA Tour is drawing fire from Texas lawmakers who have been critical of entanglements between foreign governments and U.S. corporations or institutions. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, an Austin Republican, has spoken out forcefully against LIV Golf, the upstart Saudi golf league that recruited top players from the PGA Tour by offering them guaranteed money, in contrast to the professional golf tradition of paychecks only for tournament performances. The LIV league was part of a decadelong plan from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund to diversify its economy from oil and to increase tourism. Critics have described the effort as “sportwashing,” or using investment in professional sports to divert attention from the Saudi's dismal record on human rights.

“So those critical of the sell-outs have now become the sell-outs?” Roy said in a statement via his spokesman Tuesday, adding on Twitter: “In the end, it’s always about the money. Saudi Arabia just bought themselves a one-world golf government.” Last year, Roy and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn questioned the timing of a federal antitrust investigation into the PGA Tour, which was leaked shortly before a visit from President Joe Biden to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The two also asked the Department of Justice whether LIV or its employees should comply with the Foreign Agents Registration Act. A spokeswoman for Cornyn said the office never received responses. Roy said in a phone interview last September that those involved with LIV were effectively engaging in public relations for Saudi Arabia. “I just wanted to raise what this means as Americans, having corporations with connections to our adversaries buying up American institutions," Roy said, speaking of a meeting between congressional Republicans and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman. “As Americans, we should be concerned about a 100-year-old institution — 50 years old technically but goes back 100 years of history — targeted by a foreign national very specifically to promote themselves. … I think the PGA Tour has been great for the sport. Great for America. Great for our communities.”

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Leaders of Texas-based activist group True the Vote accused of using donations for personal gain

Conservative activists Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips used the nonprofit True the Vote to enrich themselves, according to a complaint filed to the IRS. On Monday, the nonprofit watchdog group Campaign for Accountability called for an investigation into True the Vote, which has made repeated false claims about voter fraud in elections. The complaint said True the Vote may have violated state and federal law when the charity used donations to issue loans to Engelbrecht, its founder, and lucrative contracts to Phillips, a longtime director. The organization also failed to disclose the payments to insiders in its tax returns, including excessive legal bills paid to its general counsel at the time, who filed election-related lawsuits in four states, the complaint said. “Such disclosure lapses heighten suspicion regarding whether True the Vote and or its current or former officers and directors intended to conceal the payments from the public or IRS,” the complaint said. The self-dealing contracts and loans were first reported by Reveal.

Engelbrecht started Texas-based True the Vote in 2010 after getting involved in Tea Party activism in the Houston area. Over the years, she and Phillips have promoted probes into voter fraud in their fundraising efforts, but they have failed to deliver evidence of such activity for years. The pair catapulted to national prominence when conservative provocateur Dinesh D’Souza featured the nonprofit’s discredited work in the film “2,000 Mules,” which played in theaters across the country. Engelbrecht and Phillips have defended their voting work, and their attorney has previously said there was nothing wrong about the loans and contracts. True the Vote’s attorneys, Engelbrecht and Phillips did not respond to requests for comment. The federal government allows nonprofit organizations to operate tax-free, and in return they are required to disclose substantial information about their finances to make sure donor funds are used appropriately. Charities like True the Vote are also not allowed to engage in certain political activity. “I hope that the IRS and other applicable authorities take seriously what appears to be a pattern of bad behavior by Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips, and that makes the pursuit of accountability that much more important,” said Michelle Kuppersmith, executive director of Campaign for Accountability.

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Texas offered $95M for Fairfield Lake land in move developer calls ‘sabotage’

Letters between key players in the Fairfield Lake State Park saga obtained by The Dallas Morning News detail the power struggle over 5,000 acres in rural Freestone County, including a recent attempt by state park officials to purchase the land for $95 million. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department made the multimillion-dollar offer in a letter dated June 1 to landowner Vistra Energy. The letter — which included a promise to close on the deal by the end of July when funds were in order — was signed by TPWD Commission Chairman Arch Aplin III, who is also the CEO of Buc-ee’s. Privately owned Vistra Energy has leased the land to the state at no cost since 1971. It listed the land, which includes the 2,400-acre state park, for sale in 2021 with an asking price of $110 million. Dallas-based developer Todd Interests had the land under contract for close to a year, and the contract closed June 1.

The state’s lease ends June 13, and the park closed to the public on Sunday. Todd Interests has already planned a $1 billion project to create an exclusive luxury community on the land with multimillion-dollar homes and a golf course. Prior to this letter, TPWD had offered Todd Interests $25 million to give up its contract. State officials said they “took persistent and extraordinary steps to negotiate” while the developer has told The News it responded in good faith to the offer but never heard back. A week before the state’s offer to Vistra, the attorney general’s office sent a letter to Todd Interests saying it represented TPWD and hoped the state and developer could reach a deal. “However, should that not be achievable, please take notice that TPWD intends to acquire the property, including but not limited to Fairfield Lake State Park, by any and all legally available means,” the letter says, adding that Todd Interests should preserve all documents it has related to the land deal. A special-called meeting between parks commissioners, including Aplin, is slated for Saturday morning with the intent to discuss options for “saving” the park, including condemnation, TPWD has said. State lawmakers have previously discussed using eminent domain to obtain the land.

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Harlan Crow rebuffs Democrats’ questions about gifts to Justice Clarence Thomas

Senate Democrats are stepping up their attempts to pry information from Harlan Crow about the luxury travel and other gifts he’s given Justice Clarence Thomas over the years, while the Dallas real estate magnate sticks to his position that it’s none of their business. Through his attorney, Crow accused the senators of pursuing a partisan agenda and lectured them on the proper separation of powers. That didn’t go over well with Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. It’s a “dangerous, undemocratic argument” to say any individual can hide information from Congress by asserting it’s in the best interest of the Supreme Court to do so, they said Tuesday in a sharp public response. The senators have sought information from Crow as they press for the nation’s highest court to adopt a code of ethics like the one binding lower federal courts. Crow is challenging that motivation as any sort of justification to pry into his records.

“Congress does not have the power to impose ethics standards on the Supreme Court,” his attorney, Michael Bopp, wrote to the committee this week, in a letter obtained by The Dallas Morning News. “It therefore cannot mount an investigation for the purpose of helping craft such standards. The Committee also may not pursue an investigation for the purpose of targeting and exposing private facts about an individual.” Crow’s attorney argued that Congress hasn’t shown a valid legislative purpose in seeking information related to the leadership of a coequal branch of government. Durbin and Whitehouse reject that argument and issued an implicit threat to escalate the fight. “Let’s be clear: Harlan Crow doesn’t call the shots here. He is not a branch — nor even a member — of government and cannot claim the protections and privileges of one,” they said. “The Senate Judiciary Committee has clearly established oversight and legislative authority to assess and address the ethical crisis facing the Court. All options are on the table moving forward.”

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Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick bicker about best way to cut Texans’ property taxes

Texas’ top two elected leaders kept talking past each other on property taxes Tuesday. Neither Gov. Greg Abbott nor Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick signaled that a compromise is coming soon. Abbott cast himself as the tax visionary, no longer satisfied with “chiseling away” at school property taxes but instead eager to heed a call by some conservatives for gradual elimination of school districts’ main levy. He has acknowledged that long-term success would take more than a single two-year state fiscal cycle — perhaps several — to achieve. Every journey begins with a step, however, Abbott said after signing eight tough-on-crime bills at a Capitol news conference. A $17.6 billion buy-down of school district “maintenance and operation” tax rates over the next cycle, which is what Abbott and the House are proposing, would be a great start, said the three-term GOP governor.

Patrick, who presides over the Senate, countered that Abbott’s been snookered — and is letting business get greedy. Abbott and Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, have encouraged business groups and leading trade associations to push an approach that favors corporations and owners of million-dollar homes, Patrick said. Abbott is “getting very bad information,” Patrick said. The House-passed bill, which Abbott applauded, would spend all $17.6 billion reserved for tax relief on “compressing,” or cutting the maintenance and operation tax rate. If it became law, the state would order school districts to reduce their rates. The state would then use its own revenues — mostly from sales, business and energy-production taxes — to compensate the districts for every dollar of property taxes they give up. “Our bill is a $100,000 homestead exemption,” Patrick said at an earlier Capitol news conference. “If you live in a $1 million house, you get a $100,000 exemption,” he said. “If you live in a $100,000 house, you get a $100,000 exemption. But their plan of all compression means that the higher-priced house you live in, the more you get.”

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Risks, reward for DeSantis as Texas sheriff seeks charges over migrant flights

Have San Antonio authorities handed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a political gift at the outset of his presidential campaign? The Bexar County prosecutor’s office said Tuesday it is reviewing the sheriff’s recommendation to press charges over the flights DeSantis arranged last summer, delivering migrants from San Antonio to the resort island of Martha’s Vineyard with promises that jobs and homes awaited them. “I can only imagine that DeSantis would flaunt this as a badge of honor,” said Dante Scala, a political scientist at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Authorities in Massachusetts got no heads-up about the flights, which boosted DeSantis’ stature as a Republican willing to troll Democrats and capable of thrilling conservatives — on one of ex-president Donald Trump’s signature issues. For migrant advocates, it was no lighthearted incident.

“Vulnerable human beings are being hunted in America by government officials wanting to score cheap political points. Charges must be filed,” tweeted Rachel Self, an immigration lawyer who represents many of the migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, who had also denounced the migrant flights, likewise lauded the recommendation of criminal charges. “Governor DeSantis used fraud and deception to lure vulnerable people from San Antonio and dump them in a remote island community that scrambled to care for them. This was human trafficking — and the people who perpetrated this crime must be held responsible,” the congressman wrote on Twitter. Aides to DeSantis, at his campaign and the governor’s office, did not respond to requests for comment. Since jumping into the 2024 contest, DeSantis has cast Trump as a big talker with little to show for his bluster, trying to out-Trump him as a hardliner on border security and immigration. “I’ve heard a lot of promises about taking care of border security for years and years and years,” the governor told New Hampshire Republicans last Thursday in Manchester. “When I’m president, we will be the one to finally bring this issue to a conclusion.”

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Without access to water lines, Texas colonias residents are pulling water from the desert air

Olga Thomas has a story about every plant in her garden. The creosote bush that her mother would brew into a medicinal tea. The ocotillo planted from seed that now towers over her. The prickly pear cactus that blooms yellow each spring. Thomas, 72, began her garden in the late 1990s when she moved to a “colonia” 30 miles from downtown El Paso called Hueco Tanks. She raised her five children on this patch of land in the Chihuahuan Desert, transforming the rugged 2-acre plot into a home. “It’s my little sanctuary, my oasis out here,” she said. Hueco Tanks, developed under the name Hueco Mountain Estates, is among the dozens of colonias — unincorporated communities mostly in border counties — in Texas where low-income, Latino residents still are not connected to municipal water. But now, Thomas has a source of safe drinking water at home for the first time.

In late 2022, the Arizona-based company Source Global installed hydro-panels at her property that capture and purify water from the atmosphere. The panels use solar-powered fans to pull water vapor out of the air. Warm air inside the panel then liquifies the water vapor. Minerals are added to the water for health and taste. “Water poverty is the one thing going in the wrong direction all over the world, even in the U.S.,” said Cody Friesen, Source Global CEO and a materials engineer. “We need to figure out how we’re going to solve that.” The project reflects a growing sentiment that decentralized technologies can provide relief for communities that have been left out of traditional water infrastructure. Hydro-panels fit the model of a “soft path to water,” which includes conservation and rainwater harvesting, that academics in El Paso have described as an alternative for communities not served by hard infrastructure. Community advocates hope that scaling up cost-effective initiatives like hydro-panels could improve access to safe drinking water in colonias.

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'It's part of my identity': CROWN Act hits home for San Antonians who've experienced hair discrimination

Ten years ago, Roger Moreau was fired from a job for one reason — his hair. He said he’d worked at the San Antonio tech company for five years, wearing his hair in locs down his back to his shoulder blades. When a larger corporation bought the company, new managers asked Moreau to cut his hair. He said no. Two weeks later, they instituted a new dress code for men. When the managers asked again, Moreau said no. “It’s part of my identity, how I see myself,” Moreau said. They were willing to let him stay if he wore a wig. When he refused, they fired him. “I thought it was an asinine reason,” Moreau said.

The CROWN Act, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott last month, bans racial discrimination based on hairstyles such as Afros, braids and cornrows in the workplace, schools and housing. CROWN stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.” State Rep. Rhetta A. Bowers, D-Rowlett, authored and introduced the measure titled House Bill 567 on Nov. 14, 2022. It goes into effect Sept. 1. Moreau said he thought the passage of the law was great but that it’s a shame it was necessary. He said he has no issues concerning his shoulder-length hair at his present job. “It’s a pretty good feeling,” Moreau said. “The fact that kids can get a job and not worry about if their hair is accepted is great. It’s fantastic. Judging others by appearance, we all do it in a certain sense, but it shouldn’t be done.” Austin became the first city in Texas in June 2022 to pass the act that’s law in 20 states, 45 cities and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A similar movement had been pitched in San Antonio.

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Chris Tomlinson: Texas schools and property tax cuts rely on a Saudi dictator driving up oil prices

Saudi Arabia is desperately trying to drive up oil prices so the government can make its budget; whether it succeeds will drive Texas’ property taxes too. After an uncharacteristically contentious OPEC oil cartel meeting Sunday, Saudi Arabia said it would take 1 million barrels of crude off the market every day beginning in July to prop up global prices. That’s in addition to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, agreeing to extend existing cuts into 2024. The Brent global benchmark price for oil initially jumped 2.5 percent but dropped back to Friday’s closing price of roughly $75 a barrel. Analysts believe Saudi Arabia needs $81 a barrel to cover government expenses, which leaves the kingdom in an awkward position, if prices don’t rise soon.

Texas’ government revenues are also vulnerable to low oil prices. About 38 percent of the state’s economic activity in recent years has been tied to locating and drilling new oil and gas wells. Texas’ $33 billion budget surplus came partly from sales taxes on drilling activity and direct taxes on oil coming out of the ground at prices above $100 a barrel, as they were early last year. When prices drop, drilling activity slows and so does the flow of tax revenue. Different institutions have tried to stabilize oil flows and prices for a long time but with varying success. From the Great Depression to the early 1970s, the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state's oil and gas industry, helped stabilize oil prices by assigning production quotas. As Texas oil production shrank and Middle East oil began to dominate world markets, OPEC took over the role and has tried to manage global supply ever since. As the world’s largest producer, Saudi Arabia has been the de facto OPEC leader. But the cartel’s power has waned as a brash Saudi crown prince assumed control, Texas emerged again as an oil exporter and Russia invaded Ukraine.

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Texas leads way in battery storage growth, adding enough to power 100,000 homes

Texas led the nation in battery storage growth for the first few months of the year, adding enough utility-scale batteries to power almost 100,000 homes on a hot summer day, according to research and consulting firm S&P Global. The proliferation of renewable energy and the state’s competitive electricity market have attracted battery developers to Texas in recent years. Interest in the state has only grown as the federal government increased its tax incentives for battery storage in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, which also included an expansion of the types of facilities that qualify for the tax credits. In the first quarter of the year, another nearly 500 megawatts of battery storage was hooked up to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid, according to S&P Global, for a total of around 3,285 megawatts of battery storage.

State grid operator ERCOT says 1 megawatt can power 200 Texas homes during times of peak electricity demand. Of the six major battery projects completed from January through March, four were in Texas. That includes one of the state’s largest battery projects, the 190-megawatt Cunningham energy storage facility located near Dallas and owned by Spanish company Acciona Energy. Across the country a total of 710 megawatts of battery storage was added in the first three months of the year, for a total of nearly 10,800 megawatts of installed battery storage. While Texas saw the most growth, California still tops the list for most capacity with nearly 5,200 megawatts. While more energy storage projects are planned for Texas this year, researchers at S&P Global expect California to lead the way in the coming months. Irving-based Vistra Energy is slated to open an additional 350-megawatt facility in Moss Landing, Calif., already home to a massive 400-megawatt project.

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Dallas LGBTQ Bar Association President Callie Butcher uses her skills to help her community

Callie Butcher is a wife, a mother, an attorney, a patent law nerd, an LGBTQ advocate, president of the Dallas LGBT Bar Association — and a meme. On March 16, Butcher testified against Senate Bill 14, a bill that bans gender-affirming care for transgender people under age 18 and that now awaits the governor’s signature, having passed the Legislature. Like the other witnesses, she was given two minutes to state her position. Unlike other witnesses, Butcher and another witness –– three random witnesses would share the long desk in the Senate chamber –– were paired with Dr. Steve Hotze.

Hotze is a prominent hard-right Houston Republican activist and physician best known for his opposition to LGBTQ rights who was also indicted last year for funding a voter fraud investigation where the investigator pointed a gun at an innocent air conditioning repairman. (The repairman is also suing him.) Hotze, in two minutes, summed up the LGBTQ community this way: as “pedophile proponents [who] sexualize children in order to groom them.” Butcher, sitting to his right, shook her head, rolled her eyes and, at some points, appeared utterly dumbfounded. She expressed what a lot of other LGBTQ activists felt. To her, Hotze was simply saying what quieter opponents wanted to say out loud. “It’s what legislators want to say,” she said. Still, Butcher was hurt. “He’s talking about me and saying the choices I made with my body make me a deviant,” she said. “I disagree.” Butcher, who has an engineer’s matter-of-fact attitude and an activist’s seriousness and jubilance, estimates she was at the Capitol about 20 times during the 2023 regular session, which ended May 29th. She has been politically involved for a while. But this session was different. She started her own firm last year, giving her the freedom to go to the Capitol when necessary.

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University of Houston announces changes to Agnes Arnold Hall, mental health services

The University of Houston will expand mental health services and accelerate a planned renovation of Agnes Arnold Hall in response to two student suicides this spring that prompted widespread concerns, President Renu Khator announced Tuesday. An accompanying campaign will work to double student use of Counseling and Psychological Services, or CAPS — the institution’s mental health outfit that currently sees 4 percent of students and faced backlash in the wake of the deaths. The upgrades include hiring a vendor to provide 24/7 mental health access for students, increasing staffing and embedding counselors in each college. UH developed the plans based on input from separate task forces on the future of Agnes Arnold Hall and mental health at UH, as well as an external review of existing services.

While some of the recommendations are still being considered, the accepted plans satisfy many of the students’ calls for change on campus: When the two suicides occurred at the academic building just six weeks apart, students mobilized and asked for extended counseling hours, more counselors and the retrofitting of Agnes Arnold to block outdoor access from higher levels. UH is adding $38 million to the budget to renovate Agnes Arnold to screen in all upper spaces, refresh offices and classrooms and implement other security measures recommended by the task force, Khator said. The plan caused some hesitancy among students who hoped to see the building torn down, but they found more agreement on the mental health expansions. Sophomore Aashna Shah said she hopes the added awareness and services of CAPS supports more students. She believes the therapy she receives there is great, but she said plenty of people on campus don’t know how or where to get the same help. “I feel like (UH) probably should have done something a lot earlier,” Shah said. “There’s a lot of things that could be improved.”

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County Stories

Harris County will launch guaranteed income pilot program with $500 monthly payments

About 1,500 low-income families in Harris County will get $500 a month for 18 months as part of a new pilot project that puts the county squarely in the middle of a roiling national debate about how best to address stubborn poverty. The Harris County Commissioners Court authorized the plan Tuesday in a 4-1 vote along party lines, with Democrats voting in favor. The county will pay for the program using $20.5 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. The Uplift Harris program will specifically target households in neighborhoods experiencing persistent poverty, including Sunnyside, Gulfton and Galena Park.

“COVID did not create disparities and inequities in our communities, but it magnified them,” said Barbie Robinson, executive director of Harris County Public Health. “And we know that individuals that are at the poverty level or below the poverty level are just one paycheck away from falling into homelessness.” Coming out of the pandemic, these guaranteed income programs have become increasingly popular in cities and communities run by elected leaders with a strong Democratic lean. More than 45 cities and counties have implemented similar programs providing families with direct cash payments — including Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis — and many of them launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled by ARPA funding. To be eligible for Uplift Harris, families must live below 200 percent of the federal poverty line, which means around $60,000 for a family of four or $29,000 for an individual. The program could launch as early as this fall.

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Commissioners approve new homestead exemptions for Tarrant County homeowners

Tarrant County homeowners will get further tax relief this year amid skyrocketing appraisals, after county commissioners approved the creation of two new homestead exemptions. Homestead exemptions are measures that ‘exempt’ a certain amount of a property’s value from taxation. Under the Texas tax code, taxing units like the county are allowed to adopt an optional homestead exemption of up to 20% of a property’s appraised value. These optional homestead exemptions are in addition to others required by tax code, including school district exemptions. The first optional homestead exemption commissioners approved excludes 10% of a home’s appraised value from taxation by the county. That means residents will see an average decrease of about $34 in the property taxes they owe to the county.

“Right now it looks small, but I’ll tell you every dime helps,” County Judge Tim O’Hare said. The exemption was unanimously approved by commissioners, and multiple residents from across Fort Worth, Arlington and Euless spoke in favor of it. “Homeowners need, demand and expect a homeowners tax exemption,” Arlington resident Steve Eckland said. The exemption will cost the county between $28 and $30 million in revenue, county administrator G.K. Maenius told commissioners. The county has not yet earmarked specific programs to be cut from the budget. Ramirez told those in attendance that while he’s proud of the exemption, efforts to provide tax relief can’t stop at the county level. He said there needs to be more work done by the legislature, cities and school districts to also lessen the burden on residents. Last month, Fort Worth signaled a willingness to increase its senior tax exemption. “It’s not the end of the work,” Ramirez said. “We have to reach out to other entities and make sure they’re doing their part.” The second proposed homestead exemption proved more controversial than the first. Commissioners approved another 10% homestead exemption, but this time for the Tarrant County Hospital District, by a 3-2 vote, to further reduce residents’ property tax burden. O’Hare and commissioners Manny Ramirez and Gary Fickes voted yes on the measure, while commissioners Roy Brooks and Alisa Simmons voted no.

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Dallas County Commissioners lawyer up in dispute with juvenile department

Dallas County Commissioners are now lawyering up in an effort to fight a lawsuit filed against them after demanding records from the juvenile department that could determine if children are being held in solitary confinement as some parents allege. The commissioners at a regular meeting Tuesday voted to move the discussion on which law firm would represent them against the Dallas County Juvenile Department into executive session, following weeks of turmoil between the commissioners and the juvenile department. After more than two hours in executive session, commissioners voted to approve a contract with Jennifer Richards of Richards Law PLLC for legal services that would not exceed $350 an hour. Commissioners Theresa Daniel, Andrew Sommerman and County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins approved the contract, with Commissioners Elba Garcia and John Wiley Price absent.

The Dallas County Juvenile Department holds in its detention center children who have been accused of a crime, but have not yet gone through formal proceedings. Last month, commissioners subpoenaed the department for their “observation sheets,” or status checks on each child held in the county detention between Jan. 1 and April 4. Parents have told commissioners their children are being held in solitary confinement for hours on end while locked up in the detention center. These sheets would detail where each child was during check-ins throughout each day. On May 30, the juvenile department’s legal counsel filed a lawsuit to prevent commissioners from accessing those records. The lawsuit, filed in a Dallas County civil court, says Texas law on juvenile records shows that the sheets should remain confidential, and says any investigations into the department have to be performed by the Dallas County Juvenile Board, not the commissioners.

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City Stories

In Godley, Texas, a mayor’s actions lead to bogus arrest of a council member

Don’t be fooled by the name of the Texas city called Godley. It’s anything but. In fact, one could make the case that it’s quite the opposite. It’s a dictatorship. At only two square miles, it’s a small one at that, but it’s still one-man rule. I realize this is a hefty charge for The Watchdog to make about a town of 2,600 people in northwestern Johnson County. Dictators throw their opponents in jail without just cause. That’s what happened in a most horrific way here. The dictator is Mayor Acy McGehee, who recently lost a no-confidence vote by his City Council. The May 23 vote, which also called upon the mayor to resign, passed 4-0 with one abstention. The vote was symbolic without legal force. This dictator isn’t quitting. For this report, my concern is not so much that the mayor is breaking rules and hiring new staff members without the knowledge and approval of City Council.

It’s not that he keeps canceling council meetings on a whim. It’s not even that he made the decision by himself to temporarily shut down Godley City Hall after mass resignations of town employees. My problem with McGehee is what he allegedly did to Jennifer Thompson, a council member until May who follows my Watchdog Nation philosophy that elected officials have a sacred duty to ask a bunch of questions. I use the word allegedly because since the mayor declined to talk to The Watchdog, I don’t know his side of the story. But I do know one aspect of this, the most troubling, is that he played a role in Thompson getting arrested in the minutes before a council meeting was to begin. She spent the night in the Johnson County jail. With Thompson in jail, council votes that night were ties, and in Godley, the mayor gets to break the tie.

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Houston will not be punished in DOJ civil rights probe into illegal dumping responses

Houston will not face punishment after settling a Justice Department probe into whether the city’s system of responding to illegal dumping calls violated the Civil Rights Act by disregarding Black and Latino neighborhoods. Mayor Sylvester Turner’s administration reached a three-year voluntary resolution with the federal government, officials announced at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. The settlement comes after Turner announced a $17.8 million plan to crack down on dumpsites in March, eight months after the inquiry’s start. The feds said that alleviated many of their concerns. Turner’s plan, known as “One Clean Houston,” seeks to expedite cleanups, increase surveillance and enforcement, and prioritize the areas hardest hit by roadside trash.

The voluntary resolution builds on the plan by requiring the city to conduct additional community outreach, to monitor and provide more data about its response, and to explore tougher enforcement of commercial dumpers, among other efforts. The mayor said Tuesday the plan already has proven effective: The average response time to dumpsites has fallen from 49 days to 11 days; the city has filed 110 criminal cases thus far this year, quadruple the number from the same period last year; and the city is set to partner with the Harris County Precinct 1 constable’s office to continue boosting enforcement. “I think we have made a significant step in improving the quality of life for everyone who lives in our city,” Turner said. “Sometimes things don’t have to be contentious. Sometimes by working together, we can end up with a better product, and I believe today … we have ended up with a much better result.” The investigation, launched last July, centered on whether the city responded differently to dumping complaints in areas where the majority of the population is Black and Latino. Residents in Trinity Gardens, who for years sought to log reports of dumping to the city’s 311 system, complained about the city’s inaction, with little to show for their efforts.

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National Stories

Political world braces for possible federal indictment of Trump

The political world is bracing for the possibility of a federal indictment of former President Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential election next year. A flurry of recent activity and posturing related to a special counsel probe into his handling of classified documents is fueling talk that an indictment could be imminent. Trump’s attorneys met Monday with Justice Department officials, including special counsel Jack Smith, who is probing whether Trump improperly handled classified documents after leaving office. A Florida grand jury is reportedly convening this week in the case after a lengthy hiatus.

Democrats and Republicans went back and forth on Tuesday over a letter Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a vocal Trump ally and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland to obtain more information about special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Trump. And a barrage of angry social media posts from Trump on Tuesday morning further fed into talk that the former president may be concerned about an impending announcement in the case. “I suspect it’s near,” former Attorney General Bill Barr said Tuesday on “CBS Mornings.” “I’ve said for a while that I think this is the most dangerous legal risk facing the former president. And if I had to bet, I would bet that it’s near.” The extraordinary activity is preceding what would be an extraordinary event — the federal indictment of a former president who is the front-runner for his party’s nomination in 2024. Trump in April was indicted at the state level over an alleged hush money scheme during the 2016 election. The Justice Department and a Trump spokesperson declined to comment on whether any announcement about the case is imminent.

