Holding out hope on the drying Rio Grande

THE VALLEY – Inside Climate News reports that the year was 1897. Floodwaters from the Rio Grande submerged entire blocks of downtown El Paso. The New York Times described the crash of crumbling houses and the “cries of frightened women and children” on its May 26 front page. The raging river displaced hundreds of people and destroyed scores of adobe homes. In Mexico, the Rio Grande is known as the Rio Bravo — the rough, or wild, river — signifying the force that caused several devastating floods in El Paso and neighboring Ciudad Juárez. Today, these historic floods are hard to imagine. The river channel in El Paso-Juárez now only fills during the irrigation season. Farther downstream, the river is frequently dry in a 200-mile section known as the Forgotten Reach. Inside Climate News documented this remote stretch of the river in July on a flight with the nonprofit Light Hawk. Other than limited flows from springs and creeks, known locally as arroyos, this section of the Rio Grande barely has water.

That’s because reservoirs now harness the flows of snowmelt and monsoon rains that once defined the river and deliver that water to thirsty cities and sprawling farms. Making matters worse, climate change is increasing temperatures and aridification in the desert Southwest. Competition over dwindling water is growing. All that leaves little water to support fish, birds and wetland ecosystems that once thrived along the Rio Grande. But environmental scientists and local conservation advocates say there are opportunities to restore environmental flows — the currents of water needed to maintain a healthy river ecology — on the Rio Grande and its West Texas tributaries. Proponents of environmental flows are restoring tributaries and documenting little-known springs that feed the river. They are working with counterparts in Mexico to overcome institutional barriers. Samuel Sandoval Solis, a professor of water resource management at the University of California Davis and an expert on the Rio Grande, compared this restoration model to a “string of pearls.” “Ultimately, we start connecting these pearls,” he said. “And we start putting it back together.” But to replicate and expand these local initiatives will require more funding and political support on the embattled binational waterway.

Will Cornyn replace McConnell?

WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Republicans vying to replace longtime leader Mitch McConnell have been crossing the country to campaign and fundraise for colleagues, making their final arguments before a consequential ballot the week after the presidential election. But their pitches are mostly behind closed doors, and most GOP senators won’t yet say which lawmaker they are backing. South Dakota’s John Thune, McConnell’s current No. 2, and John Cornyn of Texas, who held that job before Thune, are the front-runners in the Nov. 13 secret ballot to replace McConnell. The Kentucky senator is stepping aside from the post in January after almost two decades as leader. The winner could steer the direction of the party for years to come and possibly become the next Senate majority leader if Republicans win enough seats in Tuesday’s election. The outcome is, for now, uncertain.

Only a few Republican senators have publicly endorsed a candidate. Many say they are still undecided. The third senator in the race — Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who is dealing with his own reelection bid — could act as a spoiler. Another candidate could still jump in. In many ways, “the two Johns” are remarkably similar, making the choice difficult for their colleagues. Both are well-liked and, in the mold of McConnell, lean toward the more traditional wing of the Republican Party. But both have also suggested they will try to move on from the McConnell era with a more open approach. “I’m trying to find differentiation because they’re both great guys,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who has worked closely with both of them. The two men are also trying to distinguish themselves from McConnell by making clear that they support Donald Trump in this year’s presidential election. Like McConnell, they have both sparred with Trump in the past, especially after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. But both Thune and Cornyn have talked to Trump frequently in recent months, attended campaign events and visited his Florida home.

State oil regulator requests $100 million for well blowouts

AUSTIN (AP) – Unable to keep up with the growing number of leaking and erupting wells in the state’s oil fields, the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, has asked lawmakers for an additional $100 million in emergency funding — which would be equal to about 44% of the agency’s entire two-year budget.

Danny Sorrell, the agency’s executive director, sent the letter two months after the commission filed its annual budget request in August, according to the Houston Chronicle. He said the agency’s $226 million budget request did not include enough money “to protect the groundwater and the environment” from increasingly common well blowouts.

The agency follows a rating system to determine which wells it needs to plug first, according to Texas law. Priority 1 wells are leaking wells that pose environmental, safety, or economic risks. An uncontrolled flow of water occurring at a well constitutes an emergency, said R.J. DeSilva, a spokesperson for the agency. In an emergency, agency staff “respond immediately to plug it,” he said.

