KTBB News, Weather, Talk

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City can’t use an unconstitutional, two-century-old “anti-pauper” law to block the state of Texas from offering migrants free bus rides to the city from the southern border, a state judge has ruled.

The court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit brought by Mayor Eric Adams in January against charter bus companies contracted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. It sought to bar them from knowingly dropping off “needy persons,” citing an 1817 state law that criminalized bringing an indigent person into the state “for the purpose of making him a public charge.”

Justice Mary Rosado said in a sternly worded decision that the law is unconstitutional for several reasons.

For one, she wrote, states are not permitted to regulate the interstate transportation of people based on their economic status.

The statute also “violates a fundamental right — the right to travel,” she added.

Rosado said requiring bus operators to screen passengers based on the possibility that they may need public assistance when they get to their destination would infringe on that fundamental right, and punishing the bus companies for failing to keep poor people out of the city would be improper.

The judge concluded by saying that if city officials want to do something, they should turn to Congress rather than ask the court to enforce “an antiquated, unconstitutional statute to infringe on an individual’s right to enter New York based on economic status.”

Starting in 2022, the state of Texas began offering migrants free bus rides to cities with Democratic mayors. At least 46,000 were sent to New York, 19,000 to Denver, 37,000 to Chicago and over 17,000 to other cities, according to Abbott’s office.

At the time, Adams, a Democrat, said the trips were illegal and amounted to “political ploys from the state of Texas.”

It would have been difficult for New York City to sue Texas due to a legal doctrine known as sovereign immunity, so it went after the private charter companies instead.

Despite the court loss, the Adams administration said the lawsuit has had its desired effect: Fewer charter buses brought immigrants to the city after it was filed, and none have been identified since June, according to a statement from his office. Adams has not given up on further action, either.

“We are reviewing our legal options to address the costs shifted to New York City as a result of the Texas busing scheme,” mayoral spokesperson Liz Garcia said in a statement.

The New York Civil Liberties Union applauded the court’s decision.

“Mayor Adams is not above the law and cannot keep wrongly exploiting the plight of newly arrived immigrants to bolster his own political agenda,” NYCLU senior staff lawyer Beth Haroules said. “Everyone, regardless of their citizenship status or income, has the right to freely travel and reside anywhere within the United States.”

Abbot said during one visit to New York City that Adams was right to be upset about the surge in migrants but should be blaming President Joe Biden.

Adams ultimately did criticize the federal government, saying it had an obligation to help the city pay for housing and providing services to migrants.

New York has long provided shelter to more homeless people than any other U.S. city, in part because of a 1981 court ruling requiring it to shelter anyone who asks for it. City officials say they have provided shelter and other services to more than 200,000 immigrants in the past two years, only a fraction of whom arrived via Texas-sponsored buses.

As the new arrivals swelled, New York and other cities ended up following Abbott’s lead, offering migrants free bus tickets to other places. New York paid over 4,800 fares for immigrants to travel to Texas, including some who had been bused from there, according to city officials.

AUSTIN (AP) —Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars broadcasts could end next week as he faces a court-ordered auction of his company’s assets to help pay the more than $1 billion defamation judgment he owes families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Or maybe not.

Both opponents and supporters of the bombastic internet show and radio host have expressed interest in bidding on the Infowars properties he has built over the past 25 years. They include Roger Stone, an ally of Jones and Donald Trump, and anti-Jones progressive media groups. If Jones supporters buy the assets, he could end up staying on Infowars.

Up for sale are everything from Jones’ studio desk to Infowars’ name, video archive, social media accounts and product trademarks. Buyers can even purchase an armored truck and video cameras. For now, Jones’ personal social media, including his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, with 3 million followers, are not up for sale, but court proceedings on whether they should be auctioned are pending.

The auctions resulted from Jones’ personal bankruptcy case, which he filed in late 2022 after the Sandy Hook families were awarded nearly $1.5 billion in damages in lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas over his claims that the school shooting was a hoax. Many of Jones’ personal assets also are being liquidated to help pay the judgment.

The deadline to submit bids and nondisclosure agreements on the Infowars assets is Friday afternoon. After the bids are reviewed, prospective buyers deemed qualified will be invited to a live auction that could see multiple bidding rounds next Wednesday. Any items not sold will be put up at another auction on Dec. 10.

Jones has expressed confidence that supporters — whom he did not name — will buy the assets of Infowars and its parent company, Free Speech Systems, allowing him to continue using its platforms. He also appears to be preparing for losing the brand because he has set up new websites and social media accounts and has been directing his audience to them.