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George Santos loses bid to shield the people who guaranteed his $500,000 bail

The identities of US Representative George Santos’s three bail guarantors were ordered unsealed by a judge in his criminal fraud case, though the release was put on hold to give the Republican congressman a chance to appeal. Media organizations had sought the names of the three people who signed on as sureties for Santos’s $500,000 bond. Santos had argued that those people could suffer harm if their identities became public. US Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields on Tuesday granted the media organizations’ request but gave Santos until June 9 to appeal. Santos was charged in May with diverting political campaign donations to fund personal expenses, claiming fraudulent unemployment benefits and making false financial disclosures to Congress. He faces as much as 20 years in prison if convicted. Shields didn’t require attorneys for Santos to identify the guarantors in open court during the congressman’s arraignment, as is normal practice. They didn’t come forward when he was released, and no documentation about them has been posted on the public docket.

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Chris Christie pulls no punches, attacks Trump in launching 2024 campaign

Former Gov. Chris Christie made clear from the start that his campaign for the White House will not be the same as other Republicans, launching his run for the presidency with direct attacks on the leading conservative candidate, former President Trump. Where other GOP hopefuls have attempted to strike a very delicate balance — stuck somewhere between making clear that they should be the party’s pick to face President Biden in November of 2024, while not insulting the 45th president directly lest they alienate his MAGA-movement base — Christie launched his campaign with broad-ranging historical references to successful political leaders from the past and then promptly began an unapologetic assault on Trump’s record and public scandals. “A lonely, self-consumed, self-serving, mirror hog is not a leader,” he said. “So now we have pretenders all around us, who want to tell you ‘pick me, because I’m kind of like what you picked before, but not quite as crazy, but I don’t want to say his name.’ Because for these other pretenders, he is — for those of you who read the Harry Potter books — like Voldemort. He is he who shall not be named.”

He left the 2016 race after coming in sixth in New Hampshire’s first in the nation primary. He would later endorse and lead Trump’s White House transition team. Since then, he has become something of an oddity among his party, calling Trump responsible for the events of January 6 and openly opposing his obviously false claims the 2020 election was somehow stolen. Christie said he would have declined if asked to run even a year ago, but the 60-year-old went on to tell the standing room only crowd inside the New Hampshire Institute of Politics that another four years of the 45th President would be disastrous for the country. He said the last decade has been one of division brought about by our nation’s highest office holders. “We’ve had leaders who have led us to be small. Small by their example. Small by the way they conduct themselves,” he said. “They are making us smaller by dividing us into smaller and smaller groups.” According to Christie, it’s a problem among both Republicans and Democrats. “Barack Obama made us smaller, by dividing us,” he said. “Donald Trump made us smaller, by dividing us even further.” “And now Joe Biden is doing the very same thing,” he continued.

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Human Rights Campaign declares a national state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people

For the first time in its four-decade history, America’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization has declared a national state of emergency for members of the LGBTQ+ community, the Human Rights Campaign said Tuesday. “LGBTQ+ Americans are living in a state of emergency. The multiplying threats facing millions in our community are not just perceived – they are real, tangible and dangerous,” the group’s president, Kelley Robinson, said. “In many cases they are resulting in violence against LGBTQ+ people, forcing families to uproot their lives and flee their homes in search of safer states, and triggering a tidal wave of increased homophobia and transphobia that puts the safety of each and every one of us at risk.”

Alongside the emergency declaration, the group will release a digital guidebook, including health and safety resources, a summary of state-by-state laws, “know your rights” information and resources designed to support LGBTQ+ travelers and those living in hostile states, it said. The historic announcement – just a few days into Pride Month – follows “an unprecedented wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in 2023,” according to the Human Rights Campaign, as violence against LGBTQ people continues and the community’s rights have become a flashpoint in the 2024 election. Years after 49 people were killed at the Pulse gay nightclub in Florida, Club Q in Colorado in November became the site of a massacre at a beloved LGBTQ “safe space.” And the Human Rights Campaign just last month issued an updated travel notice for Florida, outlining potential impacts of six bills recently passed there, many already signed by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican contender for president who’s championed “don’t say gay” and pronoun bills.

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Colleagues want a 95-year-old judge to retire. She’s suing them instead.

Pauline Newman specializes in dissent. In her 40-year career as a federal judge, she has written more than 300 dissenting opinions. So when the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said she thought it was high time for the 95-year-old to retire, Newman offered a differing view: The oldest active federal judge in the nation has instead sued her colleagues and accused them of violating the Constitution, which says nothing about mandated retirement for lifetime appointees. Those colleagues have accused her of misconduct, saying she can no longer do the job she is guaranteed for life. Newman is working steadily from her light-filled office on Lafayette Square, overlooking the White House and the Washington Monument. She is surrounded by glass awards and photographs with Supreme Court justices; her court handles patent cases, and so there are diagrams of inventions, including her own. Newman, who turns 96 in June, has no interest in going anywhere.

The Federal Circuit is an obscure court whose rulings on patents can have seismic impacts on financial markets, but the dispute over Newman’s refusal to step down joins one of many debates over how old is too old for a public official to do a job. Our federal judges are older than ever, as are the presidential candidates vying to nominate them and the senators who confirm them. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is facing pressure to resign from Democrats who say the 89-year-old’s health issues delayed efforts to hold the lifetime appointees on the Supreme Court accountable. Critics say Newman is an example of unhelpful egoism. She feels that in a world of rapid technological change, her long view is more important than ever. Newman came of age just after World War II, an era of mechanical invention she embraced enthusiastically. She learned to fly planes, drive racecars and ride motorcycles. She became a chemist and eventually a patent attorney. She helped create the Federal Circuit in 1982 as part of a presidential committee on industrial stagnation, then was appointed by Ronald Reagan to serve on it.

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A mass shooting after a high school commencement ceremony leaves 2 dead, including an 18-year-old graduate

A gunman opened fire after a high school commencement ceremony in Richmond, Virginia, Tuesday, killing two – including an 18-year-old graduate – and injuring five, as terror spread among hundreds who had gathered to celebrate, police said. A suspect – a 19-year-old man – is in custody, and police will seek second-degree murder charges against him, interim Police Chief Rick Edwards told reporters Tuesday night. Edwards said other charges could follow. A 9-year-old girl was struck and injured by a car in the chaos among guests and graduates after the shooting in Monroe Park, across the street from the Altria Theater, where Huguenot High School held the ceremony, officials said.

“This should have been a safe space,” Edwards said. “It’s just incredibly tragic that someone decided to bring a gun to this incident and rain terror on our community.” The shooting marks one of at least 279 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter. The violence added Richmond to a long list of communities across the country to grapple with the terror of mass shootings in recent months, including those at a mall in Texas, a school in Tennessee, a bank in Kentucky and near a beach in South Florida. It’s unclear what motivated the attack. The chief said it was unknown Tuesday whether the suspect is a student. “We think the suspect knew at least one of the victims,” the interim chief said, without elaborating. Though Edwards said the 18-year-old who died had graduated Tuesday, he did not say from which school. The other person who died was a 36-year-old man who’d just attended the ceremony, said Edwards. The other gunshot victims were a 14-year-old boy and four men ranging in age from 31 to 58. The 31-year-old had life-threatening injuries as of Tuesday night and the rest did not, said Edwards.

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Lead Stories

Former San Antonio Councilmember's girlfriend is also woman at center of AG Paxton probe

Former Texas Councilman Clayton Perry’s girlfriend stood by him through his recent drunken hit-and-run disaster, but it’s not the first political scandal she has weathered, sources tell The Post. Laura Olson — a four-times-divorced mom of two — has been dating Perry “on and off ” since 2019, a friend of the former city representative told The Post. She stuck by him after he was arrested last November for an alleged drunken hit-and-run and was by the former San Antonio councilman’s side as recently as April 24, when they partied on a float for the Texas Cavaliers River Parade 2023, as shown on KSAT-TV. The 50-year-old, San Antonio-based business manager is said to be “always very pleasant to be around and she seemed to be very loyal to Clayton,” according to the pal, who spoke on condition of anonymity. However, multiple other sources tell The Post that blond Olson is familiar in political circles for another reason: She is the woman with whom state Attorney General Ken Paxton had an extramarital affair.

The affair came into sharp focus after it was discussed as a key part of an illegal quid pro quo investigation and corruption accusations against Paxton that led to his historic impeachment on May 27. On the day of the vote, Texas lawmakers revealed that Paxton, 60, had cheated on his wife, Sen. Angela Paxton, and even professed to be “in love” with his new squeeze back in 2019, but did not name the woman. Glamorous Olson has been involved in politics for years as a member of the Bexar County Republican Women. In posts on the group’s Facebook page, she can be seen in pictures with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. In another photo, she’s wearing a knee-length black dress and cowboy boots as she poses with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Clayton’s pal said Olson has a calming effect on Perry, explaining: “I liked her for him because when he was dating her, he was really happy and really different and easier to get along with.”

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Sheriff: Organizers of DeSantis' migrant flights from San Antonio to Martha's Vineyard committed crimes

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar has recommended felony and misdemeanor charges of unlawful restraint over two politically charged flights of immigrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard in September orchestrated by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The sheriff's office has handed District Attorney Joe Gonzales its findings from a criminal investigation into the flights. It's now up to the prosecutor whether to file charges. In a statement, Salazar's office did not name the suspects or say whether they include former San Antonio resident Perla Huerta, who became the public face of the controversy. Newly arrived migrants said Puerta, an Army veteran, recruited them at the city's Migrant Resource Center to fly to Massachusetts. They said they were promised jobs, housing and support for their asylum applications.

Salazar has said he was not investigating DeSantis, a 2024 GOP presidential hopeful, but only those who had direct contact with the immigrants in San Antonio. "The Bexar County Sheriff's Office has officially filed a completed criminal case with the Bexar County District's Attorney's Office regarding the incident from September 2022 in which 49 migrants were flown to Martha's Vineyard," said the statement, issued by sheriff's deputy Johnny Garcia. "The case filed includes both felony and misdemeanor charges of unlawful restraint. At this time, the case is being review by the DA's office." Huerta and others working with her are accused of lying to the South American immigrants to lure them onto the Sept. 14 flights, which departed from Kelly Field. Numerous attempts to contact Huerta for comment on Monday and previously were unsuccessful. Her lawyers, in recent documents seeking to have a lawsuit over the flights dismissed, said the migrants complained about the flights later only because they don’t agree with DeSantis’ politics. The immigrants would have willingly boarded the planes no matter what they were told, Huerta’s lawyers argued, because they were living on the streets after they had exhausted the benefits available at the Migrant Resource Center.

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GOP presidential field gains candidates who are direct rebukes to Trump

This week’s expansion of the Republican presidential primary field will yield two of the most direct internal challenges to date to Donald Trump’s leadership in the White House. It also could further solidify Trump’s chances of winning yet another contested GOP presidential contest. First up will be former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was once a close Trump ally but has since soured on the former president and plans a no-holds-barred campaign against him. On Tuesday, he’ll launch his second bid for the presidency at a New Hampshire town hall. One day later, former Vice President Mike Pence, who ran on two presidential tickets with Trump, will announce his bid, as well. (The same day, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is also set to launch his candidacy.)

The latest round of growth shows, on one hand, consternation with Trump as the front-runner and, on the other, doubts that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — consistently the No. 2 challenger behind Trump — can be the person to defeat him. But as many Republicans see it: The more people who get in the race, the better it is for Trump. Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican and NBC News contributor who is also an adviser for No Labels, a group weighing backing a third-party ticket, said the more the merrier for Trump. “I think there is a lane [for the others], but it now may be so divided that [it’s] single digits or slight double digits to find out who gets that,” he said. “And I think they’re all going to try to find that.” Yet while Pence, Christie and Burgum plot their lanes in the race, another potential candidate took his name out of the running this week, explicitly saying he didn’t want to make it more difficult for Trump to be beaten. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed Monday: “The stakes are too high for a crowded field to hand the nomination to a candidate who earns just 35 percent of the vote, and I will help ensure this does not happen.”

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New HISD superintendent to seek waiver from TEA due to inactive state certification

This is the first full week for Houston ISD's new superintendent, Mike Miles. Education Commissioner Mike Morath appointed him on June 1 as part of the state's takeover of HISD. And while he replaced Millard House II as the district's leader, House had something Miles does not: a valid state certification from the Texas Education Agency. Miles was certified between 2013 and 2018 but has since gone inactive. During a phone call with ABC13 on Monday, Miles said he will not seek to reactivate the certification. Instead, he said, the district will seek a waiver from the TEA if it has not already.

The TEA told ABC13 the following: "If a certification waiver is needed for the Houston ISD superintendent, it will be granted as it is for other school systems. In the case of Superintendent Miles, he has already successfully led a Texas ISD and Texas public charter schools. Certification requirements are meant to establish minimum training needs, and he has already surpassed any competencies addressed by the certification." Miles echoed that assessment of his qualifications in our phone call. He is a former superintendent in Colorado and Dallas. "Though the piece of paper is not unimportant, more important than that is getting outcomes. It's the ability to lead, to have a vision, and to make the tough decisions others won't make," Miles said. The lack of certification is making the rounds with HISD and the Texas education community. ABC13 spoke on Monday with the executive director of the Association of Texas Professional Educators, who says their concern is not Miles' qualifications. They have other issues. "Most notably," Shannon Holmes said, "is that we don't have any locally elected school board members anymore, so I am not sure where local accountability comes into place for voters." Miles is no doubt qualified. He graduated from West Point in 1978 and has additional degrees from The University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University. Before entering education, he worked in the U.S. Department of State. Still, the Houston Federation of Teachers president says this is more about the optics than the actual certification.

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State Stories

How a tax policy fight erupted between Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick on social media

If social media is where history is written real time, the Twitter feeds of Texas’ top Republicans offer striking insights into how tax policy has exposed fractures at the top of the Texas GOP. Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan are in a stand-off over property tax relief. All three agree property taxes should be cut. But Abbott wants Texas to use a budget surplus to buy down school district taxes. Patrick, however, wants some of that money dedicated to a permanent property tax discount for homeowners. Before the deadlock between Senate and the governor erupted in the past week into a public squabble playing out on social media, the political jousting over cutting property taxes simmered between Patrick and Phelan with meme-worthy posts about “California Dade” and more.

The stalemate appeared to be nearing an end a week before the final legislative deadline May 29. Patrick, Phelan and Gov. Greg Abbott had seemed to find a Kumbaya moment at the Capitol on May 22. “Stay tuned …” the speaker of the House said. Then last week, Phelan’s House impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton, several Senate bills died in the House and, as lawmakers in Austin raced to the finish line, the much ballyhooed $17 billion property tax cut suddenly was in jeopardy. With the clock ticking, a spokeswoman for Phelan posted a photo of smiling House members eagerly awaiting the Senate to sign on to their favored proposal — one that included lowering appraisal caps. On Monday, Patrick began what would be a string of critical social media posts blaming Phelan for a standoff. He called rumors that he walked away from negotiations “an absolute lie.” Abbott chimed in for the first time May 29 cryptically signaling his endorsement of a property tax policy proposed by an influential Austin conservative think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

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Houston Chronicle Editorial: Human smuggler or good Samaritan? Texas bill can't tell the difference.

Four years ago on a cold winter night, Teresa Todd was driving on a highway in West Texas when she saw three young migrants from Central America limping along the side of the road. Concerned that one of them, a woman named Esmeralda, looked severely dehydrated and exhausted, Todd pulled over and invited the three of them into her car to stay warm. A county and city attorney, she was phoning and texting friends for ideas about how to help the migrant trio get medical care when a sheriff's deputy and Border Patrol agents approached her car. A patrol supervisor told her she could be found guilty of "transporting illegal aliens," as part of a federal crackdown under the Trump administration targeting private citizens who provide help to migrants. Todd was arrested and kept in a holding cell. A week later, a federal agent showed up to her office and confiscated her phone. Though not charged with a crime, she became the focus of a federal investigation.

"To have devoted my life to public service, and then to be Mirandized, detained and investigated as if I’m a human smuggler. The whole thing was really, really, very surreal," Todd told the New York Times after her arrest. When Gov. Greg Abbott announced last week that the agenda for the Texas Legislature's special session would include "cracking down on illegal human smuggling," we assume he didn't have good Samaritans such as Todd in mind. After all, human smuggling is a persistent problem, and has evolved into an even more lucrative enterprise since the Biden administration lifted the pandemic-era health policy known as Title 42, which allowed border agents to quickly send migrants back over the border. The Dallas Morning News reported recently that desperate migrants now pay coyotes as much as $7,000 to cross the border, where they are sometimes abandoned and left to navigate dangerous terrain on their own. In the worst cases, migrants smuggled into the U.S. are kidnapped, sexually assaulted or coerced into prostitution. The law should be able to distinguish between criminals running smuggling rings and ordinary people who treat migrants with basic dignity and respect. But Texas lawmakers aren't bothering to make the difference clear in state law, and may soon raise the stakes by requiring 10-year prison sentences.

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‘Internal rot’: Infighting among leadership exposes rifts in Texas GOP

The optimism heading into this year’s legislative session in the GOP was quite high. The state’s top Republican leaders had all won reelection by healthy margins. The Legislature had a record breaking surplus. And lawmakers agreed that Texans would see steep discounts to their property taxes. By the end of the session, Attorney General Ken Paxton was impeached. A $17 billion property tax cut package was dead. And the so-called big three — Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan — were engaging in a rare public political fight with no end in sight. The infighting has exposed deep cracks in the veneer of the Republican-dominated leadership of Texas politics. Political experts told The Dallas Morning News that the notable flare up is a symptom of one-party rule.

“When one party rules the governing structure for a long time, you begin to see internal rot,” said The University of Texas-Austin’s Jim Henson, who directs the Texas Politics Project. Disagreements over how to implement a proposed property tax cut have led to the clash with Patrick on one side and Abbott on the other. Each has competing plans to do so. Abbott favors a broad-based approach that spreads the relief across all property owners. Patrick, meanwhile, has a similar plan, but wants about 30% of the cut dedicated toward relief for just homeowners. Phelan and the House passed Abbott’s plan less than 24 hours after the governor demanded both chambers stay in Austin until property tax relief was addressed. Patrick and the Senate passed a plan similar to what they favored when the regular session came to a close. In the aftermath, both Abbott and Patrick have taken to social media to air their differences. The back-and-forth has been frequent and fierce as Abbott has promoted the fact that his plan is supported by dozens of business groups while Patrick continued to sell his plan Friday as the best tax cut for homeowners.

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Medics saved ‘every recoverable victim’ of Allen mass shooting, fire department says

The Allen Fire Department released a report Monday related to how long it took for emergency medical crews to respond to the May 6 shooting at an outlet mall. Within five minutes of the first call about the Allen Premium Outlets shooting, dispatch notes showed emergency crews receiving information about victims at various stores at the mall. Emergency crews also dealt with unsubstantiated reports of a second possible gunman, the notes state. Eight people were killed and seven wounded in what was the second-deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. this year. An Allen police officer fatally wounded the lone gunman, 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, to stop the attack.

The shooting was first reported about 3:36 p.m. and emergency crews were dispatched nearly a minute afterward, according to the timeline released by the fire department. Emergency crews reached their first patients 12 minutes later, around 3:49 p.m., according to the fire department. In a written statement Monday, Dr. Kevin Hoffman, medical director for the fire department, said “every recoverable victim was saved.” “The quick response by Allen police officers, paramedics, and civilians helped save lives following the mass shooting that took place at the Allen Premium Outlets on May 6,” the statement read.

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Texas may condemn Fairfield Lake State Park land to save it, as park closes once again

One of Texas’ state parks that’s been at the center of a months-long property rights saga — which isn’t showing signs of being over anytime soon — has closed to the public for the second time this year and possibly forever. The local developer that purchased the park land and surrounding land, totaling roughly 5,000 acres, to build a luxury gated community with multimillion-dollar homes has said his company is moving forward with those plans. But state officials aren’t ready to accept defeat. Fairfield Lake State Park, about 90 miles southeast of Dallas, was on land leased to the state for free by privately owned Vistra Energy since 1971. The company listed the property for sale in 2021 with an asking price of $110 million, but Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials have said the state couldn’t afford to purchase it at the time.

Dallas-based Todd Interests was under contract to buy the land for more than a year and officially closed on the contract last week. Shawn Todd of Todd Interests told The Dallas Morning News late last month that state park officials made an offer to purchase the contract from his family’s firm. He said Todd Interests responded almost immediately to the offer, which he said “would have been an incredible win for the state of Texas and at a significant sacrifice to our family,” but hadn’t heard back. He said the firm then decided to move forward with its plans. Meanwhile, TPWD officials have said they “took persistent and extraordinary steps to negotiate” with Todd Interests and recently divulged that the offer it made to the developer was about $25 million. A note at the top of Fairfield Lake’s page on the TPWD website posted Saturday said the park would be closing to the public at 10 p.m. Sunday. The public also won’t be able to access two boat ramps and a fishing pier on Fairfield Lake. “Thank you for supporting the park through the years,” it reads. “We truly enjoyed sharing this small piece of paradise with you.” A linked news release said state officials are continuing to work toward saving the park.

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Houston woman takes home James Beard Award for 'Best Chef in Texas'

It's not that hard for us Houstonians to believe, but for the rest of the world, we want you to know that the "Best Chef in Texas" is in our neck of the woods. Houston chef Benchawan Jabthong Painter or “Chef G" was crowned the "Best Chef in Texas" Monday during the James Beard Awards, which are given to the best of the best restaurants and cooks in the U.S. Chef G runs Street to Kitchen, a small restaurant on Houston's East End with a big reputation for serving authentic Thai food. The restaurant is a tiny spot with just 10 tables. Waiters work the room as if they were performing in a ballet, squeezing through tight spaces, announcing their moves, “Coming through” or “Corner!”

Chef G is from Thailand, where she started cooking as a kid. She said she's been cooking since she was about 6 or 7 years old because her grandmother had a neighborhood restaurant. While in Bangkok, she met and married Houstonian Graham Painter. The couple later moved to Houston where they opened their restaurant during the pandemic, originally as a takeout place. It is unapologetically authentic. No substitutions or changes. “You can ask for it and we love to say 'no' on it," Chef G jokes. She explains if the food is missing even one ingredient, the flavor changes. The spices and herbs are just like back home. “If you come for dinner, we have mild, medium, and hot spicy and 'grandma spicy,'" she said. Yep, that's the spicy that makes your nose sneeze and eyes water. Grandma tough! Street to Kitchen is not fancy. It's on Harrisburg, obscured by a freeway overpass and literally sits next door to a gas station. Chef G said it was perfect for her. “If you go to Thailand you will find a lot of good restaurants in gas stations. I saw this spot. I feel like home," she said.

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Company that owns Tarrant County strip club Temptations has troubled history in Texas

Local elected officials are trying to shut down Temptations Cabaret, a strip club in unincorporated Tarrant County. The club they call “a hotbed of crime” is owned by a national company that has had other clashes with local government in Texas, news reports and court records show. Temptations sits off I-30 near the Parker County line. Law enforcement and residents say the club has been a center of crime in the area for years. The state filed a public nuisance lawsuit against Temptations on May 30, and the Sexually Oriented Business Board may revoke its permit in a meeting scheduled for June 21. Temptations belongs to a national company called RCI Hospitality Holdings, the only publicly traded company that owns strip clubs, according to Forbes. Through its subsidiaries, RCI owns and operates clubs and restaurants from Arizona to Maine.

The company also owns Tootsie’s Cabaret in Miami, which claims to be the largest strip club in the world and boasts a mention in a Drake song. But the biggest concentration of RCI businesses is in Texas, with a dozen in the Dallas-Fort Worth area alone, according to RCI’s website. Law enforcement and local governments have had problems with several of RCI’s Texas locations. The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office got called out to Temptations 134 times in 2022. That’s more than the 10 other bars and clubs in unincorporated Tarrant County combined, according to the public nuisance lawsuit. In 2023, there have been at least 82 calls. That includes a May 28 shooting that injured three people and killed another, according to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office. The county is now trying to take away the permit that allows Temptations to operate as a strip club, on the grounds that Temptations is within 1,000 feet of residences. KERA emailed the address listed on Temptations' Facebook page but did not hear back before this story's deadline. Temptations falls within County Commissioner Manny Ramirez’s precinct, and he’s pushing for the closure. "I'm not on a crusade against these types of businesses,” Ramirez said. “This truly is about the crime that was emanating from the specific location and the drain on law enforcement resources that this has become.”

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No denying the voting machines in Collin County — commissioners approve contract renewal

Collin County will continue using the same voting machines for another year despite objections from several members of the local Republican party. The commissioners voted to approve the consent agenda for the meeting, including the renewal of the county’s contract with the company that provides its election machines until June 30, 2024. Multiple residents implored the commissioners to vote against the contract renewal during public comments, citing false claims about 2020 election fraud. This isn’t the first time people have shared concerns about the county’s voting machines and election integrity. Mark Berge was one of the citizens who spoke during public comments.

He said Collin County residents have raised concerns about election integrity for a couple of years. He also said the Collin County Republican Party’s chair told him 80% of the party’s precinct chairs share that worry. “The large percentage wants to get rid of them and a lot of them don't trust them,” Berge said. Abraham George, the Collin County Republican Party chair, told KERA before the 2022 election that while there may have been election fraud in other parts of Texas, there was no fraud in Collin County. “We won every race,” George said. That includes county commissioners Susan Fletcher and Darrel Hale, who ran as Republicans in 2020 and won with more than half of the county’s votes. The other county commissioners, Duncan Webb and Cheryl Webb, are also Republican. So is County Judge Chris Hill. None of the commissioners officially commented on renewing the contract or the public comments during the meeting. But Commissioner Cheryl Williams asked the county administrator, Bill Bilyeu, to give an update on the recount of the May 6 election results. Bilyeu said it took almost seven hours to recount the votes from 1,100 ballots by hand for one race.

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State-owned roads blamed for traffic fatality uptick in Austin, Texas, in new report

Traffic fatalities and serious injuries in Austin, Texas, remain above pre-pandemic levels, even though the city established its Vision Zero program in 2015, according to a report published by the city on Tuesday. The number of people seriously injured or killed on Austin roadways in 2021 and 2022 were 633 and 654, respectively, above the average of 614 people from 2016 to 2019 But there were large differences between city- and state-owned roadways, suggesting that cities may not achieve their Vision Zero goals without state support. “Fatal crashes occurring on State-owned roadways increased substantially while those occurring on City-owned streets remained relatively flat,” the report says.

Public officials are increasingly concerned about roadway deaths and injuries, leading more than 45 communities to adopt Vision Zero initiatives as of August, according to the Vision Zero Network. Such programs acknowledge that people often make mistakes, emphasizing a multidisciplinary approach to designing roadways and policies to prevent or reduce the severity of crashes. The city of Austin touted some of its Vision Zero accomplishments in the report, noting that projects to improve safety at major intersections led to a 31% reduction in traffic fatalities and serious injuries at those locations. But the report acknowledged that “with more than 280 square miles within the city limits and a rapidly growing population, systematically redesigning Austin’s entire transportation system will take time.” In 2021 and 2022, there were 71 and 83 fatal crashes in Austin, far outpacing the average of 46 during the four years before the pandemic. At the same time, there were 35 and 28 fatal crashes on city-owned streets in 2021 and 2022, after averaging 30 per year from 2016 to 2019.