The agency said that it addresses actively leaking wells regardless of whether it has enough money in the designated budget for well remediation, a practice that Sorrell said has become unsustainable and caused the agency to plug fewer non-emergency wells each year.

“These high-priority wells need to be taken care of before they themselves become emergency wells,” he said.

There are approximately 140,000 so-called orphaned wells in the U.S. and more than 9,000 of them are in Texas, according to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. These are abandoned wells that have been inactive for at least 12 months and have no clear ownership.

When left unattended, orphaned wells are prone to blowouts that spew contaminated water onto the surrounding land. Experts said the routine industry practice of injecting fracking wastewater — called produced water — into underground rock formations, contributes to the problem.

At least eight wells have leaked and burst since last October, Sarah Stogner, an oil and gas attorney, told the Texas Tribune earlier this month. Stogner has tracked such wells for years.

In December 2023, an abandoned well that blew out in Imperial, southwest of Odessa, took more than two months to plug. That well alone cost regulators $2.5 million to cap and clean up.

In October, another well in Toyah burst and released a torrent of water that took weeks to contain. Kinder Morgan, the energy firm that assumed responsibility for the well, did not say how much it cost to seal.

The briney water is laden with chemicals it collects underground, including hydrogen sulfide, a toxic and deadly gas.

Congress approved $4.7 billion to plug orphan wells on public and private lands as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021. Texas received $25 million of that money in 2022 and another $80 million in January.

The Railroad Commission used that money to plug 737 wells — 10% of the estimated orphaned wells in Texas. It also plugged 1,754 wells through an initiative funded by $63 million in state money.

The efforts have not been enough.

Sorrell’s letter to Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan said that regulators need the money to staff a team of inspectors who can investigate the cause of the blowouts, which they associate with produced water injections. Sorrells said the agency’s ability “to assess, characterize and evaluate these events is limited by the currently available resources.”

Sorrells said the cost to plug wells, which includes labor and materials like cement and rigs, has increased by 36% since 2022.

Both oil and gas industry leaders and environmental advocates in Texas applauded the commission’s request.

“We have long supported increases in funding for the Commission in this and other areas,” said Ben Sheppard, president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association. “We would support the Legislature going above and beyond the Commission’s request for plugging and remediation funding. The industry generates billions of dollars every year, and it seems appropriate that more of these dollars could be utilized for this important purpose.”

Julie Range, a policy manager for Commission Shift, an oil and gas watchdog group, commended the agency’s request.

“We hope the investigation team will prompt the Railroad Commission to scrutinize their approval process and deny more injection wells that pressurize underground aquifers and cause many of these wells to reach emergency status,” she said.

For years, a growing chorus of experts and ranchers have warned the commission about the rising threat the wells pose to the environment and the region’s vulnerable groundwater resources.

In August, researchers at Southern Methodist University found a link between the common practice of injecting wastewater from fracking underground and the blowouts occurring across the oil-rich Permian Basin — a 75,000-square-mile region straddling West Texas and New Mexico.

Smith County Election Day information

Smith County Election Day informationSMITH COUNTY — Smith County saw 50 percent of the registered voters cast their ballots early in the 2024 Presidential Election. During the past two weeks of early voting, 84,436 ballots were cast in Smith County. That includes 81,554 in-person votes and 2,882 mail-in ballots. Although the numbers of voters in the current election were more than those who early voted in the 2020 Presidential Election, the percentage of voters was lower.

Smith County saw 79,787 ballots cast during three weeks of early voting in the 2020 Presidential Election. That’s 60 percent of the 146,700 registered voters at that time. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, early voting was extended to three weeks instead of the normal two. There are 162,000 registered voters in Smith County for the current election. Continue reading Smith County Election Day information

Three dead, four injured after Morris County crash

Three dead, four injured after Morris County crashSULPHUR SPRINGS – Sulphur Springs ISD is in mourning after the district said that two first graders and their father died in a crash on Saturday. The Texas Department of Public Safety said the crash happened at around 7 p.m. on Saturday when a GMC Yukon heading east on State Highway 49 in Morris County failed to stay in one lane and hit two oncoming vehicles.