“There’s a lot of buyers, people that are patriots that want it and will come in,” Jones said on his show in August. “If not … we’ll work with somebody else, fire something up. And it’ll be a little bit of a hiccup for the crew, and things. But that will just make us bigger.”

Email messages to Infowars and Jones’ bankruptcy lawyer were not returned.

It’s not clear how much money the auctions might bring in. In court documents, Free Speech Systems listed the total value of its properties and holdings at $18 million. Proceeds from the sales will go to creditors including the Sandy Hook families, who have not yet received any money from Jones and his company.

Confidentiality agreements and sealed bids generally are used in auctions to maximize bid amounts while preventing bidders from talking to each other and driving down the offers. The trustee in Jones’ bankruptcy case said in court documents that the procedures for the Infowars auction were designed to attract the highest possible bids.

Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut lawyer representing the Sandy Hook families, called the auctions an important milestone in their yearslong fight to hold Jones accountable. He also said the families will be seeking a portion of all Jones’ future income.

“From the beginning, the Connecticut families have sought to hold Jones fully accountable for his lies and to protect other families from him,” Mattei said. “Stripping Jones of the corrupt business he used to attack the families while poisoning the minds of his listeners is an important measure of justice.”

The families sued Jones and his company for defamation and emotional distress for repeatedly saying on his show that the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control.

Parents and children of many of the victims testified that they were traumatized by Jones’ hoax conspiracies and threats by his followers.

Jones, who has since acknowledged that the shooting did happen, is appealing the judgments.

Jones has made millions of dollars from his internet and radio shows, primarily through sales of nutritional supplements, survival gear, clothing and other merchandise.

Jones and other right-wing commentators once on the fringe have catapulted in popularity as many people have moved away from traditional news sources. Trump elevated them further during his 2024 campaign by repeating some of their conspiracy theories and appearing on several of their podcasts and shows. On Thursday, Jones, a long-time Trump supporter, even accepted proposals, some perhaps tongue-in-cheek, by Donald Trump Jr. and other conservatives to be the president-elect’s press secretary.

Stone, the Jones and Trump ally and a conservative commentator, said on his X account and on Jones’ show that he would like to put together a group of investors to buy Infowars. He did not return email and social media messages on Thursday.

“I understand the importance of Infowars as a beacon of the truth, as a beacon of truthful information. And therefore, I would like to do whatever I possibly can to ensure, if possible, that Infowars survives,” Stone said on Jones’ show in September.

People on social media also have urged billionaire Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and X, to buy Infowars, an idea Jones has backed but Musk has not publicly responded to.

On the other side, Jones’ detractors have shown interest in buying Infowars, kicking Jones out and turning it into something else, such as a news site that debunks conspiracy theories or even a parody site. They include officials at two progressive media sites, The Barbed Wire and Media Matters for America.

An opinion piece by The Barbed Wire in September by publisher Jeff Rotkoff had a headline that read, “Let’s Buy Infowars. Alex Jones used these exact materials to exploit his viewers, peddle conspiracy theories, and damage the lives of grieving parents. We want revenge.”

Rotkoff urged readers to donate money to help put in bids, but he said Thursday that The Barbed Wire, based in Jones’ home state of Texas, was now unlikely to make any offers.

“But we have talked to a number of similarly ideologically aligned bidders and we are certain we will be outbid,” Rotkoff said in an email. “We’re thrilled that there appear to be multiple well-resourced bidders who share our interest in undoing much of the damage to our country done by Alex Jones. We’ll be rooting for those folks to be successful.”

He declined to say who the other potential bidders were.

Who exactly has submitted bids so far has not been disclosed. Jeff Tanenbaum, president of ThreeSixty Asset Advisors, which is helping to run the auction along with Tranzon Asset Advisors, would only say there have been a large number of inquiries.

If detractors buy up Infowars’ properties and Jones gets the boot, he should be able to build new platforms fairly quickly, said Melissa Zimdars, an associate professor of communication and media at Merrimack College in Massachusetts.

“As long as there is an audience hungry for his content — and there is — he’ll be able to utilize X and various fringe social media platforms,” she said in an email.

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s highway safety agency says Tesla is telling drivers in public statements that its vehicles can drive themselves, conflicting with owners manuals and briefings with the agency saying the electric vehicles need human supervision.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking the company to “revisit its communications” to make sure messages are consistent with user instructions.

