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DALLAS (AP) — The State Fair of Texas is laying down a new rule before millions of visitors flock through the gates for corn dogs, deep-fried delights and a friendly wave from a five-story cowboy named Big Tex: No guns allowed.

But that decision by fair organizers — which comes after a shooting last year on the 277-acre (112-hectare) fairgrounds in the heart of Dallas — has drawn outrage from Republican lawmakers, who in recent years have proudly expanded gun rights in Texas. On Wednesday, the state’s attorney general threatened a lawsuit unless the fair reversed course.

“Dallas has fifteen days to fix the issue,” Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement, “otherwise I will see them in court.”

Tensions over where and how gun owners can carry firearms in public are frequent in Texas, but the standoff with one of the state’s most beloved institutions has moved the fight onto unusual turf. The fair has not backed down since cowboy hat-wearing organizers announced the new policy at a news conference last week.

The fair, which reopens in September and lasts for nearly a month, dates back to 1886. In addition to a maze of midway games, car shows and the Texas Star Ferris wheel — one of the tallest in the U.S. — the fairgrounds are also home to the annual college football rivalry between the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma. And after Big Tex, the towering cowboy that greets fairgoers, went up in flames in 2012 due to an electrical short, the fair mascot was met with great fanfare upon its return.

But a shooting near the rows of food booths last year dampened the revelry.

Investigators said one man opened fire on another, injuring three people and resulting in police clearing the fairgrounds. Videos posted on social media showed groups of people running along sidewalks and climbing barriers as they fled.

Defending the new policy Wednesday, fair spokesperson Karissa Condoianis acknowledged it has attracted “both criticism and praise.” She noted that the fair previously allowed gun owners to carry concealed weapons “even after virtually all other public events ceased to allow the same.”

“This is the right decision moving forward to ensure a safe environment and family-friendly atmosphere,” Condoianis said.

Republicans lawmakers urged the fair to reconsider in a letter signed by more than 70 legislators, arguing that the ban made the fairgrounds less safe and was “anything but a celebration of Texas.”

In a separate letter to the City of Dallas, Paxton argued that the ban infringes on the rights of Texas gun owners. The city owns Fair Park, where the annual fair takes place; Paxton argued that gun owners can carry on property owned or leased by the government unless otherwise prohibited by state law.

A city spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday that they were reviewing Paxton’s letter “and will respond accordingly.”

Condoianis said Wednesday that the fair, which is a private, not-for-profit organization, “is not a government entity nor is it controlled by a government entity.” She said they are aware of Paxton’s letter to the city, and that it appears he’s “seeking clarification” on the city’s relationship with the fair and its use of Fair Park under the long-term lease agreement between the two parties.

Condoianis also disagreed that the ban makes the fair less safe, saying the policy is similar to rules at large community gatherings such as sporting events and concerts. She also noted that 200 uniformed and armed Dallas police officers and fair safety team members will be patrolling the fairgrounds. The fair said on its website that attendees go through a screening process before entering.

The fair is a “microcosm of the kind of mystique that comes with Texas,” said Brian Franklin, associate director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The fair, he said, speaks to Texans’ desire to emphasize the state’s rural cowboy heritage and being on the cutting edge of technology.

“You can go to the hall where it’s all the most amazing new cars and maybe other exhibits about technology,” he said, “and then you can also go and see the show cows.”

DALLAS (AP) — The Justice Department is defending a plea deal it struck with Boeing over planes that crashed and killed 346 people, saying in a court filing Wednesday that it lacks evidence to prosecute the company for more serious crimes.

Prosecutors said if the plea deal is rejected and the case goes to trial, they will not offer testimony or evidence about the causes of two crashes in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia, nor will they charge any Boeing individuals.

Boeing agreed last month to plead guilty to a single felony charge of conspiracy to commit fraud for deceiving regulators who approved the 737 Max. Under the plea deal, Boeing would pay a fine of at least $243.6 million, invest $455 million in compliance and safety programs, and be placed on probation for three years.

The Justice Department made Wednesday’s court filing in response to relatives of some of the people killed in the crashes, who asked a federal judge in Texas to reject the settlement. The relatives argue that the sentence approved by prosecutors is light punishment considering the loss of lives.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, can accept the plea agreement and proposed sentence, or he could reject the deal, which likely would lead to new negotiations between Boeing and the Justice Department.

Prosecutors said if the case goes to trial, they would still try Boeing on the same conspiracy charge, and not for two more serious charges: manslaughter or death resulting from fraud involving aircraft parts.