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Austin American-Statesman staff strike over low pay

Members of the Austin American-Statesman’s labor union went on strike Monday because of an ongoing contract dispute with the newspaper's parent company, Gannett. Nicole Villalpando, who covers health care for the Statesman and serves as the union's vice chair, said she and some of her other colleagues have to work other jobs. “We have about a third of the newsroom who cannot afford to live in Austin,” Villalpando said. “They're having to get roommates. They're having to do things like DoorDash and working a second job. ... It's just been really, really tough to do the jobs that we love.” Villalpando has been with the Statesman for 24 years. She said she makes $65,000 per year and that's "basically" the same amount she earned in 2010. She picked up a job as a Weight Watchers coach to help pay her daughter's medical bills.

“She was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis 10 years ago, and within the first five years, we were $120,000 in debt because the health care that [Gannett] was providing didn't cover a lot of out-of-pocket expenses," Villalpando said. The Statesman is one of 18 newsrooms owned by Gannett that went on a one-day strike today. The Statesman's labor union, the Austin NewsGuild, is asking for several additions to its contract, including pay parity, a 401(k) match, better benefits, regular raises and a wage floor of $60,000 per year. Because of low wages, the union said the Statesman has lost 60% of its staff since 2018. The contract negotiations with Gannet have been tricky, union members said. “We've been organized for two years and at the bargaining table faithfully a couple times a month, trying to get a contract, and Gannett keeps offering us worse than what we currently have," Villalpando said. Other newsrooms owned by Gannett across the country are asking the company’s board to take a vote of no confidence against its CEO and president, Mike Reed.

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State Sen. Roland Gutierrez becomes latest to oppose proposed Hill Country wastewater plant

State Sen. Roland Gutierrez has joined the growing number of politicians and residents fighting the construction of a wastewater plant that would dump millions of gallons of treated effluent into Helotes Creek. Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) released a letter he sent Saturday to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Executive Director Erin Chancellor in which he calls for the TCEQ to deny a wastewater permit that would allow Lennar Homes to construct a wastewater plant to serve a 2,900-home development. The Florida-based developer is planning to build the development on 1,160 acres north of San Antonio in an area known as the Guajolote Ranch. The plant would release an average of 1 million gallons a day of treated sewer effluent into Helotes Creek, which is located across the Edwards Aquifer’s contributing and recharge zones. This means water from the creek would drain into the aquifer, which supplies water to over 2 million people in Central Texas, including the residents of San Antonio.

Gutierrez joins other leaders and local groups in opposing the plant, including state Rep. Mark Dorazio, the City of San Antonio’s Metropolitan Health District and the cities of Helotes and Grey Forest. Last month, as many as 300 people attended a public meeting held by the TCEQ on May 9 in San Antonio regarding the permit application, and roughly 40 of them submitted formal comments opposing the project. In his letter, Gutierrez stated the project is “a threat to public health, safety, and the welfare of my constituents and all those who depend on the Edwards Aquifer.” “Once these aquifers become contaminated, given the number of people on private wells, impractical and costly water purification treatment would be required before the water would be safe to consume,” he said. “It would render recreational use of the local waterways unusable.” Gutierrez also invited a response from Chancellor. These types of disputes over protecting water resources against encroaching development are becoming more common in the booming Hill Country as residents push to live in the scenic area.

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San Antonio’s area median income increases to $88,600

The area median income for a family of four living in the San Antonio-New Braunfels region increased by about 6% from $83,500 to $88,600 this year, a change that makes more people eligible for housing assistance, but also could increase rents. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently released the 2023 area median incomes (AMI) and associated income limits that determine whether a household in a certain region is eligible for housing assistance programs. The metric plays an important role in policymaking and development. HUD uses AMI to set rents for those living in federally subsidized housing, while local officials use AMI to direct funding toward specific housing goals. Developers use it to build housing that qualifies for public funding. HUD determines an area’s AMI using Census data and inflation estimates, calculating the range of incomes in a region. The midpoint, or median, of those incomes is the AMI.

Typically HUD releases AMI in April, but data from the 2020 Census was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, the agency stated. Opportunity Home San Antonio, the city's HUD-authorized agency, adopted the new AMI in May, and the new AMI will be effective for most federal housing programs and projects, like those funded through Community Development Block Grants, on June 15. For low-income residents who struggle to afford rent, the higher AMI is a double-edged sword. The higher income limit means more people will qualify for rent and home repair assistance, but landlords who rent to tenants through most federal housing programs could legally raise rents if the tenants' lease agreements using the previous AMI have expired. "It does kind of widen that net" of eligibility, said Brandee Perez, Opportunity Home's chief operating officer. If someone was told last year they didn't qualify for assistance because they "make too much money," those people who were on the cusp might successfully receive housing or other assistance this year. "[The AMI increase is] giving folks hope, that they qualify," Perez said.

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The Statesman story: A legendary Austin newspaper faces stormy times

The story of Austin American-Stateman and how it started is as interesting and colorful as the city where it all began. The predecessor of the Statesman was founded as a three-times-a-week publication called the Democratic Statesman in 1871. The paper was originally allied with the Texas Democratic party during Reconstruction following the Civil War. In 1873, it became a daily newspaper. A rival paper, the morning Austin American, began in 1914. Five years later, Waco-based newspapermen Charles E. Marsh and E.S. Fentress bought the American in 1919 and the Evening Statesman in 1924. The morning and evening editions of the papers were published separately during the week, except on Sundays when they were combined into one morning edition. Cox Enterprises bought the Statesman in 1976. In 2008, Cox put the Statesman up for sale. But a year later, the company pulled the paper off the market, saying it had not received any suitable offers.

In 2018, the sale of the Statesman to Gatehouse Media from Cox Media Group was announced. In August 2019, New Media Investment Group, the parent entity of Gatehouse Media, bought the Gannett newspaper chain, now the paper’s official owner. The digital revolution has hurt the traditional newspaper business across the country. According to Axios, in 2010, daily print circulation for the Statesman was 136,980. By 2022, it was down to 26,455. Gannett reports that digital subscriptions have grown across the newspapers that it owns. Newspapers – like magazines and TV – all face challenges these days because of online competition for ad dollars and eyeballs. But newspapers have been hit especially hard, as the Statesman and newspapers across the country struggle to find their place in the media landscape of 2023.

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County Stories

Harris County may launch program that gives low-income families $500 a month

Harris County could become the latest region in the country to launch a guaranteed income pilot program, providing $500 per month for 18 months to 1,500 low-income families. Beginning as soon as fall 2023, the county would use $20.5 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act to the program, if approved by Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday. More than 45 cities and counties have implemented similar programs providing families with direct cash payments — including Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis — and many of them launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled by ARPA funding.

In Chicago and Minneapolis, families received $500 per month, while Los Angeles and Austin have sent residents in the program $1,000 each month. Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis and County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced the program, which they're calling Uplift Harris, while visiting a new mural in downtown Houston dedicated to essential workers. "Unchecked and ongoing inequality has created an economic divide that families can't overcome on their own," Ellis said. "And Harris County has an obligation to act." In other communities, critics have said these programs are too expensive and reward people for staying out of the workforce. Some economists and nonprofit organizations that study economic programs say that these pilot projects can't be scaled up easily or in a way that wouldn't overburden the economy. Some of these organizations say a better solution is expanding and overhauling existing federal programs, like the child tax credit. The idea of guaranteed income isn't new, Ellis said, pointing out that Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for the policy over 50 years ago.

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City Stories

Lamar CISD trustee celebrating heterosexuality during Pride month calls backlash 'tragic'

After several days of backlash over a Facebook post celebrating heterosexual relationships during the month of June, Lamar CISD board member Jon Welch called the social media response "emotional offense on steroids." The post from June 1, the first day of what is widely recognized as Pride Month, garnered hundreds of angry comments and an official letter from the board of trustees president Mandi Bronsell, distancing the board from Welch’s sentiments. On his Facebook page, Welch wrote, “I celebrate all the boyfriend-girlfriend relationships and male-female marriages throughout the world this month. You're often lost in the noise of our culture. But Natural Law and undiluted Truth still call to us all. And I celebrate it here.”

He then requested photos of couples, closing with, “Happy June to you!” Bronsell's Friday evening statement referenced “a member of our school board” who “made some recent remarks on social media that have sparked concern.” “I want to be clear that the spirit and intent of the message do not reflect the collective view of the Lamar CISD board of trustees,” Bronsell wrote. “Words matter, and they should be used to encourage us in humility and service to all our families and students." The post, as of Monday, had resulted in more than 1,200 comments, most of which condemned Welch’s sentiments. Welch said in an email the purpose of his post was to “celebrate the love between a man and a woman.” He described the public’s response to his post as “tragic” and said he felt his character was inappropriately attacked. “I always welcome opposing views to my comments in the boardroom and on social media, but they must be offered in good-faith for anything productive to come from it,” Welch said. “I recognize that it's difficult to argue about issues when emotion is involved."

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Dallas might settle DART dispute by forgoing $21 million in sales tax refund

Dallas officials say they could get $21 million less than promised from Dallas Area Rapid Transit to settle disputes over the city causing construction delays during the transit agency’s commuter rail extension project running through Far North Dallas. Assistant City Manager Robert Perez says Dallas agreed to have its initial $111 million cut to $90 million as part of a mediation process with DART and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. The city agreed to give up $16 million to cover delay costs for the planned Silver Line extension and $5 million to cover project changes requested by the city. Perez told the mayor and city council members in a memo Friday that Dallas could have been on the hook for as much as $43.5 million in delay costs alone.

The decreased payment means Dallas will have to change plans on how to help pay for improved sidewalks, traffic lane markings and other transportation-related projects that the money from DART was earmarked for. The Dallas City Council is scheduled to discuss the revised deal during a meeting Wednesday and tentatively plans to vote the following week on whether to accept proposed terms from DART on conditions to get and keep the money. “Despite concerns with some language within the [interlocal agreement], Dallas is the only service area city that has not yet approved the ILA,” Perez wrote in a memo Friday to the mayor and city council members. In February, some council members expressed concern over an earlier draft version of the interlocal agreement with DART due to proposed terms like the transit agency being able to withhold the sales tax money if DART determined a city delayed the construction of DART projects. City Manager T.C. Broadnax during a Feb. 28 committee meeting advised the council not to sign the agreement, saying it was “unfair” that DART would promise to give money and then later threaten to withhold funding as a penalty for unrelated issues.

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National Stories

Why top abortion rights groups could sit out Arizona’s key 2024 Senate race

Abortion is set to be a major issue in 2024’s most competitive Senate races, including in Arizona, where the legality of the procedure has been mired in confusion since last summer. But abortion rights groups could stay on the sidelines in the state after a party switch by the senator whose seat is up next year. If Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who formally left the Democratic Party in December, chooses to run for a second term, she’s set to be the only pro-abortion-rights Senate candidate in 2024 running without the backing of some of the nation’s largest abortion rights organizations. While Sinema hasn’t announced whether she’ll stand for reelection, the Wall Street Journal reported in April that she and her staff were preparing for another run. She would enter an unprecedented three-way general election race featuring an incumbent without the backing of either major political party. She’d likely run against Rep. Ruben Gallego, who appears to have cleared the Democratic primary field, and a yet-to-be-determined Republican opponent.

Sheriff Mark Lamb has already jumped into the GOP primary, and 2022 gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, who has repeatedly denied legitimate election results, is also strongly considering a run. Sinema would bring a consistently pro-abortion-rights stance and record to a race in a critical swing state that rejected anti-abortion candidates like Lake in 2022. But her relationships with influential progressive and reproductive rights groups currently range from rocky to nonexistent over her position on the Senate’s filibuster rules, further complicating the dynamics of such an election. Sinema’s refusal to support changes to the Senate filibuster rules, which require a three-fifths majority to advance and pass most legislation, contributed to the demise of a major Democratic voting rights bill — and cost her the support of abortion-focused groups who see democracy reform as intrinsically connected to reproductive rights. Emily’s List, which backs Democratic women supportive of abortion, will stay out of the race. If Sinema runs, it’s unclear whether groups like NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood’s political arm would put resources toward electing Gallego or similarly stay on the sidelines. “One of the things that we feel as advocates, and also as voters, is that we were used as political pawns to get her elected to get her into this office,” said Liz Luna, political and policy director at Rural Arizona Action, an advocacy and voter engagement group. “And then she kind of just left us on this island where we haven’t been able to see tangible results from her and communicate with her.”

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Screen Actors Guild authorizes union to call a strike if needed as tension rises in Hollywood

Members of the Screen Actors Guild voted to empower the union to call for a strike if contract negotiations with studios and other power players break down. The vote comes at a tense moment in Hollywood. Thousands of writers have been on strike for more than a month, picketing outside entertainment companies in Los Angeles and New York City. That strike could continue into summer, casting a pall over television and film lineups. Nearly 65,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists cast ballots, with around 98% voting in favor of a strike authorization, the union said Monday evening.

“Together we lock elbows and in unity we build a new contract that honors our contributions in this remarkable industry, reflects the new digital and streaming business model and brings all our concerns for protections and benefits into the now,” said actress and SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher. In addition to actors, the union’s roughly 160,000 members include stunt performers, singers, dancers, radio announcers and puppeteers. SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are scheduled to start talks on June 7, as part of regular negotiations that occur every three years. The current contract ends June 30. The alliance, whose members include Netflix, Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global, said Monday its goal in the talks is to reach a new agreement that benefits to union members as well as the industry. “??An actors’ strike that lingers through summer will likely have more of an effect on content production than a writers’ strike, as much of the writing for slated content has been completed,” said Jacquie Corbelli, chief executive of BrightLine, a provider of TV ad tech. Writers began their strike on May 2, after the Writers Guild of America and the producers’ alliance failed to agree on a new contract. Key issues for the WGA’s 11,500 members include the number of writers used on projects and what they are paid in a streaming era that is largely void of residual payments and job security, particularly as artificial intelligence advances.

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Okla. Catholic school set to become nation’s first religious charter

An Oklahoma board approved the nation’s first religious charter school on Monday, agreeing to publicly fund a school where Catholic teachings will be incorporated into lessons throughout the day — and testing the constitutional bounds of taxpayer funding for religious education. The new online school, called St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, will be run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa. It plans to enroll students in grades K-12 in fall 2024. Religion will be woven into every subject from math and science to history and literature. Religion is “baked into everything we do,” said Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, which handles public policy and government affairs. “Our aim is to continue doing what we’re already doing in Catholic schools.”

The application was approved on a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board. Almost immediately, the advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State said it would challenge the decision in court. “It’s hard to think of a clearer violation of the religious freedom of Oklahoma taxpayers and public-school families than the state establishing the nation’s first religious public charter school,” said Rachel Laser, the group’s president and CEO. “This is a sea change for American democracy.” Charter schools are publicly funded but privately run and must abide by some of the rules that govern traditional public schools. The new Catholic school, which expects to serve 500 students initially, was created in part to provide Catholic education for students in rural areas that do not have a private Catholic school nearby. But it also was set up intentionally to test the legal limits of taxpayer funding for religious schools. The move is part of a conservative push to expand the boundaries of school choice, giving families more taxpayer-funded options for religious education. Farley called this “a watershed moment in the school-choice movement.” A drive to break down the once-solid wall between public funding and religious education has already made significant gains. Over the past six years, a conservative U.S. Supreme Court has issued three rulings that religious institutions could not be excluded from taxpayer-funded programs that were available to others.

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Cornel West announces 2024 run for president as People’s Party candidate

Progressive activist Cornel West announced his 2024 campaign for president with the People’s Party on Monday “I have decided to run for truth and justice, which takes the form of running for President of the United States as a candidate for the People’s Party,” West said in a video announcement on Twitter launching the third-party presidential bid. “I enter in the quest for truth, I enter in the quest for justice, and the presidency is just one vehicle to pursue that truth and justice — what I’ve been trying to do all of my life.”

West, a philosophy professor and longtime vocal progressive advocate, said his campaign would focus on health care, living wages, housing, reproductive rights and “deescalating the destruction of the planet, the destruction of American democracy.” In the campaign video, West included a clip in which he referred to President Biden as a “milquetoast neoliberal” and referred to former President Trump as a “neofascist.” He explained his decision to run as a third-party candidate, saying, “neither political party wants to tell the truth about Wall Street, about Ukraine, about the Pentagon, about big tech.” “Do we have what it takes? We shall see. But some of us are going to go down fighting, go down swinging, with style and a smile,” he said. The People’s Party was founded in 2017 by Nick Brana, a former campaign staffer for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), for the purpose of “building a major new progressive populist party in America.”

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Hundreds of journalists strike to demand leadership change at biggest US newspaper chain

Journalists at two dozen local newspapers across the U.S. walked off the job Monday to demand an end to painful cost-cutting measures and a change of leadership at Gannett, the country’s biggest newspaper chain. The strike involves hundreds of journalists at newspapers in eight states, including the Arizona Republic, the Austin American-Statesman, the Bergen Record, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, and the Palm Beach Post, according to the NewsGuild, which represents workers at more than 50 Gannett newsrooms. Gannett has said there would be no disruption to its news coverage during the strike, which will last for two days at two of the newspapers and one day for the rest.

The walkouts coincided with Gannett’s annual shareholder meeting, during which the company’s board was duly elected despite the NewsGuild-CWA union urging shareholders to withhold their votes from CEO and board chairman Mike Reed as an expression of no confidence in his leadership. Reed has overseen the company since its 2019 merger with GateHouse Media, a tumultuous period that has included layoffs and the shuttering of newsrooms. Gannett shares have dropped more than 60% since the deal closed. Susan DeCarava, president of the The NewsGuild of New York, called the shareholder meeting “a slap in the face to the hundreds of Gannett journalists who are on strike today.” “Gannett CEO Mike Reed didn’t have a word to say to the scores of journalists whose livelihoods he’s destroyed, nor to the communities who have lost their primary news source thanks to his mismanagement,” DeCarava said in a statement. In legal filing, the NewsGuild said Gannett’s leadership has gutted newsrooms and cut back on coverage to service a massive debt load. Cost-cutting has also included forced furloughs and suspension of 401-K contributions. “We want people in our local community to know what this company is doing to local news, and we want Gannett shareholders to know what Gannett is doing to local news,” said Chris Damien, a criminal justice reporter and unit guild chair the Desert Sun, which covers Palm Springs and the surrounding Coachella Valley in Southern California.

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Far right turns on Marjorie Taylor Greene

Even before Marjorie Taylor Greene was sworn into Congress, she was a darling of the far right. A MAGA soldier from a deep-red district, Greene spent her first few years in office as a thorn in the side of House GOP leadership. Her attention-seeking, Biden-bashing, pro-Trump antics endeared her to the conservative base as much as they alienated her with GOP leaders. And she owned the persona unapologetically. But lately, a different Marjorie Taylor Greene has emerged—one who’s found favor with Speaker Kevin McCarthy and scorn from the conservative allies who once adored her. And according to a text message Greene sent to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Friday, Greene may be even more done with certain MAGA influencers than they are with her. Exactly who is the most upset is open for debate. The far-right instigators who spent years cheering Greene on as a martyr of their cause now say she’s lost the plot. They’re fuming about her support for McCarthy’s debt limit deal, which passed last week on a bipartisan basis, and her coziness with McCarthy in general, which was illustrated in January when she supported him for speaker on all 15 ballots.

More recently, Greene cheering on the decision to allow only a select group of conservative journalists to see unreleased Jan. 6 tapes—instead of releasing them to the public—has also infuriated a small but vocal group on the right. Even Greene’s recent divorce has been a source of misogynist attacks from certain conservatives, with shock-jock Stew Peters going so far as to claim she’s not being a “wholesome Christian mom.” It’s perhaps an unintentional set of repercussions for what seemed like an intentional rebrand by Greene over the past few months: aligning herself with McCarthy through the speakership battle, rejoining congressional committees that she lost last term, opening up to the press, and keeping it (sort of) together. The subtle transformations have left Greene’s newfound foes calling for retribution in the traditional conservative way: a primary challenge. In the past week, former Trump administration official-turned-podcaster Steve Bannon led the charge, calling for Greene to be primaried by a more right-wing candidate who is “REAL MAGA.” A fringe set of far-right allies soon followed. “I 100 percent support a challenge to MTG, and look forward to meeting and helping a serious challenge to her,” Stew Peters told The Daily Beast.

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Lead Stories

Bowers, Johnson set to launch campaigns to replace Colin Allred in Congress

Two Texas lawmakers are preparing to launch campaigns to replace Colin Allred in Congress, setting up a primary showdown that could split Democrats in the statehouse and inside the northern and eastern Dallas County-anchored district. Rep. Rhetta Andrews Bowers of Rowlett and Rep. Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch, both Democrats, were elected to the Texas Legislature in 2018. Now they will clash in one of 2024?s marquee contests. “I’m excited about that opportunity and the possibility of serving some of my constituents and gaining some new constituents,” Bowers told The Dallas Morning News. “It’s an honor to be thought of, and even more an honor to have so much early support, even before I announce.”

Johnson is also bullish about the prospect of replacing Allred, who is departing the District 32 congressional seat to challenge Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz. “Now that the regular legislative session has ended in Austin, I am discussing the race with the community and expect to make an announcement in the coming days,” Johnson said. Bowers represents House District 113 in northern and eastern Dallas County. She’s expected to formally announce her candidacy in early June. Parts of her House district are inside congressional District 32, which could give her a boost. “I have the experience and what it takes to go into a climate where it’s not going to be easy to work,” she said. “I already have a proven record of working across the aisle and working effectively in a climate that is not always great.” Johnson represents House District 115 in northern and western Dallas County. She said her official announcement would include a large list of early supporters. “Texas Democrats need our best candidates on the ticket in 2024, and I know I can turn the tables in Washington and make the government work for the people,” Johnson said. An open seat in Congress typically attracts numerous candidates, and District 32 is expected to be one of the most competitive local races of the 2024 election season. Earlier this month, Dallas trauma surgeon Brian Williams announced his campaign to replace Allred. He told The News that he raised over $160,000 in the first 24 hours of his campaign. Dallas City Council member Adam Bazaldua is considering a campaign. Some operatives are trying to recruit Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia to run for the seat.

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With debt limit deal behind him, Biden returns to 'previously scheduled programming'

President Biden plans to use the bipartisan debt limit deal to pivot back to his shadow reelection campaign, pointing to the achievement to burnish his image with voters as a consensus-builder who’s making strides on his promise to unite the country, advisers tell NBC News. Biden signaled as much in his first Oval Office address Friday, which he began by recalling how skeptics, even in his own party, doubted he could work successfully with Republicans. The budget deal was just one of 350 bipartisan laws he has signed, he noted. “I know bipartisanship is hard and unity is hard, but we can never stop trying, because in moments like this one — the ones we just faced, where the American economy and the world economy is at risk of collapsing — there is no other way,” he said.

The early phase of Biden’s 2024 campaign aims to showcase him as a drama-free leader who has defied expectations in working across the aisle. On Friday, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to North Carolina to discuss worker training programs in his “Investing in America” agenda, the White House says. It’s part of Biden’s “return to his previously scheduled programming,” a senior Biden adviser put it. His plan is to pivot from a month that was consumed by the debt standoff in Washington back to talking directly with Americans about his economic agenda, particularly legislation he has signed to fund infrastructure projects and revive domestic manufacturing, as well as outline how he envisions building on those efforts, aides said. The bipartisan deal Biden signed over the weekend raises the debt limit and reduces federal spending. The weeks ahead will not be a victory lap on the debt limit deal, aides said. After all, some Democrats strongly oppose several provisions in the legislation, which they view as succumbing to a “hostage-taking” strategy Biden had vowed not to take part in.

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Texas Legislature didn’t pass border bills during session. Will new session be different?

Gov. Greg Abbott sat under the blistering South Texas sun last month, razor wire and natural brush at his back, and emphatically declared that no state has done more at protecting the U.S.-Mexico border than the Lone Star State. At the time, the Legislature was in the final weeks of its biennial legislative session, with a slew of immigration-related proposals making its way through the Capitol. “Somebody in this country has to step up and hold the line and not allow people to cross into our country illegally,” Abbott said then, according to video of the news conference. Fast forward a few weeks: Those bills have failed to reach Abbott’s desk. The governor immediately called lawmakers back to Austin for what is likely to be one of multiple special sessions this year. The Senate and House — already at an impasse over property tax relief — are choosing to address Abbott’s directive to increase the penalty for human smuggling in different ways.

And then there’s the outrage directed at the GOP-dominated Capitol. On one hand, some immigration and civil rights activists worry that the proposals would allow Texas to enforce immigration law — which is the responsibility of the federal government. Meanwhile, conservative activists say the state’s leaders — Abbott, House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — and GOP lawmakers failed to fulfill campaign promises to curb illegal immigration. Some say Operation Lone Star, the multibillion dollar border security effort using Texas National Guard troops and DPS officers, is a waste of money. The state has continuously increased the funding for border security. Lawmakers have appropriated $5.3 billion to Operation Lone Star, for the next two-year cycle. That’s up from $4.6 billion in the previous cycle. Migrants are charged with trespassing on private property of landowner, mostly in the Eagle Pass-Del Rio region. Spokespeople for Abbott, Patrick and Phelan did not respond to several requests for comment. On Tuesday, the House passed Republican Rep. Ryan Guillen’s proposal that increases the penalty for human smuggling and for operating a stash house. The bill was sent to the Senate on a largely party-line vote before the House adjourned for the special session, signaling they had fulfilled their duty.

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Saudi Arabia is slashing oil supply. It could mean higher gas prices for US drivers

Saudi Arabia will reduce how much oil it sends to the global economy, taking a unilateral step to prop up the sagging price of crude after two previous cuts to supply by major producing countries in the OPEC+ alliance failed to push oil higher. The Saudi cut of 1 million barrels per day, to start in July, comes as the other OPEC+ producers agreed in a meeting in Vienna to extend earlier production cuts through next year. Calling the reduction a “lollipop,” Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said at a news conference that “we wanted to ice the cake.” He said the cut could be extended and that the group “will do whatever is necessary to bring stability to this market.” The new cut would likely push up oil prices in the short term, but the impact after that would depend on whether Saudi Arabia decides to extend it, said Jorge Leon, senior vice president of oil markets research at Rystad Energy.

The move provides “a price floor because the Saudis can play with the voluntary cut as much as they like,” he said. The slump in oil prices has helped U.S. drivers fill their tanks more cheaply and gave consumers worldwide some relief from inflation. “Gas is not going to become cheaper,” Leon said. ”If anything, it will become marginally more expensive.” That the Saudis felt another cut was necessary underlines the uncertain outlook for demand for fuel in the months ahead. There are concerns about economic weakness in the U.S. and Europe, while China’s rebound from COVID-19 restrictions has been less robust than many had hoped. Saudi Arabia, the dominant producer in the OPEC oil cartel, was one of several members that agreed on a surprise cut of 1.6 million barrels per day in April. The kingdom’s share was 500,000. That followed OPEC+ announcing in October that it would slash 2 million barrels per day, angering U.S. President Joe Biden by threatening higher gasoline prices a month before the midterm elections. All told, OPEC+ has now dropped production on paper by 4.6 million barrels a day. But some countries can’t produce their quotas, so the actual reduction is around 3.5 million barrels per day, or over 3% of global supply.