The request came in a May email to the company from Gregory Magno, a division chief with the agency’s Office of Defects Investigation. It was attached to a letter seeking information on a probe into crashes involving Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system in low-visibility conditions. The letter was posted Friday on the agency’s website.

The agency began the investigation in October after getting reports of four crashes involving “Full Self-Driving” when Teslas encountered sun glare, fog and airborne dust. An Arizona pedestrian was killed in one of the crashes.

Critics, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, have long accused Tesla of using deceptive names for its partially automated driving systems, including “Full Self-Driving” and “Autopilot,” both of which have been viewed by owners as fully autonomous.

The letter and email raise further questions about whether Full Self-Driving will be ready for use without human drivers on public roads, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has predicted. Much of Tesla’s stock valuation hinges on the company deploying a fleet of autonomous robotaxis.

Musk, who has promised autonomous vehicles before, said the company plans to have autonomous Models Y and 3 running without human drivers next year. Robotaxis without steering wheels would be available in 2026 starting in California and Texas, he said.

A message was sent Friday seeking comment from Tesla.

In the email, Magno writes that Tesla briefed the agency in April on an offer of a free trial of “Full Self-Driving” and emphasized that the owner’s manual, user interface and a YouTube video tell humans that they have to remain vigilant and in full control of their vehicles.

But Magno cited seven posts or reposts by Tesla’s account on X, the social media platform owned by Musk, that Magno said indicated that Full Self-Driving is capable of driving itself.

“Tesla’s X account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Magno wrote. “We believe that Tesla’s postings conflict with its stated messaging that the driver is to maintain continued control over the dynamic driving task.”

The postings may encourage drivers to see Full Self-Driving, which now has the word “supervised” next to it in Tesla materials, to view the system as a “chauffeur or robotaxi rather than a partial automation/driver assist system that requires persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno wrote.

On April 11, for instance, Tesla reposted a story about a man who used Full Self-Driving to travel 13 miles (21 kilometers) from his home to an emergency room during a heart attack just after the free trial began on April 1. A version of Full Self-Driving helped the owner “get to the hospital when he needed immediate medical attention,” the post said.

In addition, Tesla says on its website that use of Full Self-Driving and Autopilot without human supervision depends on “achieving reliability” and regulatory approval, Magno wrote. But the statement is accompanied by a video of a man driving on local roads with his hands on his knees, with a statement that, “The person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is driving itself,” the email said.

In the letter seeking information on driving in low-visibility conditions, Magno wrote that the investigation will focus on the system’s ability to perform in low-visibility conditions caused by “relatively common traffic occurrences.”

Drivers, he wrote, may not be told by the car that they should decide where Full Self-Driving can safely operate or fully understand the capabilities of the system.

“This investigation will consider the adequacy of feedback or information the system provides to drivers to enable them to make a decision in real time when the capability of the system has been exceeded,” Magno wrote.

The letter asks Tesla to describe all visual or audio warnings that drivers get that the system “is unable to detect and respond to any reduced visibility condition.”

The agency gave Tesla until Dec. 18 to respond to the letter, but the company can ask for an extension.

That means the investigation is unlikely to be finished by the time President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, and Trump has said he would put Musk in charge of a government efficiency commission to audit agencies and eliminate fraud. Musk spent at least $119 million in a campaign to get Trump elected, and Trump has spoken against government regulations.

Auto safety advocates fear that if Musk gains some control over NHTSA, the Full Self-Driving and other investigations into Tesla could be derailed.

Musk even floated the idea of him helping to develop national safety standards for self-driving vehicles.

“Of course the fox wants to build the henhouse,” said Michael Brooks, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit watchdog group.

He added that he can’t think of anyone who would agree that a business mogul should have direct involvement in regulations that affect the mogul’s companies.

“That’s a huge problem for democracy, really,” Brooks said.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The brother of a Texas businessman who is charged with killing his missing wife called for his brother to cooperate with law enforcement and direct them to the woman’s body Friday.

Brad Simpson, 53, was charged Thursday in Bexar County with the murder of Suzanne Simpson, 51, who has not been seen since Oct. 6.

“It is our sincere hope that Brad will find the compassion and courage to end his family suffering by cooperating with the authorities to help us find his wife,” Barton Simpson said during a brief news conference in the San Antonio suburb of Olmos Park.