The first vehicle hit had three people in it who DPS said were taken to a local hospital to be treated. The second vehicle hit also had three people in it, two who were pronounced dead at the scene and another victim who died later that night at a local hospital, according to DPS. DPS added that the driver of the GMC was taken to a local hospital where they are in critical condition. Continue reading Three dead, four injured after Morris County crash

Three injured in Lufkin ISD cheer team bus crash

Three injured in Lufkin ISD cheer team bus crashLUFKIN – Lufkin ISD said the Lufkin High School cheerleading squad was heading to a competition in Rosenberg on Sunday morning when their bus crashed. According to our news partner KETK, three students were taken to receive medical attention at a local hospital after the bus was involved in a crash in Houston. 36 students and several adults were reportedly on the bus when it crashed. Two of the three students taken for medical attention have been released while one is still being held for observation, the district said. The rest of the team is being transported back to Lufkin.

“Lufkin ISD appreciates the support and assistance of first responders, staff and parents who arrived on the scene,” said Lufkin ISD.

Federal Reserve is set to cut rates again while facing a hazy post-election outlook

WASHINGTON (AP) — No one knows how Tuesday’s presidential election will turn out, but the Federal Reserve’s move two days later is much easier to predict: With inflation continuing to cool, the Fed is set to cut interest rates for a second time this year.

The presidential contest might still be unresolved when the Fed ends its two-day meeting Thursday afternoon, yet that uncertainty would have no effect on its decision to further reduce its benchmark rate. The Fed’s future actions, though, will become more unsettled once a new president and Congress take office in January, particularly if Donald Trump were to win the White House again.

Trump’s proposals to impose high tariffs on all imports and launch mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants and his threat to intrude on the Fed’s normally independent rate decisions could send inflation surging, economists have said. Higher inflation would, in turn, compel the Fed to slow or stop its rate cuts.

On Thursday, the Fed’s policymakers, led by Chair Jerome Powell, are on track to cut their benchmark rate by a quarter-point, to about 4.6%, after having implemented a half-point reduction in September. Economists expect another quarter-point rate cut in December and possibly additional such moves next year. Over time, rate cuts tend to lower the costs of borrowing for consumers and businesses.

The Fed is reducing its rate for a different reason than it usually does: It often cuts rates to boost a sluggish economy and a weak job market by encouraging more borrowing and spending. But the economy is growing briskly, and the unemployment rate is a low 4.1%, the government reported Friday, even with hurricanes and a strike at Boeing having sharply depressed net job growth last month.

Instead, the central bank is lowering rates as part of what Powell has called “a recalibration” to a lower-inflation environment. When inflation spiked to a four-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022, the Fed proceeded to raise rates 11 times — ultimately sending its key rate to about 5.3%, also the highest in four decades.

But in September, year-over-year inflation dropped to 2.4%, barely above the Fed’s 2% target and equal to its level in 2018. With inflation having fallen so far, Powell and other Fed officials have said they think high borrowing rates are no longer necessary. High borrowing rates typically restrict growth, particularly in interest-rate-sensitive sectors such as housing and auto sales.

“The restriction was in place because inflation was elevated,” said Claudia Sahm, chief economist at New Century Advisors and a former Fed economist. “Inflation is no longer elevated. The reason for the restriction is gone.”

Fed officials have suggested that their rate cuts would be gradual. But nearly all of them have expressed support for some further reductions.

“For me, the central question is how much and how fast to reduce the target for the (Fed’s key) rate, which I believe is currently set at a restrictive level,” Christopher Waller, an influential member of the Fed’s Board of Directors, said in a speech last month.

Jonathan Pingle, an economist at Swiss bank UBS, said that Waller’s phrasing reflected “unusual confidence and conviction that rates were headed lower.”

Next year, the Fed will likely start to wrestle with the question of just how low their benchmark rate should go. Eventually, they may want to set it at a level that neither restricts nor stimulates growth — “neutral” in Fed parlance.

Powell and other Fed officials acknowledge that they don’t know exactly where the neutral rate is. In September, the Fed’s rate-setting committee estimated that it was 2.9%. Most economists think it’s closer to 3% to 3.5%.

The Fed chair said the officials have to assess where neutral is by how the economy responds to rate cuts. For now, most officials are confident that at 4.9%, the Fed’s current rate is far above neutral.

Some economists argue, though, that with the economy looking healthy even with high borrowing rates, the Fed doesn’t need to ease credit much, if at all. The idea is that they may already be close to the level of interest rates that neither slows nor stimulates the economy.

“If the unemployment rate stays in the low 4’s and the economy is still going to grow at 3%, does it matter that the (Fed’s) rate is 4.75% to 5%?” said Joe LaVorgna, chief economist at SMBC Nikko Securities, asked. “Why are they cutting now?”