“The agreement is a strong and significant resolution that holds Boeing accountable and serves the public interest. It holds Boeing to account for the most serious, readily provable offense,” department officials told the judge.

The department repeated its previous position that even with the deal, Boeing could still be charged in connection with the blowout of a panel from the side of an Alaska Airlines Max during a January flight.

Boeing, which is based in Arlington, Virginia, is alleged to have hidden details about new flight-control software from the Federal Aviation Administration. In both crashes, the software caused the nose to pitch down repeatedly and forcefully based on faulty readings from a single sensor, and pilots were unable to regain control.

Boeing blamed two relatively low-ranking employees for the deception under a 2021 settlement that would have let the company escape criminal prosecution. However, the Justice Department revived the possibility of prosecution in May, when it told the judge that Boeing violated terms of that settlement.

Judge O’Connor has previously ruled that he lacked power to overturn the 2021 deal, called a deferred-prosecution agreement, and it is unclear whether he would scuttle a plea agreement.

The judge has accused Boeing of “egregious criminal conduct.” He also ruled that the Justice Department violated a law granting rights to crime victims by not telling families of the passengers about secret negotiations with Boeing before the 2021 deal.

This time, prosecutors “have repeatedly and extensively consulted with the families,” including discussing the terms of a plea agreement,” said the deputy chief of the Justice Department’s fraud section, Sean Tonolli.

“Their voices have been heard, considered, and incorporated into the government’s decision-making,” he said.

UVALDE (AP) — Not all officer videos from the the Uvalde school shooting in 2022 was given to news organizations following a court order, police said Wednesday as they announced an internal investigation into why the material was not discovered until after a large trove of footage was released over the weekend.

A large collection of audio and video recordings from the hesitant police response at Robb Elementary School, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers inside a fourth-grade classroom, was released by city officials on Saturday following a prolonged legal fight with The Associated Press and other news organizations.

It was not immediately clear what the unreleased video shows. The department discovered “several additional videos” after a Uvalde officer said a portion of his body camera footage from the May 24, 2022, shooting was not included in the original release of material, the city said in a statement.

The statement said an internal investigation will determine “how this oversight occurred,” who was responsible and whether any disciplinary action is needed.

“The Uvalde community and the public deserve nothing less,” Uvalde Police Chief Homer Delgado said in the statement.

The unreleased video was turned over to the office of Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell for review.

Jesse Rizo lost his niece, Jacklyn Cazares, in the shooting and said the news of the omitted video was disappointing and tears at a frail system of trust. But, he said he was pleased to know the police chief was forthcoming and hopes the investigation produces consequences.

“Anybody that was at fault, you’ve got to send a strong message that these mistakes are not tolerable,” Rizo said.

The Associated Press and other news organizations brought a lawsuit after the officials initially refused to publicly release the information. The massacre was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.

The delayed law enforcement response to the shooting has been widely condemned as a massive failure: Nearly 400 officers waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the gunman in a classroom filled with dead and wounded children and teachers. Families of the victims have long sought accountability for the slow police response in the South Texas city of about 15,000 people 80 miles (130 kilometers) west of San Antonio.

Nearly 150 U.S. Border Patrol agents and 91 state police officials, as well as school and city police, responded to the shooting. While terrified students and teachers called 911 from inside classrooms, dozens of officers stood in the hallway trying to figure out what to do. Desperate parents who had gathered outside the building pleaded with them to go in.

Some of the 911 calls released over the weekend were from terrified instructors. One described “a lot, a whole lot of gunshots,” while another sobbed into the phone as a dispatcher urged her to stay quiet. “Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!” the first teacher cried before hanging up.

WEST ORANGE (AP) — Newly available video shows police in southeast Texas making a dramatic water rescue of a woman whose vehicle was almost completely submerged in a pond.

Jonquetta Winbush’s two children, a 12-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl, managed to get out while Winbush was having a seizure in late July, West Orange, Texas, Assistant Police Chief Jessie Romero said Wednesday. Winbush then passed out and put her foot on the gas pedal, plunging her vehicle into the pond.

Body camera footage from veteran patrolman Charles Cobb, who was nearby monitoring traffic, shows Winbush’s son frantically approaching the officer.

“She’s having a seizure. She’s sunk,” the boy told Cobb. “She’s in the water. Help her.”

Cobb put the boy in the back of his patrol car and raced to Winbush’s vehicle, which was almost completely underwater. Two workers from a local plant had already gotten in the water to get Winbush out, Romero said.

After dragging Winbush from the pond, Romero said Cobb administered chest compressions.