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State Stories

‘They’re waiting for people to die’: Texas’ decadelong waitlists for disability services are getting longer and dangerous

Nola Carter woke her parents at 1:30 a.m. in their Friendswood home on a Tuesday last February. Her pale body on the sheets between them convulsed, and her large, blue eyes rolled to the back of her head. At 3:40 a.m., another seizure hit. The 10-year-old was hyperventilating, and she nearly stopped breathing when her parents administered a large dose of sedative to stop the seizing. For 10 years, the Carters have watched their daughter’s health deteriorate. They’ve taken on debts, called in family favors and invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in therapies to slow the ravages of their daughter’s disease. As a baby, Nola was diagnosed with Sanfilippo syndrome, a rare and terminal illness that affects her brain and muscles. It is stealing Nola’s ability to speak, move and eat, and doctors say it will likely kill her before she turns 13. As the disease grew debilitating and their daughter survived repeated falls, a concussion, pneumonia and, most recently, seizures, the Carters have hoped and waited for the Texas government to provide vital services and therapies, as it is legally required to do.

Time and again, the state has failed them. Nearly a decade ago, the Carters applied to receive the state’s Medicaid-funded disability services, a set of six community-based programs known as “waivers.” The federal waiver programs are designed to keep disabled Texans out of hospitals and nursing homes by providing essential services like personal attendant care, respite and therapy in their own homes and home-like settings. Most of Nola’s applications have never been reviewed. With perhaps only a couple of years to live, the girl’s name remains buried in state-managed waitlists with nearly 160,000 applicants. “They're waiting for people to basically die,” said Nola’s mother, Shiloh Carter, who works as an attorney at Disability Rights Texas, a nonprofit that advocates for waiver service access. Texas is legally obligated, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, to provide services for disabled residents like Nola. More than two decades after courts ordered Texas to make those services available, a yearlong investigation by the American-Statesman found the state’s complicated Medicaid waiver system is so catastrophically underfunded and inefficient that only a small fraction of people who need care receive it. Hundreds are dying before they ever get help the state is supposed to provide.

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How can patients protect their private medical information from Paxton gender care probe?

In May, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that his office was investigating two children's hospitals for providing gender-affirming care to minors: Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin and Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. The state's investigation delves also into a critical legal question: does patient privacy trump the power of a subpoena or a state inquiry for hospital documents for its gender-affirming care practice? Because a patient's right to privacy is protected by federal and state law, Paxton is using the Texas business organization code, instead of the health code, to make this request, said Jaime Sorley, a Plano attorney who specializes in health law and health privacy. Since news of Paxton's investigation, Texas House members voted to impeach him and set up a trial in the Senate this summer where Paxton could face permanent removal. Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed John Scott, a former secretary of state, as interim attorney general. It's unclear how Scott would proceed or not with the gender-affirming care probe.

Sorley said Paxton launched the probe as if he was investigating a consumer business, in this case two hospitals. In these kind of investigations, the state could fine a business or prohibit them from operating in Texas. “In addition to the stress on these families, this puts health care providers in a very difficult situation," Sorley said. "Fundamental to an effective patient/provider relationship is trust. If patients don't believe that a provider will be able to protect patient privacy, patients may not seek care or may not share information a provider needs to diagnose or treat the patient." This statute does not allow the attorney general's office to access personal medical records, said Shelly Skeen, an attorney in Dallas with Lambda Legal, which specializes in preserving civil rights for the LGBTQ community. "It's unusual" for the Consumer Protection Division to request to examine medical practices, Skeen said. That kind of request is usually saved for anti-trust violations, fraud or not properly doing business, she said. Paxton's office sent both hospitals a "Request to Examine" that asked for documents related to the hospitals' policies and procedures regarding the use of puberty blockers, as well as the age range of the patients receiving what the request calls "Gender Transitioning and Gender Reassignment Procedures and Treatments." The request also sought the number of times those patients have been counseled on these treatments, the consent forms used in these treatments among other policies and procedures documents.

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Texas has gone big with renewable energy. Why can’t it go all the way?

Texas leads the nation in renewable energy. Solar, wind and other renewables exclusively power businesses, colleges and even one town in the state. So, why can’t the state simply continue that trend and run on 100 percent renewable energy? Like any long-term relationship, it’s complicated, especially for a state that is rooted in fossil fuels. “One side certainly has a longer history and is potentially better connected,” said Felix Mormann, a professor at Texas A&M University’s Engineering Experiment Station, of the state’s long history with natural gas and other fossil fuels. “But the future belongs to the other side.” State lawmakers don’t see it that way, it would appear.

They have instead pushed bills that are poised to turn back some of that effort toward decarbonization by creating new financial incentives for natural gas power plants to be built. They consider the gas plants the answer to having easily accessible emergency electricity at the ready if a storm akin to the one that struck in February 2021 happens again. During that winter storm, named Uri, roughly 4.5 million Texans lost power for several days, hundreds of people died, and the state’s electric grid was pushed to the brink of collapse. Energy experts say the Legislature’s solution is possibly no solution at all: Natural gas plants struggled the most during that storm, according to several analyses. Yet Texas can’t simply go “all renewable” because economic, technological and regulatory barriers remain, including the nation’s largest backlog of renewable projects waiting to be connected to the state’s main grid. What’s more, observers say, the power industry is rooted in a 100-year-old business and infrastructure model and has been reluctant to change. “Building a small number of power plants is something that you can easily conceive in your head instead of getting people to do something different,” said Carey King, a research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute.

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UT Austin’s AI ‘brain decoder’ can read minds. But how good is it?

Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have created a “semantic brain decoder” to guess someone’s thoughts based on brain activity. During tests, it captured the gist of what someone was thinking, rather than a literal translation. And if participants resisted, it produced gibberish. The decoder, written about in the journal Nature Neuroscience in May, is novel, said Edmund Lalor, an associate professor of neuroscience at the University of Rochester. But its threat to privacy is minimal. “We’re very, very far away from just very quickly being able to mind-read anybody without their knowing,” said Lalor, who was not involved with UT Austin’s research. Creating the decoder involved listening to podcasts — 16 hours worth. Study co-author Alexander Huth, an assistant neuroscience and computer science professor at UT Austin, and two other participants laid in an MRI brain scanner while listening to the podcasts. Using the MRI data, the researchers taught the decoder which language patterns correspond to different kinds of brain activity.

They then asked participants to listen to podcasts or imagine themselves telling a story. The decoder made short “guesses” of what each participant was thinking and ranked them based on how well they corresponded to the person’s brain activity. After eliminating the bad guesses, the decoder expanded on the good ones using an earlier version of the AI chatbot ChatGPT, which answers questions and responds to prompts by predicting the next word. The decoder repeated the whole process until it returned a full prediction to the scientists, who compared it to the podcast the participant was hearing or a transcript of the story they imagined telling. Did it work? The decoder performed better than a randomly generated translation, and its predictions preserved the general meaning of participants’ thoughts. “These people went into an MRI scanner knowingly for many, many, many hours in order to produce results that are quite imperfect, but work a bit,” Lalor said. “I don’t have my drivers license yet,” for example, was translated to “She has not even started to learn to drive.” And the decoder translated “That night I went upstairs to what had been our bedroom” to “We got back to my dorm room.”

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Should nurse practitioners be able to practice independently in Texas? Depends who you ask

Elishia Featherston, a nurse practitioner in Euless, opened her own pediatric clinic in 2017. She wanted to make a space that would serve both the body and the mind, so with the help of a second nurse practitioner, she now provides primary and mental health care to roughly 7,000 patients across North Texas. Most are children, and Featherston worries if she’ll be able to continue to offer them care. As a nurse practitioner in Texas, Featherston legally cannot practice independently. The state requires a physician to oversee her patient care through, at minimum, a monthly check-in. But the requirement, Featherston said, feels more like a pricey permission slip than supervision, leaving her beholden to the physician she pays to oversee her. If the physician dies, retires, decides to raise her rates or no longer supervise, Featherston and her patients remain in limbo until she can find a replacement.

Throughout the 88th Legislature, she and other members of the professional organization Texas Nurse Practitioners advocated for bills that would allow independent practice. Twenty-seven states already do so, but by the session’s end on May 29, none of the bills had passed. The issue cuts across partisan lines but is no less divisive. On the other side, the Texas Medical Association advocated against those same bills. Dr. Tilden Childs, a physician in Fort Worth who chairs the association’s council for legislation, said the supervision requirements should remain in place to protect patient care — and, if they’re serving merely as a permission slip, be made more meaningful. In interviews with the Fort Worth Report, providers on both sides of the argument emphasize their respect for each other and their desire for patient access to quality care. The disagreement lies merely in who should oversee it. The nurse practitioner role grew from supply and demand. In the late 1950s and early ’60s, more physicians pursued specialties beyond primary care. Subsequently, the creation of Medicare and Medicaid gave more people access to health care. Increasing need amid a diminishing pool of providers spurred nurses to fill the gap. In 1965, a nurse and a physician collaborated to create the country’s first training program for nurse practitioners. Health care professionals, including nurses, pushed back, worried that nurse practitioners were not qualified to provide care without physician supervision and that the new title would confuse patients. In the ensuing decades, nurse practitioners sought legitimacy by standardizing their licenses and securing payment for their services. Today, nurse practitioners can assess and diagnose patients, order and interpret diagnostic tests, and prescribe medicine. In most states, they can do so without the supervision of a physician.

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Texas Southern president's sudden exit complicates push to improve graduation rates, experts say

London Ragland encountered setback after setback after enrolling at Texas Southern University as a transfer student in 2018: an unexpected change in her federal financial aid, a major health issue, the death of her father. TSU’s support and Ragland’s own persistence carried her through, and while she’s behind schedule, she is set to receive her diploma in 2024. Texas Southern leaders consider students like Ragland models in their efforts to increase retention and graduation rates – undertakings that seemed to be gaining momentum in the last two years but could now face setbacks after the recent resignation of the university’s president. “I believe it is impossible to make significant changes in terms of student outcomes when you change presidents every three years,” said Walter Kimbrough, a former president of two private historically Black colleges and universities. “It takes a president a year, a year and a half to figure out everything that’s going on to begin with, to understand the culture of an institution.”

President Lesia Crumpton-Young announced last week that she was stepping down from her position after less than two years on the job, a surprising decision that came with no explanation other than her intention to advance historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, on the national stage. At the time of her departure, Crumpton-Young was only in the beginning stages of a wider goal to improve Texas Southern’s reputation among state institutions. The public university holds some of the lowest graduation rates in Texas: By 2022, 7 percent of first-time freshmen who arrived in 2018 had graduated in four years, 26 percent who started in 2016 had graduated in six years and 33 percent of community college transfers from 2018 had graduated in four years, TSU data show. Around 55 percent of first-time freshmen in 2021 returned for their sophomore year. (Six-year graduation rates are the accepted standard in higher education. Classes admitted under Crumpton-Young are not reflected in the most recently available statistics, as she took the role in 2021.)

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How the Uvalde massacre changed Texas school safety and inspired gun reforms

Gloria Cazares sat in a Republican’s office in the Texas Capitol holding up a poster of her slain 9-year-old daughter Jackie. Her No. 1 priority for the Texas Legislature — banning those under 21 from buying powerful AR-15-style assault rifles, as the Uvalde school shooter had done — was about to fail, docked in a committee chaired by Rep. Dustin Burrows. She was in his office for herself, but she was also there for the dozens of Uvalde family members who had rallied for the bill in Austin the day before. She stared silently at Jackie’s picture as other advocates made their case to a Burrows staffer. He listened to their pleas but couldn’t promise that the committee would advance the bill. “I know it’s not the answer y’all want,” he said, instead offering copies of a sweeping school safety bill authored by Burrows. They declined.

“Wait until you’re a parent,” Cazares said, suddenly compelled to speak. She gestured to the photo of Jackie, smiling in a white lace dress. “This is my daughter. This was her First Communion. This was the dress that she was buried in. Just remember that.” She walked out. The interaction on May 9 was emblematic of a year of advocacy and debate over the deadliest school shooting in Texas, which left 19 fourth-graders and two teachers dead. Though the families didn't get the gun reform they wanted, the shooting at Robb Elementary School inspired the most significant action on federal firearm laws in decades and an unprecedented investment in school safety measures. The state Legislature adjourned this week touting those accomplishments, as Uvalde families returned home to mourn their loved ones and schedule their next advocacy trip. “Were it not for their efforts, we wouldn't have made it that far, and I'm just grateful to them,” said state Rep. Tracy King, a moderate Democrat who represents Uvalde and authored the raise-the-age bill. “They need to never give up, keep on trying.”

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How Dallas’ most iconic building came to be

In the spring of 1978 two iconic buildings opened in Dallas, and they could hardly have been more different. The first was City Hall, a tilted bunker in tawny concrete designed by I.M. Pei. It was followed, barely a month later, by a building that might well have been its polar opposite: the Hyatt Regency, a slick jumble of forms wrapped in gleaming reflective glass. While it was the former that was explicitly built to represent and chart a new course for the post-assassination city, it is the latter, with its lollipop tower appendage, that has come to truly stand for Dallas, both at home and to the world at large. Reunion Tower gave a previously nondescript skyline an unmistakable identity. The complex was then and remains today an embodiment of the city as it wishes to see itself: glamorous, optimistic, rushing headlong into the future and utterly unconcerned with the past.

“To the driver on the freeway and the passenger in an airplane, the Hyatt epitomizes what Dallas is all about,” Dallas Morning News architecture critic David Dillon wrote in a column marking its 10th anniversary, in 1988. episode of a prime-time soap tracking the ups and downs of the oil-rich Ewing clan debuted nationally on CBS. There it was right at the beginning: a swooping helicopter shot of the Hyatt’s shimmering façade backed by that now indelible score: Da da, da da, da da dadadada. You could hardly dream up a better ad campaign. The official opening came two weeks later, on the morning of April 15. The ceremony was fairly unremarkable — marching band, balloons, dignitaries — until that evening, when a light show and fireworks display distracted drivers, causing, according to The News, 13 separate traffic accidents and prompting alarmed residents to overload the city’s 911 system.

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Micah Parsons’ next step? Becoming true ‘impact player’ for Cowboys, teammates around him

Early in practice Thursday, Micah Parsons and Sam Williams stood to the side, engaged in their own private lesson. Parsons bent his elbows and raised his hands like a boxer while Williams alternated low-speed punches, forcing Parsons to deflect. High left. Low right. Low left. Low right. Low left. High right. Each time Parsons used a hand to ward off a Williams punch, the Cowboys linebacker quickly reset that hand to the ready position. The technique formed the basis of Parsons’ lesson with the second-year defensive end.

“With his hands, keep them in front of him,” Parsons said later. “Not dropping your hands. I was like, ‘We’re boxing right now. Keeping your hands and feet [in unison] because they’ve got to work together.’ … Just constantly moving, keeping your hands going, keeping their hands off of you. “I’m trying to take everyone up a level because I’m trying to take this D-line up another level. That’s a part of growth.” Parsons spent some of his offseason training in Austin, while most of his teammates did the same at Ford Center at The Star. Since rejoining them, be it the lessons Parsons learned from boxing or when picking the brain of retired offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, he has shared some of the insight gained. In his third year in the NFL, Parsons is focused not only on elevating his own game but those around him. The process naturally started with himself. He added muscle, up to 250 pounds after playing at 245 last season. He worked to become smoother and more efficient with his movements, believing that will not only help him play faster but stay healthier.

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Chris Tomlinson: Oil tycoons bankroll Paxton defenders

Political activists financed by two billionaire oilmen — famous for backing right wing Republicans — are riding like cavalry to save suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton from a scalping in the Texas Senate. Billionaires Tim Dunn and Ferris Wilks are arguably the most influential donors to right wing candidates and causes in Texas, funneling tens of millions of dollars to political action committees and candidates that espouse their religious-right and anti-public-school agenda. Dunn, CEO of drilling company CrownQuest Operating, and Wilks, who sold his fracking company, are the largest donors to Defend Texas Liberty PAC, one of Paxton’s largest campaign financiers, according to public records. The billionaires gave the PAC more than $10 million of the $11 million it has raised from 2020-2022. The PAC passed $1.25 million of that money, along with a loan for $750,000, to Paxton.

Dunn, Wilks and Defend Texas Liberty together also gave former state Rep. Bryan Slaton $223,000 as three of his four largest donors. The Texas House expelled Slaton last month for plying a 19-year-old staffer with alcohol and having sex with her. Defend Texas Liberty is managed by former state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, who, alongside Republican Party of Texas Chair Matt Rinaldi, was a founding director of another PAC called Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. That group, which is not required to disclose donors, was founded by conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan, long considered the enforcer of right wing orthodoxy in Austin. Dunn and Wilks are widely reported to finance Sullivan’s activities. Stickland, Rinaldi and Sullivan are leading a public campaign to stop the Texas Senate from permanently removing Paxton following his impeachment on 20 corruption charges. The same group also wants to remove Dade Phelan as speaker of the House. The day before the debate over impeaching Paxton, Stickland went on Twitter promising a 2024 Republican primary challenger for any official who voted for impeachment. “There will be one helluva price to pay for voting w/ @DadePhelan and Dems,” he tweeted on May 26. “Wait until you see my PAC budget … A vote to impeach @Ken-PaxtonTX is a decision to have a primary. Can’t wait to see who sides with Democrats.” After the House heard the overwhelming evidence against Paxton and removed him from office, Sullivan spread his theory that Texas Republicans were in league with national Democrats.

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Houston Chronicle Editorial: Dan Patrick, man of the people? Yep, on property taxes at least.

In bold, right at the top of the Texas comptroller's web page devoted to property taxes, there's an intriguing declaration: "Texas has no property tax." Those words might make any Texan who has opened a property tax bill erupt in laughter or question their sanity. Technically, the comptroller is right. The Texas Constitution forbids a statewide property tax. Strictly speaking, it’s counties, cities and local school districts that levy property taxes. Conveniently, the comptroller’s website tells you to go bug your local officials if you’re fretting over the latest property tax bill demanding the blood of your first born child. The truth is that the state exercises indirect control over property taxes that fund public schools, which make up most of the bill. With appraisals soaring across the state, and astronomically so in large swaths of major cities, the obfuscation isn't working anymore. Too many Texans are demanding relief and state leaders are trying to respond.

They just can't agree on how. Even though they're all Republicans, Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan are locked in a battle after the Legislature failed to pass a property tax cut during the regular session that ended May 29. They bickered for months over two different ways to deliver $12.3 billion in relief with the House favoring a five percent “appraisal cap” and the Senate seeking a bigger “homestead exemption.” Last week, Abbott called a special session to get a cut passed and introduced a third option: pure “tax compression.” The House quickly passed it, and then adjourned leaving no opportunity to compromise, while the Senate, controlled by Patrick, refused to consider it. Confused by all these terms? That’s by design. It helps politicians disguise how fragile and unfair Texas’ finances are, so we won't get into the weeds explaining. We'll just tell you who's plan is best for everyday Texas taxpayers. On this one, Dan Patrick is right. We said so before during the regular session, and our conclusion has only gotten firmer. It does feel odd siding with Patrick. Phelan's House is usually the more sensible chamber, coming closer to reflecting public opinion. Then again, the lieutenant governor’s populist bent isn’t new. While his political strength comes from the support of conservative activists, which drives his culture war extremism, from school library book bans to abortion restrictions with no exceptions for rape, Abbott and Phelan lean more to the traditional, pro-business side of the Republican party.

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HISD superintendent Mike Miles announces plans for his charter school chain, Third Future Schools

Mike Miles addressed what will happen to Third Future Schools, the charter school organization that he founded and served as CEO of, now what he has been named Houston ISD superintendent. Third Future Schools announced that Zack Craddock, who worked as chief of schools, will become superintendent to lead the organization in Miles’ absence.

“It’s been an honor building Third Future Schools from one school to now 11 schools and I am proud of the work we have accomplished to change the future of education for our students,” said Miles. “Although I am stepping away to focus on fundamental change in Houston, I will be involved in the organization and support Mr. Craddock to close the achievement gap and uphold the Third Future mission and vision.”Third Future Schools was created in 2016 and serves about 4,500 students across Texas, Louisiana and Colorado in 11 public charter schools. Craddock has served as a senior leader of Third Future Schools since it was established. He has worked closely with Miles over the years on key projects, including adding five schools through a school-turnaround partnership project. “At Third Future Schools, we are dedicated to improving overall academic outcomes for every one of our students,” Craddock said. “This will continue to be our main focus during this transition. Mr. Miles has laid the groundwork and vision for our organization and our team is laser focused on upholding the TFS mission.”

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Lamar CISD board member’s ‘concerning’ post prompts district to issue pro-LGBTQ+ statement

The Lamar Consolidated ISD school board president responded to incendiary comments made by a trustee on Facebook. Board member Jon Welch promoted heterosexual couples at the start of June, which is widely recognized as “Pride Month,” a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. “I celebrate all the boyfriend-girlfriend relationships and male-female marriages throughout the world this month,” Welch wrote on his Facebook page Thursday morning. “You're often lost in the noise of our culture. But Natural Law and undiluted Truth still call to us all. And I celebrate it here.”

He then requested photos of couples, closing with, “Happy June to you!” The post as of Saturday morning garnered nearly 900 comments, most of which condemned Welch’s sentiments. Lamar CISD board president Mandi Bronsell Friday evening issued a statement on behalf of the district, distancing the board from “a member of our school board” who “made some recent remarks on social media that have sparked concern.” She did not name Welch. “I want to be clear that the spirit and intent of the message do not reflect the collective view of the Lamar CISD board of trustees,” she writes. “Words matter, and they should be used to encourage us in humility and service to all our families and students. Her message also reaffirms the district’s dedication to inclusivity. “In Lamar CISD, we firmly believe that every student, staff member and family within our community deserves to be valued, respected and included,” the statement says. “We are committed to creating a learning environment that celebrates our students, promotes understanding and fosters a sense of belonging for all.”

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Henry Cuellar: Land ports of entry need a more stable funding stream

The bipartisan legislation has secured the support of the Border Trade Alliance and the Texas Trucking Association. U.S. Representatives Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen, Tony Gonzales of San Antonio, Veronica Escobar of El Paso and Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico are co-authoring the bill, although the original idea for the trust fund came from Cuellar. Cuellar said the legislation would establish a trust fund that would be used to (1) construct new ports of entry, (2) expand and improve existing ports of entry, (3) procure technology for inspecting and processing traffic passing through ports of entry, and (4) hire U.S. Customs and Border Protection staff. The Department of Homeland Security would also establish the Land Port of Entry Modernization Oversight Board to advise DHS on how to use the trust fund and to review the trust fund’s expenditures.

“While waterway-based ports of entry have long had the benefit of a consistent source of federal resources via the authorization of a similar trust fund, our overburdened land-based ports of entry have struggled,” Cuellar said, in a news release. “The LPOE Modernization Trust Fund Act is needed to properly redistribute much needed resources to LPOE facilities and to ensure the United States’ long-term economic prosperity through international trade.” In his audio interview with the Guardian, Cuellar said he came up with the idea of a land trust fund. “You have a seaport, there is a maintenance trust fund. Since I represent land borders, most of the goods and people come through land ports. So every year we have to add appropriations. I just don’t understand why land ports are treated differently from airports, and seaports.” Cuellar said if he can get the legislation passed, the border region would “have a funding mechanism on a consistent basis, so we don’t have to go and keep begging for money for our land ports.” After all, Cuellar points out, land ports cross the majority of the people and the goods coming in to the US. “Especially the southern border. If you look at the trade between US and Mexico, you’re looking at over $863 billion every year, just between the US and Mexico.”

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Steven Kellman: On behalf of sanctimony, Texas strikes a blow on books

(Kellman is a professor of comparative literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio.) The Victorian era ended in 1901 with the death of Queen Victoria. But Victorianism, the priggishness that led galleries to apply fig leaves to cover the private parts of classical sculpture, lingered. Puritanism, which the pugnacious journalist H.L. Mencken called “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy,” is now resurgent Last March, Hope Carrasquilla, the principal at a school in Tallahassee, was forced to resign over parental complaints: Sixth-grade students were being exposed to images of David, Michelangelo’s celebrated statue that is both majestic and nude. In Arkansas, librarians face criminal charges for making “obscene” books available to minors.

Texas now strikes its own blow on behalf of sanctimony. House Bill 900 will ban all “sexually explicit books” from the state’s school libraries. After passage by both houses of the Texas Legislature, it awaited the likely signature of Governor Greg Abbott. The bill’s author, Rep. Jared Patterson (R-Frisco), declared: “After more than 18 months of fighting alongside concerned moms and dads throughout Texas, I am proud to say we have passed legislation to halt the sexualization of Texas children through library materials.” Texas children are sexualized through biological development. They are going to be curious about sexuality despite the wishes of their elders. The greatest literature often deals openly about the human body, and it would handicap Texas students to deny them access to it. The revolution of modern art was fought in favor of candor, and it took a series of monumental court decisions to overcome bans against books by Theodore Dreiser, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, Vladimir Nabokov, and others. No student of literature can now afford to be ignorant of those works. Not every sexually explicit book possesses literary merit. And not every book merits placement in a library. However, some of the greatest works of the past century, including “Ulysses,” “Sister Carrie,” “Women in Love,” and “Lolita” have run afoul of censors, who have judged them “obscene.” The same vague complaint has been used to expurgate, if not ban, earlier works, including Song of Songs, “Tale of Genji,” and “Gargantua and Pantagruel.” The criterion for censoring books has been nebulous and dependent on the shifting whims of the censors.

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The future of Texas’ largest teacher preparation program in limbo after court ruling

The future of an embattled teacher preparation company – which enrolls more educator candidates than any other program in Texas – will remain in limbo after a Travis County judge threw a curveball in the state’s plans. Texas Teachers of Tomorrow – also known as A+ Texas Teachers – is under scrutiny after failing to prove to state education officials that they had corrected long-standing operational problems. The Texas Education Agency recommended last year revoking the company’s accreditation, citing its failure to meet the conditions of an improvement plan. If their accreditation is yanked, the company would not be able to produce certified teachers. Before state officials can vote on the company’s future, both sides must present arguments before a judge in the State Office of Administrative Hearings. But now, that next step is stalled.

A Travis County district judge ruled in May in favor of Texas Teachers of Tomorrow, granting the company’s request for a temporary injunction. The decision stops state education officials from moving forward with their case. Texas Education Agency spokesman Jake Kobersky said officials can’t comment on ongoing litigation, but the state plans to appeal the ruling. Teachers of Tomorrow CEO Trent Beekman said the company was pleased with the judge’s decision. “Teachers of Tomorrow has maintained the highest level of regulatory compliance, cooperation, and adherence to the process for contesting the TEA’s review findings,” he said in a statement. Company leaders are arguing the state unlawfully held them to “invented, invalid, and inapplicable standards” during the review process. The company’s “entire business is at stake” should the state bring a case to the State Office of Administrative Hearings, according to court documents. The fight over Texas Teachers of Tomorrow comes as the schools face an ongoing educator shortage. The company enrolls more teacher candidates than any other program in the state. It presents people with an alternative pathway to the classroom, targeting those who didn’t necessarily go to college with the intent to become teachers. The for-profit program recruits many people in search of a second career and trains them through primarily online coursework.