With the Fed’s latest meeting coming right after Election Day, Powell will likely field questions at his news conference Thursday about the outcome of the presidential race and how it might affect the economy and inflation. He can be expected to reiterate that the Fed’s decisions aren’t affected by politics at all.

During Trump’s presidency, he imposed tariffs on washing machines, solar panels, steel and a range of goods from China, which President Joe Biden maintained. Though studies show that washing machine prices rose as a result, overall inflation did not rise much.

But Trump is now proposing significantly broader tariffs — essentially, import taxes — that would raise the prices of about 10 times as many goods from overseas.

Many mainstream economists are alarmed by Trump’s latest proposed tariffs, which they say would almost certainly reignite inflation. A report by the Peterson Institute for International Economics concluded that Trump’s main tariff proposals would make inflation 2 percentage points higher next year than it otherwise would have been.

The Fed could be more likely to raise rates in response to tariffs this time, according to economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics, “given that Trump is threatening much bigger increases in tariffs.”

“Accordingly,” they wrote, “we will scale back the reduction in the funds rate in our 2025 forecasts if Trump wins.”

Oklahoma storms injure at least 11, leave thousands without power

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Severe storms and tornadoes battered Oklahoma early Sunday, tossing cars and ripping roofs off buildings in the middle of the night and leaving tens of thousands of homes and businesses without power. Among numerous injuries, 11 people required hospitalization, authorities said.

Much of the damage was reported in and around the state capital of Oklahoma City, near the state’s center, but also scattered elsewhere around the state. The early morning storms set off tornado warnings that extended south to the Arkansas state line. Heavy rains caused flash flooding in some areas and one lightning-sparked house fire was reported.

More than 99,000 Oklahoma homes and businesses lost power during the overnight storms. By late Sunday afternoon, that number was reduced to around 24,000. No fatalities had been reported.

Richard Thompson, forecast chief for the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma, said he believes six or more tornadoes hit the state overnight. Meanwhile, forecasters warned state residents to brace for more heavy rain and possible severe weather through Monday.

“We’re not done with it yet,” he said.

A tornado watch for much of the central and southeast part of Oklahoma was in effect until 8 p.m. Sunday. Other areas were under thunderstorm or flood watches.

In the town of Choctaw, east of Oklahoma City, firefighters and police officers went door to door Sunday morning to ask about injuries.

“It leveled a complete neighborhood in Choctaw,” the town’s mayor, Chad Allcox, told The Associated Press. He added that debris hindered search and rescue efforts. “Power lines are down everywhere … a lot of the roads are blocked, hard to get through. Very large trees blocking roadways.”

Oklahoma City Fire Department spokesman Scott Douglas told AP that heavy rain and the lingering threat of tornadoes in the early morning darkness complicated early search and rescue efforts. He described a first sweep of hard-hit areas around 1:30 a.m.

“It was a heavy downpour. We were trying to sweep the area with another possibility of a tornado coming through,” he said. “So that was in the back of our minds, too.”

Emergency workers had to free two people from an overturned mobile home, including a woman injured when an air conditioner landed on her leg, Douglas said.

The scale of the damage came into focus as daylight broke. Local television footage showed downed power lines, walls peeled off homes, overturned vehicles and neighborhood streets littered with debris.

Douglas said 11 people were transported to hospitals with injuries that were not life-threatening. “There were some other minor injuries, some walking wounded, that were going to get treatment on their own,” Douglas said.

Allcox said early weather warnings and tornado sirens likely saved lives.

A handful of shelters — including one opened at a casino by the American Red Cross — are available for displaced residents or those without power, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said.

The Oklahoma Heart Hospital South also sustained damage, state health officials said.

At the University of Oklahoma, school officials had urged students and staff to seek shelter and move to the lowest floor as storms approached the campus after midnight. The National Weather Service office in Norman also issued urgent warnings, posting on social media: “If you’re in the path of this storm, take cover immediately!”

Parts of Oklahoma remained at risk for more heavy rainfall and thunderstorms later Sunday.

___

Associated Press reporters Kevin McGill in New Orleans and Jackie Quinn in Washington contributed.