“She was totally unconscious,” Romero said. “He was able to get a pulse back while he had her there on the ground and revive her until EMS got there.”

Winbush’s sister, Bevnisha Holman, said she personally thanked one of the workers, Epifanio Munguia, for helping save her sister’s life.

“I messaged him and (said) I want to personally thank you for being there for my niece and nephew and ultimately my sister, because he really helped save her life,” Holman told Beaumont television station KBMT.

After three weeks in intensive care, Romero said Winbush is now breathing on her own.

“She’s still in the hospital, but she’s going to make a full recovery,” he said.

TEXAS (AP) — U.S. highway safety regulators have closed an investigation into complaints that suspension parts can fail on nearly 75,000 Tesla vehicles, and they won’t seek a recall.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in documents released Wednesday that it found 426 reports of failures on the Model S from 2015 through 2017 and the Model X from 2016 and 2017. One crash was reported with no injuries.

But the agency found in testing and in checking complaints that the Teslas could still be controlled by drivers if the front fore links failed. So it decided to close the probe that was opened in November of 2020.

Tesla did a customer satisfaction campaign in 2017 to replace fore links on some of the vehicles. But NHTSA said that didn’t cover 75% of the failures identified in its investigation. The agency recommended that Tesla expand the replacement program.

A message was left Wednesday seeking comment from Tesla.

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that months after Texas turned down millions in federal funding to feed more than 3.8 million school children over the summer, a top Biden administration official visited Houston and San Antonio this week hoping to convince state leaders to participate next year. “When kids are healthy and have the nutrition they need, they’re better prepared to learn,” Xochitl Torres Small, the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said during a stop in Houston on Monday. While the trip was meant to highlight bipartisan legislation that has expanded school lunch programs and helped supply area food banks, Torres Small said the administration still wants to see Texas join the summer meals program to help students when they are not in class.

“We certainly are hopeful that it’s something they will invest in in the future,” she said. But Texas joined with 13 other states led by Republican governors that rejected the funding over concerns that they didn’t have enough time to implement the program and that there would be administrative costs that the federal government wasn’t covering. Nebraska was originally among the holdouts, but its governor, Jim Pillen, later reversed that decision. The federal program is designed to give children $40 a month through electronic benefit transfer cards over the summer when they are not in school, to take advantage of school lunch programs. EBT cards are like prepaid debit cards. But critics of the program say it twists an initiative developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to help students on school lunch programs even when they’re not in school. Those critics argue that USDA has morphed from a temporary assistance program into essentially a year-round food stamp program. On top of that, the Biden administration has expanded eligibility for the program to more families, creating the potential for middle- and high-income families to benefit from the programs.

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that Harris County Democratic Party leaders on Tuesday night selected former Mayor Sylvester Turner to run on the November ballot for the heavily Democratic 18th Congressional District, following the death of U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. With no time to hold a new primary election, over 80 precinct chairs from the district were tasked with selecting a new nominee on voters’ behalf. On Tuesday evening, hundreds of attendees gathered at the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church’s Community Life Center for the nomination meeting. After a three-minute pitch from each of the six contenders, 79 precinct chairs cast their first round of votes. Turner and Former Council Member Amanda Edwards received 35 and 34, respectively. With no candidate winning a majority outright, the top two entered a second round of voting, where precinct chairs stood on two sides of the meeting hall to indicate support for their preferred candidate. Turner prevailed with 41 votes.

Jackson Lee died last month after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, touching off a fierce but brief battle to win over precinct chairs and replace the long-serving congresswoman on the ballot. A longtime friend and close ally of Jackson Lee, Turner had received the endorsement of the late congresswoman’s family. He insisted no one could replace what the late congresswoman bought to the district. He said Tuesday that if elected, he would continue to advance causes championed by his predecessor, including combating violence against women and pushing for police reforms. “You can’t replace her, but you can certainly serve and honor her, and that is what I intend to do,” he said after being declared the winner. Several other contenders had tried to appeal to party leaders as a younger, fresher voice in contrast to the 69-year-old former mayor. Edwards, who unsuccessfully challenged Jackson Lee in the March primary, repeatedly referenced President Joe Biden’s decision to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, arguing that residents in the 18th Congressional District are also ready to elevate new voices. “I believe our community is, in fact, at a crossroads, and we’ve got one of two choices that we can make. We can either stay where we are, or we can choose to build upon where we are, build upon the congresswoman’s legacy in a way that is forward, innovative,” Edwards said Tuesday evening ahead of the vote. “We need a leader who will build on the promises today but also help pass the baton for the future.”