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County Stories

Houston man sues Bexar sheriff, alleges deputies routinely search vehicles without warrants

A Houston businessman has filed a federal lawsuit alleging two Bexar County Sheriff’s deputies conducted a “warrantless search without probable cause” during a traffic stop last year. The complaint by Alek Schott says Bexar County uses traffic stops as a “tool to conduct searches and seizures without any reason to suspect the driver of a crime.” Schott is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages against Bexar County, Sheriff Javier Salazar and deputies Joel Babb and Martin A. Molina III. A Bexar County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. Attorneys with the Institute of Justice, a nonprofit public interest law firm, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Schott, 37, on Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Antonio. The group's website says its mission is to “end widespread abuses of government power.”

Schott is director of operations and business development for his father’s company, Spring-based RMS Controls Inc., which supplies pipeline equipment to companies operating in the Eagle Ford shale formation of South Texas. He regularly drives through Bexar County as part of his job. On the morning of March 16, 2022, Schott was driving back to Houston in his black Ford F-250 when Babb pulled him over for allegedly driving over the white line that defines the right shoulder on Interstate 35. Schott disputes that he crossed the line. Babb asked Schott to step out of the truck to give him a warning instead of a ticket, the suit says. The deputy, after patting down Schott, directed him to sit in the patrol car, but his background check on Schott did not reveal any reason to detain him, the suit says. Schott has no criminal history and his driver’s license was valid. Babb continued to question Schott and explained that he was part of a “Criminal Interdiction Unit” and had parked alongside I-35 to look for human and drug smuggling, the lawsuit states. He eventually asked if he could search the truck.

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City Stories

'Let strippers strip': Online campaign reveals plan to fight San Antonio's anti-nudity laws

Strippers just want to strip in San Antonio. Now one of them is baring her desires online — with a campaign to change the city's anti-nudity ordinance. An exotic dancer in San Antonio who goes by "Sunny" has created Support SA Dancers, a website to raise awareness about restrictions on adult entertainers. The site features an anonymous survey anyone can take to "answer some questions for public research." Sunny also encourages sharing the site, posting to social media with the hashtag #letstrippersstrip and addressing city officials regarding the issue.

"By taking away our freedom to entertain, it has taken your freedom to enjoy it!" Sunny posted on the site. "Adults are now no longer allowed to enjoy true adult entertainment in the city of San Antonio. Instead they're forced to travel to other cities, such as Austin, where they can enjoy semi-nudity or nudity. Citizens of San Antonio shouldn't have ever had this freedom taken away. Even if you aren't an active club goer, if you were to ever want to enjoy it, you wouldn't be able to." When reached via email, Sunny noted she's been dancing for nearly three years in San Antonio and that one of her managers told her she was capable of organizing and creating a movement to have the city's restrictions changed. "Dancing truly changed my life for the better and I absolutely adore what I do," she said. "I've worked many jobs in the past, whether it be retail or serving, but nothing has made me as happy as dancing has. It allows me to pursue some of my dreams and learn continuously." In 2003, the city of San Antonio passed an ordinance that outlawed nude dancing and lap dancing and banned private VIP rooms. The city amended the so-called "human display ordinance" in 2005 after settling a lawsuit with several topless clubs that claimed the ordinance was unconstitutional. The amended ordinance essentially maintained the original, with provisions that ban nude dancing, lap dancing and small, dimly lit or locked VIP rooms. The city also adopted a "three foot rule" that effectively bans lap dances. Tips to dancers must be placed in a jar or delivered hand-to-hand without touching and each person's hand extended at least 1½ feet away the body.

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Dogs attacked more than 5,300 mail carriers last year, the Postal Service says

It sounds like an old-fashioned stereotype, the dog chasing after the mailman. But for thousands of postal workers last year, man's best friend turned out to be a major hazard of the job. In 2022, dogs attacked more than 5,300 employees who were delivering the mail, according to the U.S. Postal Service. It was a slight drop from the previous year, when more than 5,400 postal employees were attacked. Officials say even well-behaved pets who don't show signs of aggression may lash out at postal workers, who often must enter a property to drop off the mail, and the results can sometimes be deadly.

"When our mail carriers are bitten, it is usually a 'good dog' that had not previously behaved in a menacing way," USPS Occupational Safety and Health Senior Director Linda DeCarlo said in a statement. The Postal Service released the data as part of its annual National Dog Bite Awareness Week, a public service campaign meant to raise awareness of attacks on mail carriers. California saw the most canine-on-postal worker attacks last year, with 675 incidents, followed by Texas, New York and Pennsylvania. The number of attacks in all four states increased last year over 2021. Houston had the highest number of attacks of any city, with Los Angeles, Dallas and Cleveland trailing behind. Officials are asking pet owners to take a few steps that could help protect postal workers from a potentially dangerous encounter, such as keeping dogs inside, behind a fence or on a leash when the mail carrier arrives. The Postal Service also recommends that people not let children take mail directly from a postal worker, since protective pets may think the child is in danger. "When letter carriers deliver mail in our communities, dogs that are not secured or leashed can become a nemesis and unpredictable and attack," Leeann Theriault, USPS employee safety and health awareness manager, said in a statement.

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National Stories

Twitter’s U.S. ad sales plunge 59% as woes continue

Elon Musk recently said Twitter’s advertising business was on the upswing. “Almost all advertisers have come back,” he asserted, adding that the social media company could soon become profitable. But Twitter’s U.S. advertising revenue for the five weeks from April 1 to the first week of May was $88 million, down 59 percent from a year earlier, according to an internal presentation obtained by The New York Times. The company has regularly fallen short of its U.S. weekly sales projections, sometimes by as much as 30 percent, the document said. That performance is unlikely to improve anytime soon, according to the documents and seven current and former Twitter employees. Twitter’s ad sales staff is concerned that advertisers may be spooked by a rise in hate speech and pornography on the social network, as well as more ads featuring online gambling and marijuana products, the people said. The company has forecast that its U.S. ad revenue this month will be down at least 56 percent each week compared with a year ago, according to one internal document.

These issues will soon be inherited by Linda Yaccarino, the NBCUniversal executive whom Mr. Musk named Twitter’s chief executive last month. She is expected to start the job on Monday, four people familiar with the situation said. Ms. Yaccarino declined to comment through a spokesman. Mr. Musk did not respond to a request for comment. The state of Twitter’s advertising is crucial because ads have long made up 90 percent of the company’s revenue. After Mr. Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in October and took the company private, he vowed to build “the most respected ad platform.” But he quickly alienated advertisers by firing key sales executives, spreading a conspiracy theory on the site and welcoming back barred Twitter users. In response, several large ad agencies and brands, including General Motors and Volkswagen, paused their ad spending on Twitter. Mr. Musk has said Twitter was on track to post $3 billion in revenue in 2023, down from $5.1 billion in 2021, when it was a public company. Twitter’s valuation has since plunged. In March, Mr. Musk said the company was worth $20 billion, down more than 50 percent from the $44 billion he paid for it. Last week, the mutual funds giant Fidelity, which owns shares in Twitter, valued the company at $15 billion. Twitter feels increasingly “unpredictable and chaotic,” said Jason Kint, chief executive of Digital Content Next, an association for premium publishers. “Advertisers want to run in an environment where they are comfortable and can send a signal about their brand,” he added.

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Why Steve Bannon may still go down for a pardoned crime

When President Donald Trump pardoned Steve Bannon in the closing hours of his presidency, it seemed like the right-wing media personality—and once chief strategist for Trump—had successfully evaded any repercussions for his involvement in a scheme that sent some of his partners to prison. Double jeopardy laws, of course, prevent someone from being prosecuted twice for the same crime. But there’s a curious reason why Bannon can’t raise the double jeopardy defense before his upcoming state court trial and make the case disappear: New Yorkers saw this coming. “The law changed in New York, specifically because Trump started handing out pardons. New York State took the position that these people need to be answerable to crimes they committed in New York State,” explained Diane Peress, an adjunct lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. It all comes down to the way former federal prosecutor Todd Kaminsky, then a Long Island state senator, noticed how Trump was “corruptly using the pardon power” to shield himself by saving his powerful friends.

In 2019, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed that bill into law, closing what the governor called an “egregious loophole.” Local New York prosecutors were now empowered—under certain circumstances—to pursue criminal charges against a U.S. president and his associates who’d received a presidential pardon. Politicians had slipped key exceptions to the double jeopardy rule. For example, Trump couldn’t shield himself with a self-pardon if he were accused of “enterprise corruption,” one of several criminal charges that prosecutors have allegedly been considering over the way he appears to run the Trump Organization like a mob. The new law also ensured that his associates could still be prosecuted if a pardon came too soon, such as in Bannon’s case. Bannon, who has 356 days to prepare for a New York trial, is accused of quietly enriching himself with donor money from a nativist GoFundMe campaign to build Trump’s Mexico border wall. The case is essentially the exact same one as the federal proceedings two years earlier that, before trial, fell apart when Trump swooped in and saved him. But in New York now, it’s only considered double jeopardy when a person has been fully prosecuted twice. That is, when someone was indicted and pleaded guilty—or, at the very least, had a jury sworn in. The federal prosecutors at the Southern District of New York, however, never got Bannon’s case to trial. Trump used his powerful presidential authority to kill the investigation into his former White House chief strategist before federal prosecutors could get to that stage.

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Fighter jets scrambled near D.C. to check off-course private plane that ultimately crashed

Fighter jets were scrambled Sunday afternoon to investigate a private plane that was flying off-course over the Washington, D.C., area until the Cessna crashed in southwest Virginia. The noise the jets created rattled the region on a warm Sunday afternoon. Pilots from the Capital Guardians, a unit of the 113th Wing of the D.C. National Guard, determined that the pilot was incapacitated, a senior government official said. The fighters shadowed the Cessna until it crashed, the official said. The senior government official said the plane may have run out of fuel. No survivors had been found by Sunday evening, and the search was suspended. Officials said four people were on board. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. The North American Aerospace Defense Command, known as NORAD, said F-16 fighter aircraft intercepted the plane and tried to contact the pilot repeatedly using flares until just before the crash, near George Washington National Forest.

"The NORAD aircraft were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds and a sonic boom may have been heard by residents of the region," it said. The sound was reported around 3 p.m. to local law enforcement and on social media throughout the District of Columbia-Northern Virginia-Maryland area, known casually as the DMV. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the Cessna Citation went down in a sparsely populated area of southwest Virginia about 3 p.m. Virginia State Police said in a Sunday night statement that no survivors were found. President Joe Biden was briefed, a White House official said. A source familiar told NBC News that the Secret Service's Airspace Division monitored the aircraft's movements and that there was no impact on Secret Service protectees. Biden was playing golf with his brother Jimmy at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Sunday afternoon before he returned the White House by motorcade. At one point reporters spotted him driving a golf cart. The plane was registered to a corporation based in Melbourne, Florida, owned by John Rumpel, who said by phone Sunday that his daughter and granddaughter, along with their nanny and the plane's pilot, were on board. At the time, he said he was still awaiting news on their status.

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Supreme Court’s conservative majority to decide direction of law on race, elections and religious freedom this month

As the Supreme Court races to issue all outstanding opinions by a self-imposed early July deadline, there is little doubt that the conservative majority is prepared to continue the right-ward trajectory on areas concerning affirmative action, election law and LGBTQ rights. The real question is just how far and how fast the 6-3 majority wants to go. As is the case every term, there have already been some unanimous opinions. And there have been decisions that scrambled usual vote patterns leading to odd bedfellows. But the cases that most capture the public’s attention have yet to be decided and they are likely to lead to fiery opinions and dissents read from the bench. In addition, they will come down as the court finds itself in the center of a spotlight usually reserved for members of the political branches.

“There is little question that this court will ignore its past precedent and undermine protections for the LGBTQ community, racial minorities and voters,” said Jessica Levinson, who teaches at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “The question is whether the court takes a knife or an assault rifle to those protections.” The rulings this spring will continue the ultimate realization of former President Donald Trump’s success in adding three appointees to the bench and cementing a conservative majority that could last decades. But the fact that the votes of Justice Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett have contributed to a hard right turn on the court has led critics to accuse the justices of trading the stability of the law in favor of policy preferences. Last year, after Trump’s new nominees voted with the majority to overturn some 50-year-old abortion precedent, liberal Justice Elena Kagan launched a warning before an audience in Montana. “I think people are rightly suspicious if one justice leaves the court or dies and another justice takes his or her place and all of a sudden the law changes,” Kagan said. “It’s like: what’s going on here? That doesn’t seem like law.”

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Disney welcomes Gay Days in Florida as the feud with DeSantis rages on

Mark Stegall and Robert Motz knew they’d made the right decision to travel to Florida when they spotted a sea of people wearing red T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Say Gay” in front of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. The partners from Galesburg, Ill., have been coming to the annual Gay Days celebration at Disney for years and ultimately decided they weren’t going to let travel advisories, new state laws targeting the LGBTQ community and a bitter public feud between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the entertainment giant keep them away. “We’re here because it’s Gay Days, it’s that simple,” Stegall said Saturday. “Disney welcomes everybody. Maybe the governor of Florida doesn’t, but Disney does.” The massive Pride Month gathering marked a show of defiance this weekend in a state where librarians have been pulling gay-themed books off the shelves, teachers are no longer allowed to discuss gender identity or sexual orientation and many LGBTQ families feel under attack.

Organizers said reservations at the host hotel came in slower than normal. One event — the Taste of Gay Days — was scratched after restaurateurs voiced concerns. But the show did go on. Rainbow-hued merchandise designed by Disney — including a plush Mickey Mouse waving a Pride flag — flew off the shelves almost as quickly as it could be restocked. Drag queen bingo was held. In the end, all 1,001 rooms at the host hotel were booked, though Gay Days chief executive Joseph Clark said travel warnings from civil rights and equality groups advising against travel to Florida had impacted turnout. “For some it’s the safety aspect, for others, they don’t want to spend money in a state that doesn’t support them,” Clark said. “My message has been, ‘We need your help here in Florida.’” Gay Days at Disney began three decades ago to bring together LGBTQ people and families in an environment where they felt included rather than marginalized. While the entertainment giant doesn’t sponsor the event, it has welcomed hundreds of thousands of Gay Days visitors through the years, making it one of the nation’s largest Pride Month events. Travelers dress in red shirts to identify themselves while at the theme parks. There is also an LGBTQ expo, pool parties and a Miss Gay Days pageant contest at other venues nearby.

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GOP candidates criticize Trump for praising Kim Jong Un

Several Republican presidential candidates took aim at former President Donald Trump for praising North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after the hermit kingdom was elected to the executive board of the World Health Organization last week. “Congratulations to Kim Jung [sic] Un!” Trump wrote Friday on his social media platform, Truth Social. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized Trump’s post at GOP Sen. Joni Ernst's “Roast and Ride” event Saturday in Iowa. “Kim Jong Un is a thug and a tyrant, and he has tested ballistic missiles against our allies,” Haley told NBC News. “He’s threatened us. There’s nothing to congratulate him about. I mean, he’s been terrible to his people. He’s been terrible to America, and we need to stop being nice to countries that hate America.”

DeSantis said he was “surprised” Trump praised Kim, whom he called a “murderous dictator.” Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is expected to announce a presidential bid this week, criticized Trump for congratulating Kim. “Whether it's my former running mate or anyone else, nobody should be praising the dictator in North Korea or praising the leader in Russia, who has launched an unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine,” Pence said Saturday in an interview with Fox News. “This is a time when we ought to make it clear to the world that we stand for freedom and we stand with those who stand for freedom.” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson also piled on Trump in a tweet Saturday: “Kim Jong-Un, the tyrant dictator in North Korea should not be praised by Donald Trump for a leadership role in the World Health Organization. We sanction leaders who oppress their people. We do not elevate them on the world stage.” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who has ruled out running for president but recently hosted a private donor retreat to raise money for GOP candidates, joined the fray as well. “Taking our country back from Joe Biden does not start with congratulating North Korea’s murderous dictator,” he tweeted. Kemp drew Trump’s ire after he refused to push baseless claims of election fraud in Georgia.

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Lead Stories

Gov. Greg Abbott says he wants to end property taxes for Texans. Here's what he means by that.

Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick dug in Friday on their dueling plans to cut property taxes, leaving no end in sight to an impasse that has dragged lawmakers into an overtime legislative session and sparked an unusually public clash between Texas’ conservative heavyweights. Abbott, speaking at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, continued to stand behind his preferred approach, which would focus entirely on driving down school tax rates. He’s called it a “roadmap to end property taxes.” “Texans want to own their own property, not rent it from government. We must provide that by eliminating property taxes in Texas,” Abbott said, referring to the main component of school property taxes that pays for maintenance and operations. It seems a particularly tall order in Texas, a state that does not levy an income tax.

Patrick called the idea “a fantasy" in an interview on conservative radio Thursday night. “The problem with that is, the first time the sales tax (revenue) drops in a down economy, then you don’t have the money to maintain it, so your property taxes would skyrocket,” Patrick said. “And secondly, we wouldn’t be able to pay our bills.” Patrick, whose plan involves a mix of driving down property tax rates and raising the state's homestead exemption for school taxes, told Lubbock radio host Chad Hasty on Thursday that he would continue to insist on increasing the amount that homeowners can trim off the taxable value of their principal residence. “I don’t see it happening, Chad,” Patrick said, when asked if the Senate — the chamber Patrick oversees — would accept a tax cut plan that didn’t include an increase in the homestead exemption. The House, led by Speaker Dade Phelan, has adopted Abbott’s approach during the special session, passing a bill earlier this week that drives down school taxes but leaves the homestead exemption unchanged. The House then promptly adjourned for the session, essentially leaving it to the Senate to accept its version or force yet another session in order to deliver on Republicans' promise of billions in tax cuts.

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'The stakes could not have been higher': Biden signs debt ceiling bill

With just two days to spare, President Joe Biden signed legislation on Saturday that lifts the nation’s debt ceiling, averting an unprecedented default on the federal government’s debt. It was a decidedly low-key denouement to a monthslong drama that unnerved financial markets at home and abroad and caused anxious retirees and social service organizations to make contingency plans in case the country was unable to pay all its bills. Instead of holding a public ceremony with lawmakers from both parties — showcasing the bipartisanship that Biden had cited in an Oval Office address on Friday evening — the president signed the legislation in private in a reflection of the tight deadline facing the nation's leaders. The Treasury Department had warned that the country would start running short of cash on Monday, which would have sent shockwaves through the U.S. and global economies.

The White House released a picture of the president signing the legislation at the Resolute Desk. In a brief statement, Biden thanked Democratic and Republican congressional leaders for their partnership, a cordial message that contrasted with the rancor that initially characterized the debt debate. “No matter how tough our politics gets, we need to see each not as adversaries, but as fellow Americans,” Biden said in a video message released after the signing. He said it was important to “stop shouting, lower the temperature, and work together to pursue progress, secure prosperity and keep the promise of America for everybody.” The standoff began when Republicans refused to raise the country’s borrowing limit unless Democrats agreed to cut spending. Eventually, the White House began weeks of intense negotiations with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to reach a deal. The final agreement, passed by the House on Wednesday and the Senate on Thursday, suspends the debt limit until 2025 — after the next presidential election — and restricts government spending. It gives lawmakers budget targets for the next two years in hopes of assuring fiscal stability as the political season heats up. Raising the nation’s debt limit, now at $31.4 trillion, will ensure that the government can borrow to pay debts already incurred. After Congress passed the legislation, Biden used the occasion to deliver his first speech from the Oval Office as president on Friday.

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Paxton’s impeachment is not a referendum on Trump

Shortly before the Texas House convened on Saturday to vote on a list of twenty articles of impeachment for Attorney General Ken Paxton, Donald Trump posted a missive to his followers on Truth Social. “Hopefully Republicans in the Texas House will agree that this is a very unfair process that should not be allowed to happen or proceed—I will fight you if it does,” the former president and current 2024 GOP front-runner warned. Who did Trump blame for Paxton’s woes? “Radical Left Democrats,” “Criminals,” and, critically in the GOP-led House, “RINOS,” or Republicans In Name Only. Trump has an uncanny ability to bend Republicans to his will. The few exceptions are infamous among the GOP for their resistance—among them former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney, the late senator John McCain, and former presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Most in the party contort themselves into alignment with Trump, regardless of their past disagreements. This time, though, Trump’s bullying didn’t work. His threat that he would “fight” Texas House members who voted for impeachment didn’t swing many votes—the chamber favored impeachment 121–23, with 70 percent of the House GOP caucus voting in support.

Since then, national political observers have cast this Trump failure as a harbinger that the former president’s grip on the GOP may be slipping. USA Today wrote that “the decision by many Republicans to wave off Trump’s warnings fueled questions about the former president’s political power in one of the nation’s reddest states,” and noted that Trump-backed candidates who succeeded in GOP primaries last year subsequently fell flat in the November general election. Conservatives who’ve grown disillusioned with Trump noticed, too. Dan McLaughlin, a senior writer for the conservative National Review, noted, mockingly, that Trump “display[ed] his influence by persuading 1/7 of the Texas House to vote against impeaching Paxton.” Bill Mitchell, a longtime Trump booster who switched his allegiance to Florida governor Ron DeSantis earlier this year, declared that “Trump has lost his influence in Texas.” On the other side of the aisle, liberal commentators such as Stephanie Kennedy opined, “May the MAGA influence continue to collapse—and die.” Plenty of Trump opponents have looked for signs that the MAGA era of GOP politics might be ending, but the dynamics of Texas GOP politics don’t necessarily augur national trends. The vote against Paxton was less political than personal. GOP members of the House took umbrage at Paxton arrogantly demanding that they spend taxpayer money on an out-of-court settlement of the lawsuit against him by former senior lawyers on his staff, several of them prominent Republicans in their own right, who had credibly accused him of soliciting bribes and other abuses of his office.

Read this article at Texas Monthly - Subscribers Only

First GOP debate: Who’s in, who’s out, and who’s sweating

Spectators are salivating at the opportunity for former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to savage each other at the Republican National Committee’s first sanctioned 2024 debate in August. Others are hoping former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will make himself into a human grenade on stage as he did with Sen. Marco Rubio in 2016. But what if these high-profile matchups don’t happen? The RNC unveiled its qualifying criteria for the Aug. 23 debate on Friday. While it’s too early to know exactly which candidates may or may not make the stage, the various party-loyalty requirements and polling and fundraising thresholds raise plenty of questions about a number of prominent candidates. The field is already large and poised to grow next week, if, as expected, Christie, Mike Pence and Doug Burgum each jump in. Those potential entries would bring the number of major candidates who have held federal or statewide office to eight.

And with a handful of other Republicans who’ve never been elected spending seven figures on self-funded TV ads, the number of credible candidates is quickly approaching double digits. The bigger the field, the greater the chance the party has a number of candidates too large to fit on one stage together. The RNC said in its announcement that it could add a second debate the night after, if needed, to accommodate more candidates, though it didn’t specify what kinds of numbers would require splitting the field. But the RNC’s requirements are also stricter than they’ve been in the past, making it equally possible just a few candidates make the stage. Candidates who have long, impressive political resumes but are struggling to gain any traction in the polls may be left out in the cold. Perhaps the biggest question is around Trump’s participation. The RNC requires that all participants pledge to support the party’s eventual nominee, something that could cause Trump, who bailed on televised debates in both 2016 and 2020, to sit it out entirely. The debates stand alone when it comes to penetration: 24 million people watched the first debate in 2015, which also aired on Fox News Channel, a staggering number for cable television. A larger field of candidates could benefit the frontrunner, Trump, who commands a loyal following after eight years dominating GOP politics.

Read this article at Politico - Subscribers Only

Lawmakers passed police transparency bill, so why hasn’t it reached the governor?

A bill passed by Texas lawmakers to make police records less secret appears to have gone missing itself. The unusual way it has stalled before being sent to Gov. Greg Abbott for review has many of the main players involved keeping quiet and KXAN digging into a winding legislative timeline that threatens to derail transparency policy years in the making. Nearly a week after a final version of House Bill 30 was approved overwhelmingly in both the House and Senate, listed as enrolled online and signed by Speaker Dade Phelan, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had yet to sign the measure. This step is a legal requirement in the Texas Constitution before going to the governor to sign or veto. As unfinished business from the regular session’s final days spilled into a special session with high-profile divisions among those three Republican leaders on other issues, questions are now swarming about the possible fallout to HB 30.

As one of the only bills directly related to last year’s Uvalde school shooting that lawmakers passed, HB 30 aimed to close what open records advocates have labeled the “dead suspect loophole.” While its author — Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso — made unsuccessful attempts to pass similar measures every session since 2017, the bill saw a surge of bipartisan support following the tragedy that left 19 elementary students and two teachers dead. Because the shooter also died, families, journalists and lawmakers — including Phelan, the bill’s most prominent public supporter — worried the loophole would be used to block the release of records that could shed light on the actions, or inaction, of police. “More than anything, the families of the #Uvalde victims need honest answers and transparency. Period,” Phelan tweeted shortly after the shooting. “It would be absolutely unconscionable to use the ‘dead suspect loophole’ to thwart the release of information that is so badly needed and deserved right now. I think it’s time we pass legislation to end the dead suspect loophole for good in 2023.” For decades, Texas law enforcement has used the loophole in an exemption to the Texas Public Information Act, broadly denying requesters details in custodial death cases. The exemption gives police discretion in closed criminal cases to withhold records when a suspect has not gone through the court process — including when that person dies while in custody. KXAN has investigated its widespread use in such cases for years.

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State Stories

Ted Cruz slams John Cornyn, other GOP senators for supporting 'lousy deal' to raise debt ceiling

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz tore into other Senate Republicans, including fellow Texan U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, for supporting a "lousy deal" to push off the debt limit and avoid a federal default that was expected early next week. Cruz complained on an episode of his podcast recorded just after the Senate voted late Thursday night to send the debt deal to the White House that Republicans could have stopped it if Cornyn and 16 other GOP senators not "joined with Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden in adding $4 trillion more in debt in exchange for what were ultimately very small spending cuts." "Republicans had it entirely within our power to kill this," Cruz said, reading off a list of each GOP senator who voted in favor of the deal.

The deal, which pushes off the debt limit for two years in exchange for essentially freezing federal spending, narrowly passed the Senate on a 63-36 vote. Most bills have to get at least 60 votes to pass the chamber, and with five Democrats opposing the deal, only a handful more Republican no votes would have sunk it. Cornyn said in a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote that "it was clear a compromise bill would be the only way to avoid a full blown economic crisis, which is what would happen if we were not to raise the debt ceiling." "With a Democrat-led Senate and Republican-led House and a Democrat in the White House, bipartisanship was — and is — a necessity," Cornyn said. “This bill will reduce federal spending by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, which is a strong start in the fight to right America's financial ship.” The debt agreement, which passed the House earlier this week on a 314-117 vote, drew pushback from both the right and left, with Texans in the House taking on key roles in opposition from both sides of the aisle. Conservatives who opposed it said it did too little to rein in government spending. Progressives, meanwhile, panned provisions including new work requirements for some federal programs. Fourteen Texas Republicans and four Texas Democrats opposed the bill in the House.

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Colin Allred blasts Ted Cruz for opposing debt deal that averts US default

The debt ceiling deal that averted a federal default has quickly become fodder for the 2024 Senate contest, with Rep. Colin Allred accusing Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday of voting to “send our economy into recession.” Cruz called the deal a “disaster” that won’t do nearly enough to curb spending, and like other conservatives, he wanted to use the looming debt crisis as leverage. “Every time there’s a fight over the debt ceiling” or federal spending, “Senate Republican leadership does what the Democrats want 100 out of 100 times,” Cruz tweeted Friday morning. Texans in Congress were almost evenly split on the deal struck last weekend by Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden, to boost the government’s debt limit by another $4 trillion. Opposition came from both sides.