Nacogdoches County man in custody after Sunday standoff

Nacogdoches County man in custody after Sunday standoffNACOGDOCHES COUNTY – According to our news partner KETK, Nacogdoches County Sheriff deputies were dispatched to do a welfare check in the 16000 block of U.S. 59 North at around 7 a.m. on Sunday morning. Shortly after the call for the check came in, more calls came in about shots fired. NCSO SWAT officers, the Nacogdoches Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety and Nacogdoches County EMS were all dispatched to respond to the reports of shots fired.

The man was eventually contacted and taken into custody at around 8:30 a.m. without any incident or injuries reported. He was then taken to a local hospital to be evaluated, according to the sheriff’s office.

Officials said an investigation into the standoff is underway.

TGI Fridays files for bankruptcy protection as sit-down restaurant struggles continue

Restaurant chain TGI Fridays filed for bankruptcy protection Saturday, saying it is looking for ways to “ensure the long-term viability” of the casual dining brand after closing many of its branches this year.

The Dallas-based company’s Chapter 11 filing in a Texas federal court accelerates a gradual decline for an iconic chain that was once near the center of American pop culture but has seen its customer base dwindle as tastes changed.

The company has boasted that its bartenders trained Tom Cruise for his role in the 1988 film “Cocktail.” Its serving staff’s button-filled uniforms, meant to evoke a fun atmosphere, were later parodied in the 1999 satire “Office Space,” starring Jennifer Aniston.

Rohit Manocha, executive chairman of TGI Fridays, said in a statement that the “primary driver of our financial challenges resulted from COVID-19 and our capital structure.”

Sit-down chain restaurants more broadly have faced challenges in recent years as diners choose to get food delivered or visit upscale fast-food chains like Chipotle and Shake Shack.

In September a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved a reorganization plan for the seafood chain Red Lobster after years of mounting losses. Italian American food chain Buca di Beppo filed for bankruptcy protection in August.

Founded in 1965 as a bar on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, TGI Fridays expanded over the following decades to become a ubiquitous suburban gathering spot known for its ribs, potato skins topped with cheese and bacon, and a decor bedecked with red stripes and Tiffany-style lamps.

Its empire peaked in 2008 with 601 restaurants in the U.S. and a $2 billion business, according to Kevin Schimpf, director of industry research at Technomic. Its sales in the U.S. were $728 million in 2023, down 15% from the prior year, according to Technomic.

It now counts 163 restaurants in the U.S., down from 269 last year. It closed 36 in January and dozens more in the past week.

TGI Fridays Inc. said it only owns and operates 39 restaurants in the U.S., which is just a fraction of the 461 TGI Fridays-branded restaurants around the world. A separate entity, TGI Fridays Franchisor, owns the intellectual property and has franchised the brand to 56 independent owners in 41 countries. Those remain open.

A United Kingdom-based franchisee, Hostmore, also sought debt protection in September and abruptly closed locations throughout that country after a failed takeover deal to acquire TGI Fridays.

During the pandemic TGI Fridays made an effort to expand into the delivery market by making itself a hub for so-called ghost kitchens, which have no storefront and only prepare food for delivery. Among the major creditors owed money by TGI Fridays is the delivery service DoorDash, according to Saturday’s bankruptcy court filings.

Another iconic U.S. sit-down restaurant, Denny’s, announced in October that it is closing 150 of its lowest-performing restaurants in an effort to turn around the brand’s flagging sales.

Nearly 200 families separated by US-Mexico border reunite briefly in annual event

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Nearly 200 families gathered Saturday along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border for heartfelt but brief reunions with loved ones they had not seen for years because they live in opposite countries.

Tears flowed and people embraced as Mexican families were allowed to reunite for a few minutes at the border with relatives who migrated to the U.S. Adults and children passed over the Rio Grande to meet with their loved ones.

This year, the annual event organized by an immigrant rights advocacy group happened three days before the U.S. presidential election, whose monthslong campaigns have focused heavily on immigration and border security. It also took place under increased security, according to the Network in Defense of the Rights of Migrants.

“We did not have barbed wire, we did not have so many soldiers deployed in our community,” said Fernando García, the organization’s director, highlighting the border security changes that the border has seen since the reunions began last decade. “The barbed wire had to be opened so that the families could have this event.”

García said he expects migration into the U.S. to continue regardless of who wins Tuesday’s election. Family reunions, he said, will continue, too.

“Deportation policy, border policy, immigration policy, is separating families in an extraordinary way and is deeply impacting these families,” he told reporters ahead of the event.