“The situation is heartbreaking for us, but it brings some peace to our family knowing that the authorities have gathered enough evidence to move forward with charges,” Barton Simpson said.

“This helps us to come to terms with the reality that Suzanne is no longer with us,” Barton Simpson said.

Neither Olmos Park Police Chief Fidel Villegas nor Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Deon Cockrell discussed the evidence.

It was “enough information for the (district attorney) to take” the case and file charges, Cockrell said.

The arrest warrant for Brad Simpson was placed under seal by the judge in the case.

Brad Simpson is jailed on a total of $5 million in bonds on charges of murder, unlawful restraint, assault, tampering with evidence and possession of a prohibited weapon.

An attorney for Simpson, who was first arrested Oct. 9 on the unlawful restraint and assault charges, did not return a phone call Friday for comment.

Villegas, the Olmos Park police chief, said the search for Suzanne Simpson, which has included a wooded area around the couple’s home, a landfill and an area near where Brad Simpson was arrested along Interstate 10, continues.

The murder charge comes just more than a month after Suzanne Simpson, a real estate agent, was last seen alive outside the couple’s home in Olmos Park, where police have said a neighbor reported seeing the couple fighting.

“We hope that (charges) will allow (Simpson’s family) to enter the next phase of the grieving process,” Villegas said during the news conference. “We want them to know that the search for Suzanne is still ongoing.”

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new initiative from two Texas state departments aims to crack down on dangerous driving that contributes to serious and fatal crashes.

The Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Public Safety unveiled their safety partnership at a joint press conference on Thursday. The day marked the 24th anniversary of the last time Texas saw a deathless day on state roads: Nov. 7, 2000.

“It’s astonishing to believe that every day for the past 24 years, someone has died on a Texas road,” TxDOT’s Executive Director Marc Williams said. “Every. Single. Day.”

TxDOT detailed plans to develop traffic safety solutions and inform drivers on safer driving habits, while Texas DPS troopers will distribute tip cards during traffic stops to help promote better-driving behavior. The cards will be passed out over the next two weeks, officials confirmed.

Those messages will target some of the largest contributors to serious and fatal crashes, including unsafe driving speeds, impaired or distracted driving as well as travelers not buckling up.

More than 87,000 people have died in the past 24 years since the last death-free day on Texas roads. Nearly 4,300 people died on state roads last year, and the state is now averaging 10 traffic deaths a day based on current 2024 figures.

Prior to the somber anniversary, TxDOT announced this summer $17 billion allocated to roadway safety improvements as part of the state’s 10-year Unified Transportation Plan.

Story courtesy of KXAN Austin

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas (AP) — Jorge Bazán’s family has lived on the U.S.-Mexico border for generations and voted for Democrats as long as he can remember.

He broke the family tradition this year and voted for Donald Trump because he doesn’t trust the Democratic Party’s economic policies.

“I think they forgot about the middle class,” said Bazán, who works for the utility company in Rio Grande City, seat of the most Hispanic county in the nation. “People are suffering right now. Everything’s very expensive.”

The South Texas region — stretching from San Antonio to the Rio Grande Valley — has long been a Democratic stronghold. A slide toward Trump in 2020 rattled Democrats in the predominately Hispanic area, where for decades Republicans seldom bothered to field candidates in local races. However, few Democrats expected the dramatic realignment that happened Tuesday, when Trump flipped several counties along the border including Hidalgo and Cameron, the two most populous counties in the Rio Grande Valley.

In Starr County, where Bazán lives, voters backed a Republican presidential candidate for the first time in a century. The predominantly Hispanic and working-class rural county, with a median household income of $36,000 that’s one of the lowest in the nation, gave Trump a 16 percentage-point victory margin over Vice President Kamala Harris. Roughly 2 million residents live at Texas’ southernmost point, among vast tracts of farmland and many state and federal agents patrolling the border.

Trump’s victories in the Rio Grande Valley starkly showed how working-class voters nationwide are shifting toward Republicans. That includes voters on the Texas border, where many Democrats long argued that Trump’s promised crackdowns on immigration would turn off voters.

“I was always a lifelong Democrat, but I decided to change to Republican with the political landscape that it is now,” said Luis Meza, a 32-year-old Starr County voter. “I felt that going Republican was the better choice, especially with the issues of immigration and everything like that that’s going on.”

Meza said that he was against Trump at first, but noticed too few changes under President Joe Biden to justify voting for Harris.