Sen. John Cornyn, a top lieutenant to the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, voted for the deal Thursday night after voicing qualms about defense spending being shortchanged. In the House, the vote among Texans was 20 to 18. Fourteen of 25 Republicans opposed it, as did four of 13 Democrats. “Retirement accounts, thousands of jobs and the global economy were all at stake,” Allred, a three-term Dallas Democrat hoping to unseat Cruz next year, said Friday morning. “Ted Cruz again chose divisiveness and his extreme ideology instead of putting Texans first and getting things done.” Allred’s campaign statement added that “though this bill is not perfect, it is a bipartisan compromise that moves our country forward, delivers for our veterans and their families, and protects our economy. We don’t have to be embarrassed by our senator who never stands up for us. We can get a new one.” But Allred glossed over the fact that four of his fellow Texas Democrats voted as Cruz did, including a fellow Dallas lawmaker, freshman Rep. Jasmine Crockett. The others were Reps. Sylvia Garcia of Houston, Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, and Greg Casar of Austin.

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From Paschal High to Texas interim attorney general: John Scott learned to ‘stick with it’

Just a few days into his freshman year at R. L. Paschal High School in the 1970s, 14-year-old John Scott came home and told his father that he “might want to quit football.” “He said, ‘You’re not doing anything 1 million other boys hadn’t done. You should stick with it,’” Scott, the newly appointed Texas interim attorney general, recalled recently. Scott followed his father’s advice and remained on the team to play all four years on the Paschal Panthers, finishing his last season in 1979 as a 200-pound defensive tackle before graduating in 1980. His senior yearbook photo shows a smiling 17-year-old blond wearing a spiffy tuxedo jacket and bow-tie. In a series of text exchanges with Fort Worth Report that constituted the equivalent of a long-distance interview, Scott, who turns 61 on Sunday, looked back across his life in Fort Worth as a loyal Paschal alum, a successful attorney and a proud father and grandfather who has been married to his wife, Tally, for 35 years.

“Born and raised in Fort Worth,” he said. “God willing, I’ll die here.” The “stick-with-it” advice from his father, he says, became a lasting mantra that helped propel the Panthers’ former No. 76 into a highly public life centered in Austin and the one for which he is far better known outside of Fort Worth. In the past week, Scott accepted a major role in the historic impeachment drama playing out in the Texas State Capitol. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed him to serve as interim replacement for suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton. Abbott announced that he was temporarily naming Scott to become the state’s highest law enforcement officer as Paxton faces an impeachment trial in the Senate this summer on 20 articles of alleged wrongdoing and public misconduct. In his text responses, Scott kept the focus on his personal life and declined to comment on the impeachment. But asked whether he would be an activist or a placeholder in serving as interim attorney general, Scott described his role “purely as a caretaker,” adding: “My plans are to get back to private practice as quickly as I can.”

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‘I was surprised it took so long’: Louie Gohmert weighs in on Ken Paxton impeachment

On Saturday, May 27, the state house voted to move forward with an impeachment trial for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Louie Gohmert spent 18 consecutive years serving U.S. Congressman for District 1. In 2022, he decided to step away from his seat in Washington D.C. to challenge Paxton for Texas Attorney General ultimately losing that race. “He comes across as so persuasive, so innocent, so ‘woe is me,'” said Gohmert. Gohmert said with Paxton already serving his third term the timing of the impeachment process is surprising. “Number one, I was surprised it happened so quickly and number two, I was surprised it took so long to happen quickly,” said Gohmert. He said since 2020, talk of Paxton’s misconduct allegations has been circulating in the state capitol.

“There’s been two years, anyone who wasn’t deaf and blind in Austin knows that he had eight quality people, including a really valiant Texas Ranger saying ‘this guy is corrupt,'” Gohmert said. Gohmert challenged Paxton in the race and said he was confident he was going to win the runoff. “I was gaining ground but then he hit me with false advertising, but it was enough to suppress me,” said Gohmert. East Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison believes Paxton wasn’t given due process. Gohmert said sometimes House members believe they deserve more reasoning than given, but the true trial and legal process will unfold in the State Senate. “On the issue of ‘is he getting due process?’ Well, we may not like it, but in a grand jury type equivalent, what the House of Representatives is, there was nothing illegal or immoral or unethical,” said Gohmert. When the trial begins in the senate Gohmert believes two people should not be able to vote. “Angela Paxton should be recused, she should not have a vote because she clearly has a conflict of interest,” said Gohmert.

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Spill that dumped 400,000 gallons of oil near Midland blamed on a Dallas company's operator error

Operator errors led to 402,486 gallons of crude oil gushing out of an EnLink Midstream pipeline south of Midland in late March, the company told federal regulators. It was the largest spill in the Permian Basin since 2010 and the fourth-largest spill on land in Texas in that period. According to an incident report EnLink submitted to regulators, operators overpressurized the pipeline, causing it to rupture. They did not shut down the flow for nearly three hours after the pipeline’s leak detection alarm went off. The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said last week its investigation into the spill was ongoing and EnLink could face civil penalties or other enforcement actions if violations of pipeline safety regulations are identified.

EnLink Midstream, headquartered in Dallas, operates midstream assets in the Permian Basin, Oklahoma, North Texas and the Gulf Coast and has more than 12,000 miles of pipelines nationwide. The company announced expansion of its Greater Chickadee crude oil pipeline network in Upton and Midland Counties in 2018. The pipelines transport crude oil from Permian Basin drilling sites. The pipeline that ruptured was manufactured in 2021 and installed in 2022. Pipeline regulation in Texas is divided between the Railroad Commission and the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Large pipeline spills must be reported to federal agency. EnLink completed its incident report to the agency April 17. It says that at 8:36 p.m. on March 29, a pipeline controller switched the flow of crude oil “on the fly” from the delivery point to the El Dorado Crude Station, 11 miles south of Midland, without lowering the pressure or flow rate. The report states “this method is not in alignment with control room procedure and training.” The high pressure caused the pipeline to fail, “allowing crude oil to flow freely onto the ground.” When the controller resumed flow at 8:52 p.m., the leak detection system identified a potential leak. However, the operator did not investigate the alarm, as company procedure requires. Crude oil continued to flow through the ruptured pipeline until the station was shut down at 11:26 p.m.

Read this article at Inside Climate News - Subscribers Only

Spurs tweet in support of Pride Month, gun reform

Spurs Sports & Entertainment took to social media last week to show its support for LGBTQ+ rights and gun violence prevention. The franchise kicked off its celebration of Pride Month with a tweet to its 3.5 million Twitter followers Thursday that included the rainbow flag and the phrases "Love is love" an "Unity & Inclusion." Members of San Antonio's LGBTQ+ community praised the Spurs for their stance, which came as many conservatives say they are boycotting businesses for being "woke" in their support of Pride Month and LGBTQ+ people.

"It's a beautiful statement to have the San Antonio Spurs tweet 'Love is love,' " said John Barrera, a 59-year-old real estate agent with Portfolio Alamo Heights Keller Williams who competes in the Gay Lesbian Tennis Alliance, an LGBTQ+ organization that sanctions more than 70 events worldwide. The Spurs support of Pride month comes as Republican-dominated statehouses have either passed or sought a wave of new laws restricting LGBTQ+ rights this year. The Texas Legislature recently banned puberty blockers and hormone therapy for trans kids, restricted the college sports teams trans athletes can join and expanded the definition of sexual conduct to include some drag shows. Texas has become "one of the most dangerous and hostile places for transgender youth and transgender people and their families in America,” Andrea Segovia, senior field and policy adviser of the Transgender Education Network of Texas, told reporters in February, according to the Texas Tribune.

Read this article at San Antonio Express-News - Subscribers Only

Cindy Siegel: If Harris County could run good elections, the state wouldn't have to step in

(Cindy Siegel is chair of the Harris County Republican Party.) In 2020, I was elected to serve as the Harris County Republican Party chairman. Part of my responsibility is overseeing the Republican primary elections and recruiting Republican election workers for general elections. Additionally, I serve as the only Republican on the Harris County Elections Commission. Over the last two decades, I’ve been a voter, poll worker, election judge and candidate on the ballot, so I believed that I’d seen it all. Since becoming chairman, I quickly learned I hadn’t even come close. The Democrat-controlled Harris County Commissioners Court created the elections administrator’s office with a party-line vote in 2020. The creation of this office took the responsibility of running our elections away from two duly elected Democrats, the Harris County tax assessor-collector and the county clerk, giving it to the elections administrator, an appointed official with no accountability to the voters.

Proponents of the office’s creation will argue that it was formed to take politics out of running our elections and professionalize the system as a whole. But unfortunately, after multiple election blunders, what has occurred is the exact opposite. The first Harris County elections administrator was Isabel Longoria. Before taking on the job as the EA, she had a long history of working for Democratic organizations. She had never run an election — or even a polling location — before assuming this monumental role. So not only was she the exact opposite of nonpartisan, she did not have the professional experience needed to run elections in the third largest county in the nation. Longoria’s lack of experience became quickly apparent. The 2022 primary election she ran was riddled with issues, the most egregious being that 10,000 mail-in ballots were not counted on election night. They were discovered four days after the election. In the face of scrutiny from people from both parties, Longoria resigned.

Read this article at Houston Chronicle - Subscribers Only

Comfort House, the hospice facility in McAllen, faces harassment over drag show fundraiser

The first nine hours of Maria Laura Salgado’s 12-hour shift were uneventful for the most part. In her 11 years working as a caregiver at Comfort House, she’d fallen into the routine that the workers at the facility all share — providing a loving, comforting environment for individuals in the last moments of their lives. Those working the late shift, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., spend their time making rounds, or “rondas,” with each patient, checking their charts and administering medication, cleaning their areas, and repositioning them every two hours to prevent bedsores. Just after 3 a.m. on Feb. 7, Salgado sat at the central nurse’s station with another caregiver named Sandra Linares, looking over the charts as patients slept in the surrounding rooms before the next ronda at 4 a.m.

While Comfort House works to recover from the fire, they are also feeling heat from some members of the community who have taken offense to a drag show intended to raise funds for the 501(c)3 nonprofit. “One thing I do want to make clear is that we love everybody,” Perez said. “We don’t repay hate with hate, you know. We do our best to continue with the mission of Comfort House at all times, which is to provide a home-like environment so that individuals can die with peace and dignity while surrounded by their loved ones.” He said that since the announcement of the show, Comfort House employees have become the target for harassment and threatening phone calls despite the fact that the fundraiser, titled “Drag Me To Brunch,” is being organized and sponsored by entities not affiliated with Comfort House. The individuals who are hosting the fundraiser, which is slated for 11 a.m. Sunday at the Radisson Hotel in McAllen, are no strangers to offering help to Comfort House in their time of need. Prior to COVID-19, they’d hosted a Bingo event and raised over $10,000 for the sanctuary of the terminally ill. “Some of them approached me after the fire, and they’re like, ‘Let us help you out again.’ So that’s how this started,” Perez explained. “That’s when some of the backlash started coming.” Perez tried explaining their dire need for funding and supplies in order to keep afloat.

Read this article at McAllen Monitor - Subscribers Only

The legislature ignores suffering pregnant Texans

Jessica Bernardo and her husband began planning for the birth of their first child last August, as soon as she found out she was pregnant. They’d been trying to start a family for years and were overjoyed at the news that she was expecting. Her husband installed a baby gate at top of their stairs in the early weeks of her first trimester. At night, they lay in bed listening to audiobooks about the stages of pregnancy. When at 14 weeks they learned their child would most likely have Down syndrome, they decided to name her Emma, which means whole. “We began researching how to best support a baby, our baby, with a difference,” Bernardo said. But just one week later, they received devastating news: Emma had a fatal fetal condition known as anasarca and would not survive. Bernardo also learned that because of her pregnancy, she was at high risk of developing mirror syndrome, a rare condition that could lead to a buildup of liquid in her heart and chest, respiratory distress, and renal failure.

“Everything we celebrated, hoped for, and dreamed of came crashing down that day,” Bernardo said. To preserve her own health, Bernardo needed an abortion, but in Texas, her doctor couldn’t give her one. “Because Emma’s heart was still beating, our only choice was to leave the state,” Bernardo recalled at a press conference last week. Bernardo is one of countless Texans who, when faced with the loss of a pregnancy, was denied standard-of-care medical treatment due to the state’s anti-abortion laws. Last week, she along with seven others, joined a lawsuit seeking to change that situation. The lawsuit, Zurawski v. State of Texas, filed in March, asks the state to further clarify under what conditions a doctor can provide an abortion during a medical emergency. Ultimately Bernardo and her husband were able to get her an abortion out of state at a clinic in Seattle, but Bernardo said the experience left her heartbroken and enraged. “I never want another human being to go through what I went through,” she said. “It was worse than cruel.”

Read this article at Texas Observer - Subscribers Only

Should Elon Musk’s construction projects rise above minimum local regs? Texas neighbors say “yes!”

Elon Musk’s construction projects across Texas have resulted in billions of dollars in investment. SpaceX has a rocket launchpad on the Gulf of Mexico (which was, sadly, the site in April of a human-less Starship explosion just after liftoff). Tesla recently broke ground on its in-house lithium refinery, located in the greater Corpus Christi area. Giga Austin — promised to be an “ecological paradise” — is producing 5,000 Model Ys a week. Some of Musk’s construction projects, however, aren’t as well-received by local Texans. Citizens in Bastrop, a largely rural county 30 minutes east of Austin, are fighting back against Musk’s construction procedures due to what they say is environmental harm to the once rolling farmlands. Elon Musk moved his startup, The Boring Company, to a 70-acre pasture in Bastrop, Texas, in May 2021.

Musk’s construction sites and enormous white warehouses now rise from landscape where cattle grazed on verdant pastures; these buildings are designed to manufacture and test tunnel-boring equipment. Not long after, SpaceX began constructing a massive building across the road. Semis barrel up and down the narrow country roads. Chap and Maura Ambrose and their children live on a nearby 10-acre property. The work was “24/7 … spotlights all night,” Maura notes. Neighborhood concerns erupted when The Boring Company discharged 143,000 gallons of treated wastewater daily into the Colorado River. Alarmed by the speed and scale of the building, Chap began flying his drone over the construction sites to capture images. He posted updates to social media and a website he started, Keep Bastrop Boring, which he advertised on a local billboard. He posted videos of construction activities in which tunnels were excavated under the road to connect the Boring and SpaceX sites. Chap submitted a complaint to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) over that dirt, which he worried could be contaminated with chemicals. He posted footage of a work crew bulldozing trees. He submitted a complaint about SpaceX to the TCEQ after seeing a hose pumping water from the construction site into a roadside ditch. The TCEQ responded by sending out a violation over the discharge of the “sediment-laden water.”

Read this article at Clean Technica - Subscribers Only

SNAP applications processing faster, backlog and concerns over benefit cuts continues

Tiesa Hollaway surveys the shelves. The food pantry at Hill Country Community Ministries has fresh fruits and vegetables, a variety of breads, milk and canned goods. Hollaway quickly walks through the small space — 900 square feet — smiling at a handful of volunteers who are preparing for a busy day. “We are so grateful,” Hollaway said. “Our shelves are full. I know that there are a lot of food pantries, whether it’s ours or anyone all over Central Texas, that are struggling, a lot of the food pantries are struggling.” Hollaway is familiar with that struggle. Just last month she said she had to write a check for $10,000 to buy food just to keep up with the growing need. “We served over 91,000 people last year,” she explained. “We’re seeing a 49% increase in new families in May — just this month, we’re not even done with May yet — and we’ve already seen 74 brand new families.”

Hollaway explained the need is growing because families are continuing to deal with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP application delays and recent pandemic benefits ended. In March, the federal government cut the amount families received which has meant a reduction of at least $95 a month. “We’re having to figure out where are we going to get food. We’re having to figure out, are we going to have to reduce the amount of food because we don’t have enough food for everybody that’s coming in as well? How do we get that food? Hollaway said. “The last few months we’ve ran out of you know, we ran out of spaghetti sauce, we ran out of mac and cheese, we’ve ran out of dry foods.” A spokesperson with Texas Health and Human Services Commission which oversees SNAP, said as of late May more than 79,356 applications are waiting to be processed. Last year around the same time frame, HHSC told KXAN investigators 258,000 applications were pending processing. The spokesperson added that over the last year, 65% of applications were processed within 30 days which is within the federal time standard. The state said on average SNAP applications exceed the 30-day standard by 17 days.

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D. Dowd Muska: It's wrong to force Texans to pay for local-government lobbying

(D. Dowd Muska is vice president of research at the Southwest Public Policy Institute.) In 2023, school choice went mainstream. So far, Iowa, South Carolina, Utah, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Oklahoma and Nebraska have enacted substantial measures to empower parents and students through educational freedom. Texas ended this year's regular legislative session without embracing school choice. And don't expect much change, no matter how many special sessions the governor calls. Reasonable people can disagree on how best to reform education. But school-choice proponents face an obstacle many activists don't: taxpayer-funded lobbying. The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) is one of many nonprofit organizations that tap public coffers to sway lawmakers. And the group isn't subtle when it comes to school choice. TASB thundered that the regular session's SB 8, which would have created education savings accounts, shifted "public money into a new, costly entitlement program that would mostly benefit wealthy families in urban areas to the detriment of our public schools."

Unfortunately, in Texas, local governments devote considerable expenditures to the persuasion game. They employ three tools to affect the policymaking process. First, in-house personnel and resources – e.g., officials testify during hearings, conduct press conferences, write op-eds, and post on Facebook and Twitter. Second, even the smallest of government entities often find that hiring a professional influencer, or an entire lobbying firm, can yield major legislative "wins." (Securing special appropriations is a particular skill.) Finally, "membership" organizations claim to "speak" for villages, towns, cities, counties, special districts, government educators and administrators, police officers, etc. Whatever form it takes, taxpayer-funded lobbying is wrong, because it makes citizens subsidize "messaging" they may oppose. As the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 2018 decision, when government compels speech, "individuals are coerced into betraying their convictions," and forcing "free and independent individuals to endorse ideas they find objectionable is always demeaning." The Southwest Public Policy Institute recently published a paper on intragovernmental advocacy in the eight states of the American Southwest. We found that from Austin to Santa Fe to Carson City, taxpayer-funded lobbying is commonplace. Battles over school choice, corporate welfare, criminal justice, energy regulations and many other important matters are heavily impacted by public-sector entities.

Read this article at Austin American-Statesman - Subscribers Only

Gov. Abbott signs bill banning transgender health care for minors into law

Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Friday the controversial Senate Bill 14 that bans gender transition care for Texas minors. The law will go into effect Sept. 1. The law will prohibit minors from receiving puberty blockers and hormone therapy to transition to the gender with which they identify. Texas kids already accessing these types of treatments will have to “wean” off of the medication over a period of time that minimizes risk and in a manner that is “medically appropriate,” per the bill text. Texas now joins 18 other U.S. states that have also banned medication and surgical care for transgender youth. Ten U.S. states have “shield” laws protecting access to transgender health care.

It’s important to note that examples of children under the age of 18 having transition-related surgeries are exceedingly rare across the country, per Politifact. Politifact was not able to find any examples of “young children” having these surgeries. Opponents of SB14 have ardently protested against the bill throughout the 89th legislative session. “A decade of research shows [gender-affirming care] reduces depression, suicidality and other devastating consequences of trans preteens and teens being forced to undergo puberty in the sex they were assigned at birth,” wrote the Texas Democrats in a May press release. “It’s a tragedy that the lives of marginalized Texas children are being sacrificed to the will of fringe, far-right extremists. Texas is better than this,” it continued. Supporters of the bill law said they are concerned with parents allowing children to make life-changing decisions while they are young.

Read this article at KXAN - Subscribers Only

Texas might use eminent domain to prevent developer taking over state park

The state of Texas may try to use eminent domain to prevent a developer from turning a state park into a private community. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission will hold a special meeting June 10 to consider acquiring the land through condemnation, the process by which governments can use eminent domain. The developer, Dallas-based Todd Interests, plans to turn the property into a gated community with multi-million dollar homes and a golf course. The company will officially take over the land, which includes Fairfield Lake State Park, from the current owner on June 13. Lawmakers previously considered allowing the state to use eminent domain to acquire the property.

A bill filed in the legislature was significantly altered to focus on water rights in the lake rather than using eminent domain. House Bill 4757 was passed by the House, but left pending in a Senate committee after some senators warned it could open the state up to possible litigation. The meeting announcement comes about a week after the Parks and Wildlife Commission voted to authorize the executive director of the Parks and Wildlife Department to “take all necessary steps to purchase approximately 5,000 acres in Freestone County including Fairfield Lake State Park.” The park, about 70 miles east of Waco, has been leased to the state for decades by Vistra Energy, which formerly operated a power plant on Fairfield Lake. After the plant closed in 2018, the company gave TPWD notice that it would terminate its lease. “Vistra encouraged the TPWD to submit a bid on the property, but they did not,” Meranda Cohn, a spokesperson for Vistra, previously told KXAN in a statement. In committee hearings this legislative session, TPWD Chairman Arch “Beaver” Aplin told lawmakers his department only wanted to purchase the state park itself, not the full 5,000-acre property that Vistra wanted to sell as a whole. Vistra then entered into a contract with Todd Interests in April 2022. Shawn Todd, CEO of Todd Interests, said the state had “multiple opportunities” to purchase the land.

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City Stories

Austin City Council gives initial nod to controversial mixed-use development

Pump the brakes. That's what opponents of a large mixed-use development proposed on the site of the Borden Dairy plant, next to the Colorado River and a wildlife preserve, urged the Austin City Council to do last week — to no avail. Voting on the first of what ultimately will be three readings, the council gave initial approval Thursday to the developer's request to rezone the property to allow the planned project to proceed. Seven council members voted yes; two others were not present, nor was Mayor Kirk Watson; and Council Member Jose Velásquez, whose district includes the proposed project, recused himself.

Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group plans to redevelop the 21-acre Borden Dairy tract at the busy intersection of East Cesar Chavez Street and U.S. 183 with 1,400 condominium and apartment units; 411,500 square feet of office space; 106,000 square feet of retail space; and a 220-room hotel. Opponents urged the council to delay the rezoning vote until thorough studies have been done to assess the potential environmental, water quality, traffic, neighborhood impact and other effects. They say the project could set a precedent for other towers along the Colorado River, below Longhorn Dam, in an area that borders the river and a 43-acre wildlife preserve — without any reviews of its potential effects. Endeavor is seeking to construct buildings up to 120 feet tall in an area where existing height currently is capped at 60 feet. Opponents say several other projects have been developed in the area within the 60-foot height limit. Among their concerns, detractors say the project could increase traffic in an already congested area from 500 vehicle trips a day to more than 21,000 a day. They also contend the project is out of scale, scope and character for an area with residential neighborhoods nearby.

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Keller school district superintendent to retire this year

Keller ISD Superintendent Rick Westfall plans to retire at the end of this year, pending approval by the school board, he said in an email to parents Friday. Westfall wrote that he intends to continue to serve as the district’s superintendent through the end of the fiscal year and remain an employee through December to assist with the leadership transition. The announcement will be on the agenda for Monday’s previously scheduled board meeting so that the board can begin the process of searching for a new superintendent, he said.

“It has been an honor to serve with so many dedicated colleagues and friends over the past six years in Keller ISD — collectively nine years, taking my time at Keller High School into consideration — and throughout my 31 years in public education,” Westfall wrote. “Deciding to retire at this time was definitely a difficult decision, but one that I ultimately felt was best after much prayer and consultation with my family. “Keller ISD is a truly exceptional school district, and the credit for its outstanding reputation lies not only with our fantastic students and supportive families, but with our dedicated and caring teachers and staff,” he wrote. According to the board meeting agenda, Westfall’s retirement agreement is being negotiated and will be presented for consideration. The board will meet at 5 p.m. Monday. Westfall’s most recent contract, with a salary of $285,340.10, began on Feb. 28, 2022, and was scheduled to last through Jan. 31, 2027.

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

Dallas clears homeless camp amid I-45 work, prompting backlash

Up until Thursday, Alfonso Jackson lived in a tent near Interstate 45 in South Dallas. It was part of a site known as the Coombs camp that's existed for years. But on Thursday morning, city workers and law enforcement began removing residents and their belongings amid construction on I-45. Jackson said he was notified just last week to vacate the camp — and he was not aware of a plan for residents to find housing. “There’s a lot of people here, so if they pull us out of here, where else are we going to go?" Jackson said. "They should probably help us out or place us somewhere, rather than have to go scattered all over the city.” In an email, city spokesperson Jennifer Brown said the city had been working with the Office of Code Compliance to provide cleaning supplies such as trash bins, bags and brooms as far back as last summer.

While that was a short-term solution, the city anticipated closing the camp to provide housing to residents as part of its rapid rehousing initiative. The Coombs camp was known as one of the city’s oldest encampments. Its residents were mostly elderly and disabled, said Jonathan Guadian, who volunteers for Say It With Your Chest, an organization run by Dallas residents that advocates for the unhoused population and provides food and other necessities. "Many of the times these folks are hanging on by a thread," Guadian said. Brown, the Dallas spokesperson, also said the city received notice from the Texas Department of Transportation that construction on I-45 would begin June 3. TXDoT confirmed there will be construction on three lanes southbound from Friday evening to 5 a.m. Monday morning. The city said it had to change its strategy after asking TXDoT for as much time as possible to sweep the camp. Brown also said city partners including Housing Forward, The Bridge, Our Calling and others are available to assist in providing resources to residents.

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Dallas ransomware recovery ‘more than 90% complete,’ city says

Dallas’ head of information technology says the city has almost fully restored its system after a ransomware attack four weeks ago. Chief Information Officer Bill Zielinski told The Dallas Morning News that the city estimates being “more than 90% complete” in restoring IT systems and services since the cyberattack. “Following the initial attack on May 3, the city has worked with its cyber response vendors and IT service providers to review, clean, rebuild and restore city computers and servers to normal operations,” he said. Zielinski didn’t give a timeline on when the system would be fully restored. The city in mid-May said the recovery process could take several more weeks or months to complete.

The scope of the attack, the amount of work the city has done, and what’s left is still unclear as of Friday. City officials have cited the criminal investigation as the main reason to not fully explain the incident, and Dallas’ communications director emailed the mayor and City Council members Wednesday urging them to stick to telling inquiring residents and media that an investigation is ongoing and that updates will be shared “as appropriate.” City Manager T.C. Broadnax said Friday that most public-facing city services have been restored as of Friday, such as municipal court. Services still impacted include the city’s public libraries, which reported still having its online catalog and most public computers unavailable for patrons. Broadnax said that as work is being done to get the libraries fully restored, the city plans to upgrade software at the libraries and other improvements. “We greatly appreciate the public’s support and patience as we have continued to investigate and address the cybersecurity incident that occurred on May 3,” Broadnax said. “Our staff has worked tirelessly to restore and rebuild systems and return all systems to full functionality as quickly and securely as possible.”

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National Stories

Trump-appointed judge rejects Tennessee's anti-drag law as too broad, too vague

Tennessee’s first-in-the-nation law designed to place strict limits on drag shows is unconstitutional, a federal judge says. The law is both “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad” and encouraged “discriminatory enforcement,” according to the ruling late Friday by U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. “There is no question that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. But there is a difference between material that is ‘obscene’ in the vernacular, and material that is ‘obscene’ under the law,” Parker said. “Simply put, no majority of the Supreme Court has held that sexually explicit — but not obscene — speech receives less protection than political, artistic, or scientific speech,” he said.

The law would have banned adult cabaret performances from public property or anywhere minors might be present. Performers who broke the law risked being charged with a misdemeanor or a felony for a repeat offense. Parker used the example of a female performer wearing an Elvis Presley costume and mimicking the iconic musician who could be at risk of punishment under the drag law because they would be considered a “male impersonator.” Friends of George’s, a Memphis-based LGBTQ+ theater company, filed a complaint in March, saying the law would negatively impact them because they produce “drag-centric performances, comedy sketches, and plays” with no age restrictions. “This win represents a triumph over hate,” the theater company said in a statement Saturday, adding that the ruling affirmed their First Amendment rights as artists. “Similar to the countless battles the LGBTQ+ community has faced over the last several decades, our collective success relies upon everyone speaking out and taking a stand against bigotry,” the group said. Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, a Republican who was one of the law’s main sponsors, said he was disappointed with the ruling.

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James Hansen warns of a short-term climate shock bringing 2 degrees of warming by 2050

A team of scientists led by former NASA climate researcher James Hansen, who formally raised the alarm about climate change to U.S. government leaders in his 1988 testimony to Congress, is working on a new study that warns of a possible short-term spike of planetary heating 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2050. In an irony of climate change, the scientists said the sudden surge of warming—especially since 2010—is driven mainly by steep reduction of climate-cooling sulfate aerosol particles in the past 10 to 20 years, as new regulations limited emissions from the biggest sources, including the burning of coal and heavy ship fuels. The draft paper has not been peer-reviewed, but Hansen, director of the Climate Science Awareness And Solutions center at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, posted it publicly on May 19 on a scientific discussion website, again drawing public attention to the potential for a shock of short-term warming that could devastate global food production and ecosystems.

Hansen’s previous warning about the potential for short-term heating due to emissions reductions was in 2021, when he said the drop in sulfate aerosol pollution could double the rate of global warming during the next 25 years. In his monthly climate bulletin he explained that sulfate aerosols, cause microscopic water droplets in the atmosphere to multiply, which brightens clouds to reflect heat away from the Earth. The reduced amount of sulfates in the atmosphere allows more heat from the sun to warm ocean and land surfaces. In the discussion draft of the new paper, the authors predict the rate of warming will double from the observed 0.18 degrees Celsius per decade from 1970 to 2010, to at least 0.27 degrees Celsius per decade since 2010. “Under the current geopolitical approach to GHG emissions, global warming will likely pierce the 1.5°C ceiling in the 2020s and 2°C before 2050,” the authors wrote. “Impacts on people and nature will accelerate as global warming pumps up hydrologic extremes.” The “enormity of the consequences,” they added, requires trying to reverse global warming and cool the Earth down to the relatively stable range of the past 12,000 years, before carbon dioxide pollution disrupted the climate.

Read this article at Inside Climate News - Subscribers Only

Chuck Todd to leave NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’; Welker will become host

Chuck Todd, who has served as moderator of NBC’s Sunday-morning talk show “Meet the Press” since 2014, will pass the baton to colleague Kristen Welker, starting in September. Todd, who will transition to a role as NBC’s chief political analyst, made the announcement on Sunday morning’s edition of the show. “When I took over Meet the Press, it was a Sunday show that had a lot of people questioning whether it still could have a place in the modern media space,” he said. “Well, I think we’ve answered that question and then some.” Todd, 51, said he was motivated by a desire to spend more time with his family and focus on long-form projects like documentary series and documentary dramas. “I’ve let work consume me for nearly 30 years,” he said. “I can’t remember the last time I didn’t wake up before 5 or 6 a.m., and as I’ve watched too many friends and family let work consume them before it was too late, I promised my family I wouldn’t do that.”

He also praised Welker, as the right person to succeed him in the job. “I’ve had the privilege of working with her from essentially her first day and let me just say she’s the right person in the right moment,” he told viewers. Welker, 46, who joined NBC News in 2010, has long been trumpeted as a rising star at the network — and across the industry. In her role as NBC’s chief White House correspondent, Welker has regularly guest-hosted “Meet the Press” and also co-hosts the streaming show “Meet the Press NOW,” which airs at 4 p.m. on weekdays. “She is the ideal journalist to build on the Meet the Press legacy,” said NBC News president of editorial Rebecca Blumenstein and NBC News senior vice president of politics Carrie Budoff Brown, in a memo sent to staffers on Sunday morning. Welker served as the moderator of the final 2020 presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, earning praise for her performance. In addition to being the youngest moderator of the presidential election cycle, she was also the only moderator of color.

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Trapped at work: Immigrant health care workers can face harsh working conditions and $100,000 lawsuits for quitting

Nurses and other health care workers who have been brought to the U.S. from overseas to fill thousands of vacant jobs say in some instances they’ve been subjected to unsafe working conditions, wage theft and threats of tens of thousands of dollars in debt if they quit or are fired. In interviews, more than a dozen immigrant health care workers from across the country described being placed in jobs where there was so little staff that they weren’t able to meet patients’ basic needs and feared for their physical safety. They also described being paid less than their American counterparts despite immigration laws that require they be paid the local prevailing wage, working unpaid overtime and having been misled about benefits, such as free housing, which in one case amounted to a vacant room in the nursing home where the nurse worked.

But when the workers tried to leave their jobs before the expiration of multi-year contracts, they were faced with paying tens of thousands of dollars in penalties from their employers, forced into arbitration or sued, in some cases for more than $100,000, according to a review of employment contracts, lawsuits and other documentation obtained by NBC News. As a result, the workers said they felt trapped between continuing in untenable jobs or risking financial ruin. “These unconscionable contracts effectively trap these workers in debt bondage, making it impossible for them to leave their jobs,” said Martina Vandenberg, president of the Human Trafficking Legal Center, in congressional testimony last month about what she sees as a wider problem. “The workers are handcuffed by debt, unable to flee.” Some of the tactics used to keep nurses in their jobs have been alleged to be illegal by the Labor Department, which in March sued one nurse staffing agency, saying its penalties imposed on workers for leaving their jobs early amounted to kickbacks that violated fair wage laws.

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Inside the complicated reality of being America’s oldest president

There was the time last winter when President Biden was awakened at 3 a.m. while on a trip to Asia and told that a missile had struck Poland, touching off a panic that Russia might have expanded the war in Ukraine to a NATO ally. Within hours in the middle of the night, Mr. Biden consulted his top advisers, called the president of Poland and the NATO secretary general, and gathered fellow world leaders to deal with the crisis. And then there was the time a few weeks ago when the president was hosting children for Take Your Child to Work Day and became mixed up as he tried to list his grandchildren. “So, let me see. I got one in New York, two in Philadelphia — or is it three? No, three, because I got one granddaughter who is — I don’t know. You’re confusing me.” He also drew a blank when asked the last country he had visited and the name of a favorite movie. The two Joe Bidens coexist in the same octogenarian president: Sharp and wise at critical moments, the product of decades of seasoning, able to rise to the occasion even in the dead of night to confront a dangerous world.

Yet a little slower, a little softer, a little harder of hearing, a little more tentative in his walk, a little more prone to occasional lapses of memory in ways that feel familiar to anyone who has reached their ninth decade or has a parent who has. The complicated reality of America’s oldest president was encapsulated on Thursday as Congress approved a bipartisan deal he brokered to avoid a national default. Even Speaker Kevin McCarthy testified that Mr. Biden had been “very professional, very smart, very tough” during their talks. Yet just before the voting got underway, Mr. Biden tripped over a sandbag at the Air Force Academy commencement, plunging to the ground. The video went viral, his supporters cringed and his critics pounced. Anyone can trip at any age, but for an 80-year-old president, it inevitably raises unwelcome questions. If it were anyone else, the signs of age might not be notable. But Mr. Biden is the chief executive of the world’s most powerful nation and has just embarked on a campaign asking voters to keep him in the White House until age 86, drawing more attention to an issue that polls show troubles most Americans and is the source of enormous anxiety among party leaders. The portrait that emerges from months of interviews with dozens of current and former officials and others who have spent time with him lies somewhere between the partisan cartoon of an addled and easily manipulated fogy promoted by Republicans and the image spread by his staff of a president in aviator shades commanding the world stage and governing with vigor.

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New evidence in Trump case bolsters two sets of charges

Dual revelations about Jack Smith’s probe into the mishandling of records at Mar-a-Lago suggest the special counsel’s probe into former President Trump is advancing on several fronts, bolstering the case against him. Reporting from CNN this week indicates authorities have a recording of Trump discussing his inability to share the contents of a classified document he retained — undercutting his long-standing claim he declassified the records in his possession. The special counsel is also seeking more information about the movement of boxes at the Mar-a-Lago carried out by two Trump employees, The Washington Post reported, while Trump attorney Evan Corcoran was waived off from searching certain portions of Trump’s Florida home following a subpoena, according to The Guardian.

Collectively, the reporting suggests the special counsel is buttressing Espionage Act charges over the episode and still building an obstruction of justice case over the ensuing saga to secure the return of the records. The week was capped with a report from lawyers and former prosecutors who concluded, based on public reporting, that the DOJ has enough evidence in the case to merit charging Trump directly. “The Department’s own precedent makes clear that charging Trump would be to treat him comparably to others who engaged in similar criminal behavior, often with far fewer aggravating factors than the former president. Based on the publicly available information to date, a powerful case exists for charging Trump,” the group wrote in a model prosecution memo published by Just Security. “We conclude that Trump should — and likely will — be charged.” The tapes, which have not been directly reviewed by any outlet and only described by sources familiar, capture Trump in summer 2021 discussing a classified document reviewing options for launching a possible attack on Iran.

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Lead Stories

Senate approves bill to avert national default, sending it to Biden’s desk

The Senate on Thursday night capped four months of contentious debate and voted to send a compromise bill to President Biden’s desk that extends the government’s borrowing authority until January of 2025 and staves off a potential default next week. A large bipartisan majority of the Senate voted 63-36 to approve the bill, which passed the House on Wednesday night. The approval came after the Senate clinched an agreement to conduct a series of amendment votes on Thursday night and move directly to final passage. The normally slow-moving chamber raced through a dozen votes in just over three hours. “By passing this bill we will avoid default tonight. America can breathe a sigh of relief,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared on the Senate floor.

“From the start, avoiding default has been our north star. The consequences of default would be catastrophic,” he said. “For all the ups and downs and twists and turns it took to get here, it is so good for this country that both parties have come together at last to avoid default.” Senate Republican conservatives such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) joined Republican defense hawks such as Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) in voting against the bill. A total of 31 Republicans voted against the measure, including Senate Republican Conference Committee Chairman John Barrasso (Wyo.). Senate Democrats, meanwhile, weren’t happy about caps on non-defense discretionary spending, tougher work requirements for federal food assistance and approval of a controversial natural gas pipeline — but the overwhelming majority of Democrats voted for the bill to avoid a default. Just four Democrats voted against the measure: Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), along with Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

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Andrew Murr: Here's why we Republicans must vote to impeach Paxton

We are embarking on something nearly unheard of in the Texas House of Representatives: For just the third time in the storied history of our state under our current Constitution, the House has impeached a state officer. When the House cast an overwhelming vote to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, we fully understood the gravity of our actions. In fact, I cast my vote with profound certainty that Paxton must be held accountable for his flagrant abuses of his office and of the public trust. Earlier this year, Paxton attempted to settle a whistleblower lawsuit with four former senior aides whom he fired after they raised alarms about his actions. These aides, and others who resigned before Paxton could fire them, are highly esteemed and respected conservatives whom Paxton personally recruited to run divisions of his agency. Paxton asked taxpayers, via the Legislature, to pay the $3.3 million settlement to make his problems go away. When he would not provide the Texas House with basic information about why taxpayers should cover this settlement, the House General Investigating Committee, which I chair, opened an investigation to learn what happened. The findings were appalling.

Our committee uncovered bribery, conspiracy, abuse of office, misappropriation of public resources, obstruction of justice and more. Paxton repeatedly and obsessively invented new rules and redirected public resources solely to help a friend and campaign donor, Nate Paul, a real estate developer who was under FBI investigation. Paul had not only contributed $25,000 to Paxton’s campaign, but he was also helping remodel Paxton's Austin home and had quietly given a job to Paxton’s mistress. Paxton: Asked his open records division to authorize the release of criminal investigation records that DPS and the FBI both said needed to be protected. Around the time Paxton had personal access to one of these documents, he directed an aide to deliver an envelope containing documents to Paul. Directed the division of his agency that is supposed to protect nonprofit organizations to instead pressure a nonprofit into a lowball settlement with Paul that would have cost it millions. Personally requested, fast-tracked and dictated a legal opinion to prevent impending foreclosure sales of Paul’s properties — all in one weekend. This process would typically take up to six months and be done without intervention by the attorney general.

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What to expect from Friday’s jobs report

Areas of the US economy have started to crack under the weight of persistently high inflation and a string of 10 consecutive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. But despite all that, the labor market has kept humming right along. And that’s largely expected to be the case, again, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the May jobs report at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. Economists are forecasting a net gain of 190,000 jobs last month, according to Refinitiv. While that would mark a significant retreat from April’s surprisingly strong 253,000 jobs added, it would land slightly above the average monthly gains seen during the strong labor market in the years leading up to the pandemic.

Economists are also expecting the unemployment rate to tick back up to 3.5%. The US jobless rate has hovered at decade-lows for more than a year, with the current 3.4% rate matching a 53-year low hit in January. Private sector employment increased by 278,000 jobs in May, according to ADP’s monthly National Employment Report, frequently seen as a proxy for the government’s official number. That’s significantly higher than estimates of 170,000 jobs added but slightly below the previous month’s revised total of 291,000. Additional labor market data released Thursday showed that initial weekly jobless claims for the week ended May 27 totaled 232,000, almost no change from the previous week’s revised total of 230,000 applications. “In the last few months, the job market has continued to defy gravity, adding a steady clip of jobs and holding unemployment at historically low levels despite a backdrop of rising interest rates, banking turmoil, tech layoffs and debt ceiling negotiations,” Daniel Zhao, lead economist at employment review and search site Glassdoor, wrote in a note this week. “After a healthy April jobs report, May is likely to repeat with an equally strong performance.” Consumer spending and the labor market — two ares of strength in the economy — have, in a way, continued to feed on themselves.

Read this article at CNN - Subscribers Only

Revised DACA program again debated before Texas judge who previously ruled against it

A federal judge did not make an immediate decision Thursday on the fate of a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. During a court hearing, attorneys representing the nine states that have sued to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program argued the updated policy is essentially the same as the 2012 memo that first created it and asked U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen to again find the program illegal. In 2021, Hanen declared DACA illegal, ruling that the program had not been subjected to public notice and comment periods required under the federal Administrative Procedures Act. Hanen also said the states seeking to stop it had standing to file their lawsuit because they had been harmed by the program.

"Every aspect of this program is ... unlawful," said Ryan Walters, with the Texas Attorney General's Office, which is representing the states that filed the lawsuit. The states have also argued that the White House overstepped its authority by granting immigration benefits that are for Congress to decide. The states have claimed they incur hundreds of millions of dollars in health care, education and other costs when immigrants are allowed to remain in the country illegally. The states that sued are Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi. Lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department, DACA recipients and the state of New Jersey argued during the hearing the states have failed to present any evidence that any of the costs they allege they have incurred because of illegal immigration have been tied to DACA recipients. They also argued Congress has given the Department of Homeland Security the legal authority to set immigration enforcement policies.

Read this article at Associated Press - Subscribers Only

State Stories

Meet Houston ISD's new board of managers, appointed by the state during takeover

The Texas Education Agency appointed nine people to the Houston ISD board of managers Thursday, as part of its takeover of the state’s largest school system. Nearly 230 applicants completed a two-day Lone Star Governance training in April to qualify for the positions. The new board includes educators, parents, business owners and one former 2021 school board candidate who failed to unseat an incumbent. The board of managers temporarily replaces the elected board to oversee the management of HISD. The goal of the board is to provide oversight of newly appointed Superintendent Mike Miles and to help improve student outcomes. The managers and the superintendent are charged with reaching the exit criteria TEA set in place before transitioning control back to the elected board.

Among the new district leaders is Audrey Momanaee, a trial attorney and partner at Balch & Bingham LLP. She is an HISD parent and native Houstonian. She was raised in a family of public school teachers and has done pro bono legal work as the director of Houston Volunteer Lawyers. Momanaee is also the director of Community Family Centers, a Houston-based nonprofit that offers family services as well as adult and early childhood education. Also tapped for the board is Ric Campo, the chairman of the board and CEO of real estate investment group Camden Property Trust. He has also served on public and private boards of organizations that serve families and children, and aim to reduce homelessness, including the Greater Houston Partnership, United Way and Harris County Houston Sports Authority. Since 2019, Campo has served as chairman of the Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority, a position appointed by Harris County Commissioners Court and the Houston City Council. Angela Lemond Flowers, who has been an educator for over 20 years, will also join the board. She started her career as a teacher at HISD’s Jesse H. Jones High School, where her mother also taught. Lemond Flowers has also served in administrative leadership in Houston-area schools. She was announced in 2021 as the executive director of Writers in the Schools, where leaders touted her “lifelong professional commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.” She no longer holds that post.

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New HISD head Mike Miles unveils plan requiring staff from 29 schools to reapply for their jobs

Mike Miles wasted little time Thursday before imposing major changes to the Houston Independent School District he now oversees, launching a plan to reconstitute 29 struggling campuses that forces employees to reapply for their jobs but promises higher pay to some. “It is my great privilege to lead HISD in this work and make it one of the best school districts in the country,” Miles said in a tweeted statement. “For the families of students who are not getting what they need from their schools, improving your child’s education experience is job one.” The Texas Education Agency selected Miles, a former Dallas ISD superintendent, and nine new board members to run HISD. The state-led ousting of the former superintendent and board capped years of legal feuding over a state takeover that critics decry as an anti-democratic power grab.

TEA Commissioner Mike Morath, who served with Miles a decade ago in Dallas ISD, announced his pick on the first day of summer for Houston public school students. The nine board of managers named are: Audrey Momanaee, Ric Campo, Angela Lemond Flowers, Michelle Cruz Arnold, Cassandra Auzenne Bandy, Janette Garza Lindner, Rolando Martinez, Paula Mendoza and Adam P. Rivon. The group includes HISD parents, a small business owner and a trial attorney. One newly appointed member, Garza Lindner, narrowly lost a bid for the board in 2021. While the group will have its first meeting on June 8, Miles confirmed Thursday that 29 schools in the Wheatley, Kashmere and North Forest high school feeder patterns will be reconstituted as part of his efforts to establish “wholesale systemic reform” in struggling schools. Staff from top to bottom, including principals, teachers and maintenance staff, will have to reapply for their jobs, which will be open to any qualified applicant. Those hired will earn an average of $85,000 per year and be supported by teacher apprentices and learning coaches, Miles said, in what he’s dubbing the “New Education System.”

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18 Texans in Congress opposed debt ceiling deal, including 4 Democrats

Eighteen Texans, mostly Republicans, voted against a bill to push off the nation's debt limit for two years as the deal to avert a default passed the House on Wednesday night over opposition from both the right and the left. Most Texas Republicans — 14 of 25 — voted against the bill, which U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Austin declared a "swamp deal" as he led a conservative revolt against it. Just four of 13 Texas Democrats opposed the deal struck by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden as the agreement, which includes caps on federal spending and a slew of GOP priorities, drew more support from Democrats than Republicans.

The bill passed on a 314-117 vote, with 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats voting to send it on to the Senate ahead of a potential default in the coming days. "Democrats saved the day, provided more votes than the majority" U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston said, describing a scenario in which the country defaulted as "as catastrophic or worse than the banking collapse in 2008." But the deal unified conservatives and progressives in opposition. Republicans who voted no said pushing the debt limit off until 2025 would allow the country to go $4 trillion deeper into the red. They included U.S. Reps. John Carter of Round Rock, Michael Cloud of Victoria, Pat Fallon of Sherman, Tony Gonzales of San Antonio, Lance Gooden of Terrell, Wesley Hunt of Houston, Ronny Jackson of Amarillo, Morgan Luttrell of Magnolia, Nathaniel Moran of Tyler, Roy of Austin, Keith Self of McKinney, Pete Sessions of Waco, Beth Van Duyne of Irving and Randy Weber of Friendswood.

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North Texas superintendent among 7 busted in underage sex sting operation, constable says

The Itasca ISD superintendent was among seven people arrested in a six-month-long sex sting, according to Constable Alan Rosen. Investigators posted as teens to lure the predators into their trap. "These predators were online surfing and looking for children," Rosen said. According to Rosen, Michael Stevens, 47, was planning to come to Houston and engage in sex acts with a teenage girl. Rosen said Stevens sent naked photos of himself to who he thought was a 15-year-old girl but was really an undercover investigator. He also requested that the teen send him naked photos and videos, Rosen said. Stevens is a former coach, principal and assistant principal in multiple school districts around the state.

"You must make it a priority to know what your children are doing online," Rosen said. "As you can see by this sting operation, there are dangerous predators out there grooming our children and can cause great harm." Stevens used a social media app to communicate with the officer, who he believed to be a teenage girl in Houston. Rosen said some of the photos Stephens sent appeared to have been taken in his office at work. "He was actually videotaping himself at his job, at his place of work. He apparently got very comfortable with what he was doing," Rosen said. Stevens had been communicating with the undercover officer posing as the teen for months, Rosen said.

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Top Houston attorneys Dick DeGuerin, Rusty Hardin to lead prosecution in Paxton impeachment trial

The Texas House has tapped two high-powered Houston attorneys — Dick DeGuerin and Rusty Hardin — to lead the prosecution of impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton during his upcoming Senate trial. The two defense lawyers, who have been practicing for more than 100 years combined, are known in Texas and nationally for their representation of a wide array of celebrities and politicians. They will join a team of 12 Texas House impeachment managers led by the chamber’s Investigating Committee Chair and state Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction. “This is not about punishing Mr. Paxton,” said DeGuerin, 82, at a news conference Thursday. “It’s about protecting the public, protecting the citizens of Texas.”

Their selection Thursday bolstered the House’s prosecution team as it prepares for the high-stakes trial, which will be scheduled some time before Aug. 28. A Senate committee will meet June 20 to set trial rules and a date. Senators will decide whether to permanently remove Paxton from office. Paxton, who is suspended from office pending the outcome of the trial, is accused of taking bribes and abusing his office to help a friend and campaign donor, Nate Paul. He’s also accused of firing his former aides out of retaliation, among other alleged crimes. The third-term Republican has denied all wrongdoing and characterized the proceedings as unfair and politically motivated. Hardin said Thursday that the overwhelming vote in the Republican-dominated Texas House showed that “what is right and what is just should rise above party.” The 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton exhibit a “pattern of misconduct and abuse of the office,” he said. “We hope and pray that this will be a process that allows the public to fully examine everything,” Hardin said. “And I promise you — it’s 10 times worse than has been public.” DeGuerin has a wealth of experience in misconduct cases involving Texas politicians: He represented Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay when he was accused of illegally funneling corporate donations to members of the Texas Legislature in 2002. DeLay was convicted but later acquitted by appellate courts.

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Who benefits from the dueling property tax plans touted by Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick?

For months, Texas’ Republican leaders have promised historic property tax relief, thanks to a massive budget surplus that allowed lawmakers to set aside nearly $18 billion over the next two years to lighten the burden on homeowners and businesses. But since the early days of the regular, five-month legislative session that ended Monday, the House and Senate have been at an impasse over how to deliver the relief. The squabbling has continued into a special session, with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick continuing to insist on raising the school homestead exemption, and Gov. Greg Abbott joining the fray to push exclusively for "rate compression" — the practice of driving down school tax rates, and sending more state dollars to local districts to replace the revenue. Both approaches have their share of supporters and detractors.

Property tax experts say the Senate plan would more directly benefit homeowners, with tax relief distributed more evenly between household income groups. Compression, the approach now adopted by the House, would extend the benefits of tax relief to businesses and generally benefit high-income households. Both sides argue their preferred approach provides more durable, lasting relief than the other. At issue is what to do with the $17.6 billion lawmakers set aside for property tax cuts in Texas’ two-year state budget. Of that total, about $5.3 billion is already earmarked for sustaining relief passed in 2019. What’s up for grabs — and driving the debate between the state’s Republican leaders — is what to do with the remaining $12.3 billion. In short, the plan backed by Abbott and the House would use all $12.3 billion to buy down school property taxes, by “compressing” districts’ tax rates and replacing the revenue with state funds. The plan advanced by Patrick and the Senate would use the same bucket to increase the school homestead exemption — the amount that homeowners can trim off the taxable value of their principal residence for school property taxes — from $40,000 to $100,000. The rest would go to “compression.”

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NRG sells stake in Texas nuclear power plant for $1.75 billion to Constellation

Houston-based NRG Energy is selling its stake in the state’s largest nuclear power plant to Baltimore-based Constellation Energy for $1.75 billion, the companies said Thursday. The South Texas Project nuclear power plant is about 90 miles southwest of Houston in Bay City, Constellation said, and is capable of generating 2,645 megawatts of electricity — enough to power just over half a million homes on a hot summer day, according to Texas' grid operator. Pending federal and state approval, Constellation plans to take over NRG’s 44 percent stake in the project by the end of the year. The city-owned utilities for San Antonio and Austin own the remaining stakes.

Constellation is already a major player in the Texas electricity market. The company owns and operates three natural gas-fired power plants with the ability to produce 3,250 megawatts of electricity, as well as two wind projects that can generate more than 150 megawatts. Constellation also owns retail electricity brands serving around 200,000 Texas homes and businesses, the company said. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Justice and the Public Utility Commission of Texas still need to approve the deal, which Constellation said should happen by the end of the year. The sale makes good on NRG’s promise to investors it would sell off $500 million in assets this year. The deal exceeded that goal, the company said, and the proceeds will primarily be used for share repurchases. The announcement comes weeks after activist investor Elliott Management — which holds a roughly 13 percent stake representing $1 billion in NRG — sent a letter to the company's board criticizing the company’s financial performance in recent years, and among other things, called on the company to cut $500 million in costs and up shareholder returns.

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HISD takeover signals Texas Education Agency's increasing sway in schools under GOP-led Legislature

Thursday's state takeover of the Houston Independent School District was a watershed moment in Texas education policy. The state has never attempted a takeover this big — the district is the largest in the state and the eighth largest in the country, serving nearly 200,000 students — and it comes amid a heated political debate on private school vouchers and on the teaching of race and LGBTQ issues. But in many ways, the move is indicative of the Texas Education Agency's increasing involvement in day-to-day school operations, a shift that has been accelerating for 10 years, much of it under the guidance of Gov. Greg Abbott and the GOP-led state Legislature.

The agency has been led since 2016 by Commissioner Mike Morath, an Abbott appointee. The former software developer and Dallas ISD board member has pushed for big, technocratic reforms — an approach that has irked some conservatives and been criticized by Democrats as missing more pressing problems. “Morath is kingdom-building when the need is teachers in schools,” said Rep. Gina Hinojosa, an Austin Democrat who previously served on the Austin ISD school board. “We’ve given him more and more power with nothing to show for it.” Throughout the year, Hinojosa has criticized the growth of the agency, a new policy allowing TEA to push specific classroom lesson plans for teachers and retroactive changes to the scoring for the agency’s school accountability system that will push down ratings for many schools. The agency has held that those changes were required under state law. There are currently 1,116 employees at the agency, up more than 50 percent from a decade ago. That's in line with its size for several years before 2011, when the Legislature cut $5 billion in school funding.