Biden won Hidalgo County by less than half the margin that Hillary Clinton did in 2016. Since then, Republicans have invested millions of dollars to persuade Hispanic and working-class voters soured by Democratic policies.

A similar scenario played out in the state’s three most competitive races in nearby counties. Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz claimed a decisive victory in the 15th Congressional District. In the two other races, seasoned Democratic incumbents barely held on to their seats.

Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar narrowly escaped defeat against a political newcomer in the most competitive race of his two-decade career. Cuellar, whose district includes Rio Grande City, was indicted this year on bribery and other charges for allegedly accepting $600,000 from companies in Mexico and Azerbaijan. His support for abortion restrictions makes him one of the most conservative Democrats in the House.

Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez also narrowly escaped defeat by an opponent he comfortably beat two years ago.

Nationally, Black and Latino voters appeared slightly less likely to support Harris than they were to back Biden four years ago, according to AP VoteCast data. More than half of Hispanic voters supported Harris, but that was down slightly from the roughly 6 in 10 who backed Biden in 2020. Trump’s support among those groups appeared to rise slightly compared to 2020.

In McAllen, Texas, Jose Luis Borrego said that inflation and the promise of tougher border restrictions made him vote for a Republican presidential candidate for the first time.

“I wanted to see change and that’s why I did vote for Trump. I did vote red. I would not call myself a Republican” Borrego, 37, said. He said that he voted for Hillary Clinton and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders in prior elections.

Borrego’s whole family voted Trump.

“We just (made) this choice, because we didn’t have another choice that we felt comfortable with,” he said.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said he had months of visits to the region during his campaign race against Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred. In a victory speech on Election Day, Cruz said Hispanic voters are leaving the Democratic Party because of immigration.

“They are coming home to conservative values they never left. They understand something the liberal elites never will: There’s nothing progressive about open borders,” Cruz said. “There is nothing Latino about letting criminals roam free.”

Michael Mireles, the director of civil engagement for labor rights group La Unión del Pueblo Entero, believes that Democrats did not engage Hispanic voters enough about the issues that concern them.

“I think that folks on the Democratic side have been really slow to have those conversations with Latino households and families.” Mireles said in Hidalgo County after Election Day.

“We can’t wait for a big election to have those conversations. By that point, it’s too late.”

___ Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

___

This story has been amended to correct the spelling of Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez’s first name and Jose Luis Borrego’s age.

A federal judge on Thursday struck down a Biden administration policy that aimed to ease a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens.

The program, lauded as one of the biggest presidential actions to help immigrant families in years, allowed undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to apply for a green card without first having to leave the country.

The temporary relief from deportation brought a brief sense of security to some 500,000 immigrants estimated to benefit from the program before Texas-based U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker put it on hold in August, days after applicants filed their paperwork.

Barker ruled Thursday that the Biden administration had overstepped its authority by implementing the program and had stretched the legal interpretation of relevant immigration law “past its breaking point.”

The short-lived Biden administration initiative known as “Keeping Families Together” would have been unlikely to remain in place after Donald Trump took office in January. But its early termination creates greater uncertainty for immigrant families as many are bracing for Trump’s return to the White House.

Trump’s election victory this week sets the stage for a swift crackdown on undocumented individuals after the Republican ran on promises of “mass deportation.” The president-elect energized his supporters on the campaign trail with a litany of anti-immigrant statements, including that immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of the nation.

During his first term, Trump appointed Barker as a judge in Tyler, Texas, which lies in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a favored venue for advocates pushing conservative arguments.

Barker had placed the immigration initiative on hold after Texas and 15 other states, led by their Republican attorneys general, filed a legal challenge accusing the executive branch of bypassing Congress to help immigrant families for “blatant political purposes.”

Republicans argued the initiative created costs for their states and could draw more migrants to the U.S.

The policy would have applied to people who have been living continuously in the U.S. for at least 10 years, do not pose a security threat and have utilized the existing legal authority known as “parole in place” that offers deportation protections.

Those married to a citizen by June 17, the day before the program was announced, could pay a $580 application fee and fill out a lengthy application explaining why they deserve humanitarian parole. If approved, applicants would have three years to seek permanent residency and obtain work authorization.

It was not immediately clear Thursday whether anyone had received approval under the program, which only accepted applications for about a week before the judge placed it on hold.

Noncitizen spouses are already eligible for legal status but often have to apply from their home countries. The process typically includes a years-long wait outside of the U.S., which can separate family members with different immigration statuses.