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Mike Taylor: The fake ESG threat — Texas coddles oil industry, pretends it’s a principled stand

In late May, the Texas Comptroller’s Office released its monthly “Fiscal Notes: A Review of the Texas Economy” with a focus on “Fighting a Fossil Fuels Boycott.” It threw in a related topic: “The ABCs of ESG Investing.” The “fossil fuels boycott” write-up updates us on the state’s main fiscal moves with respect to a 2021 law regarding fossil fuel investments. That year, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 13, which created a law that’s been described as boycotting the boycotters of the oil and gas industry. Concerned that the growing ESG movement — that’s shorthand for environmental, social and governance — threatened to become an effective financial boycott of Texas’ energy industry, the law sought to punish firms participating in it.

The parts of the new report I agree with the most are its instructive notes on ESG in general: “We’re concerned the ESG framework has become more of a marketing tool than a tool for making investment decisions,” Comptroller Glenn Hegar writes. He’s right. The report goes on to list the risks associated with ESG, including “greenwashing,” in which companies go through the motions to satisfy some social or environmental criteria while doing little substantive good. To my mind, a good example of greenwashing is Altria, also known as Philip Morris (ticker symbol MO). It gets a high-ranking A-minus rating from CDP Worldwide, which says it helps companies disclose their climate impact. I hope this high rating is self-evidently ironic. The tobacco company literally wrecks our lungs for profit, and indirectly wrecks the quality of our personal secondary air, but because of whatever measurements the nonprofit assessment group CDP uses, Philip Morris comes out smelling like roses.

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Tom Leppert and Mike Rawlings: To make D.C. more like Dallas, a unity presidential ticket may be the answer in 2024

In most of the country, it is unusual for two former elected officials from opposite political parties to agree on much of anything, at least publicly. Not here in North Texas. We are both former mayors of Dallas. One of us (Mike) is a Democrat and the other (Tom) is a Republican. But we agree on more than we disagree on. Among the things we agree on is that politics nationally is broken, and that 2024 is our best chance to fix it. In addition to being former mayors, we are also businesspeople, and both of us brought that experience with us into city government. When running a business, your job is to solve problems and build the company. Imagine if a CEO was rewarded for making problems worse and sowing dysfunction, anger and despair. We know exactly what would happen: bankruptcy. Sound familiar? If we don’t change course, something similar will happen to America. Today, we are led by two political parties that benefit from dysfunction and gridlock.

They raise money, gobs, by demonizing the other side. The system now encourages running to the extremes, frightening voters, and provoking disdain and distrust. This works wonderfully for the politicians and elites, but not for you and me. It is a slow-motion disaster for America. Consider that our country is hurtling toward a rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden that most of the country doesn’t want. A recent poll found that 70% of voters don’t want Biden to run and 60% don’t want Trump to run. Both are running anyway, and both, as it appears now, are set to win their nominations. We don’t have to agree on everything to agree that this scenario is dangerous and would produce more of the same. Chief among the dangers is that effective governing will continue to be impossible. Our most pressing national problems — from immigration to inflation to energy — will continue to go unsolved while each side grows more extreme, more entrenched, and more distrustful of the other.

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Health professionals wrestle with the pandemic’s effects on children who already experienced trauma

When mask mandates lifted in Tarrant County’s alternative school for students with behavior challenges, family therapist Abby Phifer heard an odd concern from staff: Some students weren’t removing their masks at all, even during lunchtime. Phifer asked around, and a handful of students provided clarity. They were worried about their looks. “They felt like people got so used to seeing what their face looks like with a mask on. They were kind of self-conscious to take the mask off,” she said. The mask “has kind of become a safety blanket for them.” She and her colleagues at Tarrant County’s Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program didn’t press the issue. They had others to address amid the pandemic: Students falling behind academically and socially, students without access to WiFi, students slipping through the cracks.

Now, three weeks after the COVID-19 public health emergency formally ended, Phifer and other professionals around Tarrant County are still grappling with the effect of the pandemic on children and teenagers, especially those who struggled with stress and trauma long before it started. The inquiry into a child’s well being often includes an assessment that measures how many adverse childhood experiences — like domestic abuse or rape — that child has lived through. At the alternative education program, for example, students complete the questionnaire in a life skills course. The results help Phifer triage: The higher the score, the more likely the student will experience poor health outcomes later in life, and the more quickly she’ll meet with them. Two physicians first developed the questionnaire in the mid-1990s. The idea grew from curiosity: One physician couldn’t understand why some people in a weight-loss had program quit, even while successfully losing weight. Perplexed, he interviewed them — and discovered a spate of childhood traumas among those who left. Over time, the physicians discovered that most of the people in the study had experienced at least one adverse childhood experience and that, as the number increased, so did the likelihood that that person would experience poor health outcomes like heart disease, cancer, sexually transmitted diseases and depression.

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Road safety efforts gain traction as Texas legislators tweak laws on passing lanes, speed limits

Roadway safety advocates navigated Texas' legislative session about the same way as a driver running errands in Houston traffic: Some stops and starts, a lot of blocked lanes, taking the openings when they appeared and muttering angrily about some of the other people out on the road. “On the balance, Texas law didn’t change too much, but some good things happened,” said Jay Blazek Crossley, executive director of Farm & City, an Austin-based nonprofit that supports the state’s goal of eliminating roadway deaths. “I think we have succeeded in changing the way safety is talked about.” A handful of bills passed both the House and Senate that, barring a surprise veto by Gov. Greg Abbott, tweak existing rules or policies in a way advocates say will save lives, in some cases by giving police more authority to cite drivers for certain habits. Among those passed:

House Bill 1885 by Rep. Terry Canales, D- Edinburg, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, allows the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees the Texas Department of Transportation, to set variable speed limits so officials can lower limits in an area during construction or inclement weather. Under existing law, speed limits can be lowered in construction sites, but the change adds flexibility by allowing local TxDOT, with commission approval, to lower speeds up to 10 mph below the typical speed limit for a roadway. House Bill 3126 by Rep. Erin Gamez, D-Brownsville, cleans up language related to the left lane being for passing only on Texas roads. Specifically, the bill changes the definition of “passing” in the state transportation code to include the requirement that the driver “return to the original lane of travel.” That, essentially, clears up in many places that the left lane is for passing only, where passing is restricted, and that drivers not only have to safely use the left lane but move back safely. House Bill 3558 by Rep. Mary Ann Perez, D-Pasadena, clarifies where a driver must stop when approaching a crosswalk. Current Texas codes have a variety of instructions, so Perez’s bill fixes the contradictions by requiring a driver to stop where there is a clearly marked line for stopping. In places where no clear line exists, a driver must stop short of the crosswalk. In the past, police and prosecutors have failed to hold drivers who hit pedestrians walking in crosswalks accountable because they found the law too vague to charge them.

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Anti-’woke’ group targets Southwest Airlines for pro-LGBTQ and DEI efforts

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines has moved to take down a website and local billboard that takes aim at the company’s “woke” business efforts in promoting racial and LGBTQ diversity. The website, called “Southwoke,” photoshops Southwest officials’ faces on people wearing rainbow-colored outfits and different hairdos. There’s a blog on the page that discredits the value of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and lists anti-diversity and anti-LGBTQ stances. The billboard along I-35 southbound in Burleson has a person dressed in drag attire and a ‘Southwoke’ airplane reads: “Either way we’ll drag you on board.”

“These groups and individuals have begun to target businesses, especially those businesses that uphold their values of diversity and inclusion and stand with our community,” said Jared Todd, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign in an email. “They’ve said that this is about making Pride and inclusion ‘toxic.’ The throughline, from a historic year of anti-LGBTQ legislation to backlash against companies, is the same tired playbook of fear-mongering and bullying that we’ve experienced for decades now.” At this time, no one has taken credit for the website or billboard. The domain is registered with Tucows Domains Inc. and the owner’s information has been redacted on the Tucows public website “for privacy.”

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All hail the alligator gar, a giant and primordial river monster

(Adapted from Chasing Giants: In Search of the World’s Largest Freshwater Fish by Zeb Hogan and Stefan Lovgren. Copyright © 2023 by University of Nevada Press. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the University of Nevada Press.) When Kirk Kirkland was a teenager in East Texas in the 1980s, alligator gar were trash fish. Anglers used the dismissive term to refer to species that ate the fish they were interested in catching. But in the mid-1990s, Kirkland, who was by then working with his dad selling fish, started getting calls from Dutch anglers who wanted to come to Texas in search of alligator gar. To the Dutch, the ferocious-looking gar with their gnarly teeth were an exotic trophy fish. One of the biggest fish in North America, the species can reach more than two hundred pounds and eight feet in length. It was bigger than anything the Dutch could catch at home. Kirkland and his dad sold mostly catfish, but they caught alligator gar too and were happy to provide guiding services for extra income. Over the years, they welcomed a steady trickle of visitors. Then television producers began calling, looking for big fish to build TV shows around. That’s when the guiding business really took off. “Americans didn’t know you could fish for alligator gar on rod and reel,” says Kirkland. “Once they saw that on TV, they wanted to do it too.”

Since then, Kirkland has become the gar guru of East Texas. He holds more than a hundred fishing records from the International Game Fish Association (IGFA), and his business, which operates a small fleet of boats and employs several guides, is thriving. The Trinity River has become the go-to destination for alligator gar sportfishing, which is now strictly regulated and mostly done as catch-and-release. As a result, the gar population in the river—which is the longest that is entirely contained by Texas—is healthier and more robust than it’s ever been. It’s a rare good-news story for a freshwater megafish, says Zeb Hogan, a biology professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the host of National Geographic’s Monster Fish. (He was one of the first people to film a TV show about the alligator gar with Kirkland.) Two decades ago, Hogan launched what he called the Megafishes Project, a conservation quest to find, study, and protect the world’s largest freshwater fishes, species that live exclusively in rivers and lakes and can grow to at least six feet long or more than two hundred pounds. As it turns out, there are about thirty such fish in the world, including the alligator gar, and they are among the most endangered animals on the planet.

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Texas teachers burn out more, get paid less than national average, survey shows

Texas teachers are burning out at a higher rate than the national average, and they're getting paid less. That's according to a recent survey that showed 66 percent of teachers report feelings of burnout, compared with 57 percent nationally. The survey was conducted by the American Teacher Panel, a nationally representative sample of more than 22,000 teachers across the U.S. The Rand Corporation on Thursday published an analysis of data from the Learn Together Survey. Texas teachers also reported higher rates of frequent job-related stress (80 percent compared to 73 percent nationally). Similar rates of constant job-related stress and difficulty coping with job-related stress to the national average were reported. Responses from 418 teachers from Texas were analyzed, among 3,606 teachers nationally.

"The intent of this snapshot is to provide state leaders with state-representative data from their own teachers," researchers wrote, in order "to inform state and local policy solutions that can improve teachers' working conditions and well-being, thereby also improving teacher retention." Texas teachers also reported lower access than the national rate to pay-related supports, including extra pay for performing additional roles (46 percent to 57 percent) and the opportunity to grow professionally (36 percent to 46 percent). Texas also prohibits collective bargaining and teacher strikes, although some teachers in Texas are members of professional associations. Causes of burnout in Texas include some of the legislation passed in recent years, researchers wrote. "Teachers, administrators and state agencies are prohibited from training staff on specified divisive concepts related to race or gender," researchers wrote, "such as the notion that 'one race or sex is inherently superior to another' or that individuals are 'inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.' Such legislation has been linked to teachers' on-the-job stress in prior research."

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City Stories

Arlington nun accused of violating vow of chastity with priest is dismissed

A nun accused of violating her vow of chastity with a priest has been dismissed from a secluded Arlington monastery, the Fort Worth Catholic diocese announced Thursday. In a statement posted on its website, the diocese said it found the Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach guilty of violating her vow, which the church considers adultery. The announcement comes one day after the diocese said the Vatican granted Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson authority over the nuns amid a weeks-long legal and canonical battle. Calling the decision by the bishop “unjust and unconscionable,” a civil attorney for Gerlach said the reverend mother will appeal the ruling. Matthew Bobo, her attorney, has repeatedly denied the allegation that Gerlach broke her vow of chastity, calling it “completely fabricated.” Bobo asked the “lay faithful” to pray for the reverend mother.

“Mother Superior will be appealing this immoral and unjust decision,” Bobo said in the statement. The dispute, as outlined in court documents and public statements, began in April when the bishop launched an investigation into Gerlach’s conduct. In turn, the reverend mother and monastery filed a civil lawsuit against the bishop and diocese, accusing Olson of invading the sisters’ privacy and overstepping his authority. In court documents, the nuns say Olson and other diocese leaders stormed into the monastery on three occasions, interrogated the nuns for hours, seized their computers and a phone and blocked priests from conducting Mass for them. Although the diocese says Gerlach admitted to violating her vow of chastity with a priest outside of Fort Worth, Bobo said his client was questioned under heavy medication, including painkillers, following surgery. Gerlach, who uses a wheelchair and has a feeding tube, cannot remember what she admitted. “She did not have sex with a priest,” Bobo said.

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Will this be the year San Antonio finally gets a nonstop flight to D.C.?

Jenn Hussey’s Washington, D.C., condo, where she often travels for a visit with her elderly parents, is only two miles from the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. But Hussey’s flight path always takes her to Dulles International Airport instead, a 27-mile trip by car or train from the Virginia suburb to her condo. She often makes the same trip from San Antonio for her job as a methadone clinic accreditor and it’s equally inconvenient. “Easily, it’s 45 minutes to an hour and that is like if the traffic gods have aligned,” she said. For years, federal law has limited how many direct flights go in and out of Reagan National, forcing inbound and outbound San Antonio travelers to choose Dulles or even Baltimore-Washington International Airport. But, in an effort to increase the affordability and efficiency of air travel and strengthen economic growth in the region, a campaign is underway to change the rules as this fall Congress takes up the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization bill.

It’s an opportunity that comes along only every five years, and though past attempts have failed, officials believe this time could be different for the San Antonio International Airport. The law limiting flights to airports within a 1,250-mile perimeter of Reagan National, which is owned by the federal government, has been in effect for decades. Houston is inside the perimeter while San Antonio is 1,600 miles from the capital. Through the years, a few exceptions have been made, which include Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. But other major U.S. cities like San Antonio have been shut out by what is an “antiquated rule,” said Brian Walsh, spokesman for Capital Access Alliance, a nationwide coalition of groups pushing Congress to act. “There aren’t a lot of people who understand that the reason you don’t have a lot of long-distance flight choices out of [Reagan National] is actually a rule that was passed by Congress in the 1960s,” Walsh said. “And it was primarily implemented at the time to protect Dulles airport.” It was a protectionist measure to drive development to the area near the airport, but that area has tripled in size in the last 20 years, he said. “It’s just a much different situation than it is today,” he said. Walsh said the Alliance realizes that Congress likely won’t eliminate the perimeter rule altogether.

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Ransomware attack: Dallas City Council told to keep quiet four weeks later

Four weeks into Dallas’ ransomware attack, the city’s communications, outreach and marketing director emailed directions to the mayor and City Council on Wednesday to share little to no details about how it’s being handled. Catherine Cuellar told elected leaders and some top administrative officials in an email obtained by The Dallas Morning News to stick to a handful of sentences when asked by residents about the cyberattack: Thank you for your inquiry. Rest assured we are working with third-party experts and law enforcement and our investigation is ongoing. We will share updates as appropriate.

The elected leaders are also asked to refer people, including members of the media, to the city’s communications team. “If pressed for additional details: ‘This is all the information I have to share at this time’,” Cuellar wrote in the email. “‘As the investigation progresses, the city will share additional information with you, as appropriate.’” Cuellar responded with the same talking points she told elected officials to use when she was forwarded questions sent by The News to a council member. “Please rest assured we are working with third-party experts and law enforcement and our investigation is ongoing,” she wrote to The News. “We will share updates as appropriate.”

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Collaborative for Children Houston receives unexpected $3M gift from billionaire MacKenzie Scott

Philanthropist Mackenzie Scott has done it again. Collaborative for Children announced on Wednesday that Scott has donated $3 million to the Houston-based nonprofit dedicated to early childhood education. “She placed a phone call directly to my CEO saying, 'This is MacKenzie Scott. I’d like to help,'” said Chase Murphy, a Collaborative for Children staffer. “It was an unexpected gift. She asks around to see what organizations are doing and who’s moving the needle.” Scott, whose current net worth is valued at $57 billion following her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, pledged to donate more than $2.7 billion to 286 organizations in categories and communities that have been historically underfunded and overlooked in 2022, according to a statement. She previously gave $5.8 billion to working charities in 2020. The gift will further the organization’s mission to provide exceptional learning opportunities for children under age 5.

“We’re overjoyed to share that MacKenzie Scott has given a transformative gift of $3 million to Collaborative for Children. This unexpected donation will strengthen a long-term, sustainable investment in our organization’s future, ensuring innovation, excellence and equity in early education continues,” said Melanie Johnson, President and CEO of Collaborative for Children, via statement. “Through this generous donation, we will expand our selection of 25 childcare Centers of Excellence annually and employ technological innovations to reach more centers, children and families. Through its Centers of Excellence, located in vulnerable communities, Collaborative for Children blends public and private funds to coach child care business owners toward solid business acumen, while preparing teachers and parents for a culturally inclusive co-teaching bond. The organization’s contemporary model fosters a community where every child can thrive at the outset of school and ultimately in a 21st-century workforce.” Collaborative for Children was founded in 1987 as a child care resource for Houston-area businesses in response to an uptick of working mothers. Services have since expanded to include early childhood education programming.

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National Stories

Chinese Americans fight back against bans on buying property

Asian Americans are fighting back against what they see as discriminatory efforts to ban Chinese citizens from buying property in certain states. While supporters of these bills cast their policies as targeting malign influence from the Chinese Communist Party, Asian Americans and their advocates worry the bills are only fueling xenophobia and unfairly blocking access to the American dream. The battle is raging in Florida, where a new law targets Chinese citizens, and in other states, like Texas, where similar bills have been proposed. “These are Chinese Americans who have come here to build a better life,” said Nabila Mansoor, executive director of Texas progressive group Rise AAPI, which has helped to organize against the Texas bill. “And what you’re telling them is that’s not good enough; we welcome you here with open arms, but we’re not going to give you the same rights and privileges that everyone else has.”

The state fights also come amid a broader fight over Chinese ownership of U.S. land, with former President Trump promising to push to ban Chinese purchases of farmland and other critical infrastructure if he retakes the White House, and various proposals on Capitol Hill to impose such restrictions. Last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), another leading GOP presidential contender, signed a law making it a felony for people “domiciled” in China to buy property in Florida unless they’re a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident. The Texas Senate passed a bill in April that would ban citizens of China and other foreign adversaries from buying property, with certain exceptions, though it died in the House when the Texas legislative session ended Monday. The Alabama House passed a similar bill in May, which was scaled back to focus on hostile governments before passing the Senate. Many other states have passed or considered narrower bills that only focus on agricultural land or banning purchases by entities affiliated with the Chinese government. But the broader bills in states like Texas and Florida have drawn particularly fierce pushback. Four Florida residents who are Chinese citizens, along with a Florida real estate firm that primarily serves clients of Chinese descent, have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the new law, which is set to take effect July 1.

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California spent $17 billion on homelessness. It’s not working.

City firefighters arrived midmorning at a homeless camp on Wood Street to quell a fire spreading across a tinderbox landscape of discarded furniture, debris, abandoned cars and dwellings fashioned from tents, tarps and plywood. Fire crews struggled for more than two hours. There weren’t enough hydrants because no one was ever supposed to live on the stretch of dirt that snaked beneath Interstate 880, the freeway connecting Oakland and San Jose. Yet over six years, the property had become home to more than 300 homeless people—addicts, the mentally ill and those unable to get a grip on Bay Area housing with a warehouse job or a construction gig. The fire last summer spit thick black smoke that temporarily halted commuters. Soon after, the California Department of Transportation, which owned most of the land, announced it would start tearing down the makeshift shelters. The July 11 fire appeared to have done what state and local officials had failed to do—force a decision to clear the camp.

A monthslong legal and bureaucratic battle followed, in a display of the humanitarian, practical and political forces trying, with limited effect, to solve the urban homeless problem. The number of homeless people in California grew about 50% between 2014 and 2022. The state, which accounts for 12% of the U.S. population, has about half of the nation’s unsheltered homeless, an estimated 115,000 people, according to federal and state data last year. It also has among the highest average rent and median home prices in the U.S. State officials said it was the city’s responsibility to house people kicked off the Wood Street property. Oakland officials said they didn’t have enough shelter beds. Residents fortunate enough to get a federal housing voucher struggled to find an apartment they could afford with it. Many of the drug addicts and mentally ill on Wood Street wanted nothing more than to be left alone. About 30 people filed a federal lawsuit against the state transportation department, known as Caltrans, and the city of Oakland for the right to continue living at the Wood Street encampment. They were among those who initially rejected spots at shelters because they couldn’t bring their pets or all their belongings. “You have to give up everything you own just for a place to sleep for a night,” said Jaz Colibri. She was one of those who filed the lawsuit, which after months of back and forth was decided against her and the others.

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The Senate just passed the debt ceiling bill. Here’s what happens next

The faucets at the US Department of the Treasury are set to turn back on after nearly five months of frozen pipes. In a vote on Thursday evening, the Senate approved a measure to suspend the nation’s debt limit through January 1, 2025. President Joe Biden is expected to swiftly sign the bill into law to avert the United States’ first-ever default on its debt. Since the debt ceiling was breached in mid-January, the Treasury Department has not been able to borrow more money. To pay its bills on time, Treasury has undergone a series of extraordinary measures to buy it more time in hopes that Congress takes action to suspend or raise the debt limit.

These measures included selling existing investments and suspending reinvestments of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund. Doing so helped the Treasury free up billions of dollars to delay a potential default. Now, Treasury will try to quickly get back to business as usual. To do that, the Treasury will need to raise cash. Fast. By law, the Treasury Department is obligated to make any funds that were affected by the extraordinary measures whole. It is also required to pay interest on the lapse in funding. One way it hopes to grow its cash balance is by auctioning off $15 billion worth of one-day cash management bills on Friday. These bills mature in a relatively short time frame, ranging from a few days to a year, according to the Treasury Department. They’re used to help manage the Treasury’s short-term financing needs. Unlike Treasury bill auctions that occur on a weekly and monthly basis, cash management bill auctions are irregular, though not uncommon. For instance, last year the Treasury held more than 30 cash management bill auctions. It is, however, quite unusual for the department to auction debt that matures in just one day. Over the past 25 years, the Treasury has held just six one-day cash management bill auctions. In addition to Friday’s auction, a Thursday auction saw $25 billion of three-day cash management bills yielding 6.15%. That exceeds the yields at which almost all other Treasury bills are trading, underscoring the premium investors are demanding to buy the government’s debt.

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These are the 7 most hated brands in America—Elon Musk's Twitter is No. 4

Twitter, Meta and TikTok are three of the world’s biggest social media giants. They’re also three of the brands with the worst reputations in the U.S., according to the recently released 2023 Axios Harris Poll 100 reputation rankings. Millions of monthly active users across the country couldn’t keep the social media companies off the list, which Axios and The Harris Poll compiled by asking more than 16,000 Americans to score the 100 companies they considered “most visible” across nine categories of reputation. Meta and Twitter both scored poorly in the “culture” and “ethics” categories. Each business recently faced public backlash after laying off thousands of workers over email — just one in a series of escalating dramas at Twitter, which Fidelity estimates is now worth one-third of the $44 billion Elon Musk paid for it in October 2022.

TikTok underperformed in “citizenship” and “character,” amid growing concerns from American lawmakers over potential Chinese federal government influence on the platform. They’re not the only brands with low approval ratings right now. Here are the seven brands with the worst reputations in America, according to the poll: The Trump Organization, FTX, Fox Corporation, Twitter, Meta, Spirit Airlines, TikTok. Americans named the Trump Organization as the company with the worst public perception in the country. It’s the only business on the list with a “very poor” overall score, the lowest possible tier. The Trump Organization scored particularly low in the “character,” “trust” and “ethics” categories. The ranking was published just days before former president Donald Trump, who ran the Trump Organization for decades, was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

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Arizona announces limits on construction in Phoenix area as groundwater disappears

Arizona officials announced Thursday the state will no longer grant certifications for new developments within the Phoenix area, as groundwater rapidly disappears amid years of water overuse and climate change-driven drought. A new study showed that the groundwater supporting the Phoenix area likely can’t meet additional development demand in the coming century, officials said at a news conference. Gov. Katie Hobbs and the state’s top water officials outlined the results of the study looking at groundwater demand within the Phoenix metro area, which is regulated by a state law that tries to ensure Arizona’s housing developments, businesses and farms are not using more groundwater than is being replaced.

The study found that around 4% of the area’s demand for groundwater, close to 4.9 million acre-feet, cannot be met over the next 100 years under current conditions – a huge shortage that will have significant implications for housing developments in the coming years in the booming Phoenix metro area, which has led the nation in population growth. State officials said the announcement wouldn’t impact developments that have already been approved. However, developers that are seeking to build new construction will have to demonstrate they can provide an “assured water supply” for 100 years using water from a source that is not local groundwater. Under state law, having that assured supply is the key to getting the necessary certificates to build housing developments or large industrial buildings that use water. Many cities in the Phoenix metro area, including Scottsdale and Tempe, already have this assured water supply, but private developers also must demonstrate they can meet it. Thursday’s announcement is an example of the law working as intended, according to an analysis by Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy. Growth in the Phoenix area will likely continue under the new restrictions, the analysis said, but the rate of growth will likely change.

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Who is Ron DeSantis? Florida governor reveals few clues about what makes him tick

The parents of the man who would be president live in a tidy, single-story ranch house in a Gulf Coast suburb of Florida. The three-bedroom, two-bath, concrete block house with a brick facade is the childhood home of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who announced his run for the White House on Wednesday night. The home’s landscaping is well-maintained, though with a browning lawn likely due to Florida’s recent drought. A gold Jeep Patriot and a black Toyota Prius are parked in the driveway. The Prius has an “FSU Dad” bumper sticker and a Ron DeSantis campaign sticker. A welcome mat with an FSU logo is a second reminder of the other child, their daughter and DeSantis’ only sibling who died unexpectedly eight years ago. The governor has rarely spoken about her. A slender, elderly man in glasses and a dark T-shirt answers. He apologizes as he fends off a reporter’s attempts to find out more about his son’s evolution into an ambitious politician and conservative firebrand.

“I’m afraid I’m not going to be that much help,” says Ronald DeSantis, 77. He stands at the front door open just a crack, blocking the reporter’s view inside the house. He says he’s been burned by reporters in the past who took his comments out of context. He says he doesn’t talk to his son often, maybe every couple of months or so when he goes to Tallahassee to see him and the family. His wife, and the governor’s mom, Karen DeSantis, 75, sees the governor more frequently, he says. Every three weeks or so. For the grandkids, mainly. When asked if she’d be willing to give an interview, he said she would be even less cooperative. This is how it typically goes whenever one tries to dig deeper into the roots of Ron DeSantis’ political ambitions and beliefs, the people and events that molded him into the person he is today.

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Copyright June 09, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved