(NEW YORK) -- Here are the scores from Thursday's sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Mavericks 113, Jazz 115
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Flyers 5, Senators 4
Jets 1, Lightning 4
Devils 6, Panthers 2
Sharks 2, Rangers 3
Blues 3, Sabres 4
Bruins 2, Stars 7
Canadiens 0, Wild 3
Predators 2, Oilers 3
Islanders 5, Canucks 2
Blackhawks 1, Kraken 3
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Commanders 18, Eagles 26
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HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas man charged with trying to provide material support to the Islamic State group and planning violent attacks in Houston appeared in federal court Thursday.
Anas Said is accused of offering his home as a safe sanctuary for members of ISIS and saying he wants to take part in a terrorist attack like 9/11, according to court records. Federal prosecutors allege Said had spent time planning and discussing committing attacks in Houston, where he lived, and had used the internet to research how to make explosives and use cellphones as remote detonators.
“He has created videos extolling the ‘virtue’ of ISIS, the violence and death brought by ISIS, and the need for the terror perpetrated by ISIS to continue,” according to court documents. “He is dedicated to his mission to provide material support to ISIS in whatever form that may take.”
Said, 28, was arrested last week and on Thursday pleaded not guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Said, who authorities said was born in Houston but spent part of his childhood in Lebanon, will remain in federal custody.
Said has been on the FBI’s radar since 2017, said Douglas Williams Jr., special agent in charge of the FBI’s Houston office.
“To those wannabe terrorists who believe they can hide behind encrypted apps or anonymous social media profiles, please understand that we will find you and we will hold you to account,” said U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani.
Baldemar Zuniga, Said’s attorney, said in a statement that the allegations against his client revolve around providing support to ISIS only through videos and propaganda.
“Despite allegations that my client made statements to government agents regarding proposed terrorist acts, the indictment does not currently allege any planning, or acts of terrorism. This appears to be a lengthy investigation and it will take some time to sift through all of the evidence,” Zuniga said.
If convicted, Said faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
(NEW YORK) -- Women are stocking up on birth control and asking for long-term contraception methods following President Donald Trump being elected to a second term last week, doctors say.
Searches for "birth control" and "Plan B" doubled between Nov. 2 and the two days after the election, with a notable spike the day after the election, Google Search data shows.
Doctors told ABC News that patients are worried that access to birth control and contraception might be limited after Trump takes office due to efforts made during his first term and comments made on the campaign trail.
Dr. Brittany Cline, an OB-GYN at Northwestern Medicine, in Chicago, said she has seen an increase in the number of appointments being made for contraceptive or birth control counseling as well as appointments for long-acting contraceptives being either inserted or replaced or exchanged.
"We have, in clinic, seen many patients coming in for their [intrauterine device] replacements, even this week," she told ABC News. "On Monday, I used all of our intrauterine devices that the clinic had, and I think that this is going to continue over the next few months and even years down the line, as people try to take some control over their bodies."
Cline said she also received a message from a patient this week requesting four years of her birth control prescription be sent to a pharmacy.
'That's something that I have not, you know, seen before. Usually, we supply, you know, 12 months, one year at a time," she said. "We do know that as many medications, there is a shelf life, and so it would not be safe for me to prescribe four years' worth of contraception to a patient because of the shelf life."
Dr. Leslie Kantor, professor and chair of the Department of Urban Global Public Health at the Rutgers School of Public Health, in New Jersey, told ABC News that she has heard anecdotal reports of more traffic to websites that have information about birth control.
She said patients may be worried because of the federal contraceptive coverage guarantee. Under a provision of the Affordable Care Act, most private insurance plans must cover the full cost of most contraceptives, such as birth control, without making patients pay out-of-pocket costs.
If the incoming Trump administration allows employers and schools to use religious and moral exemptions to prevent coverage of contraceptives, as the White House did during Trump's first term, this may lead to out-of-pocket costs that make contraceptives unaffordable to some, experts previously told ABC News.
The experts say patients may be concerned due to comments Trump made on the campaign trail suggesting he's open to restricting contraceptives.
During an interview with Pittsburgh TV station KDKA-TV, Trump was asked if he supports any restrictions on a person's right to contraceptives.
"Well, we're looking at that and we're going to have a policy on that very shortly," Trump responded. "And I think it's something you'll find interesting and it's another issue that's very interesting."
When asked to clarify if he was suggesting he was open to supporting some restrictions on contraceptives, "like the morning-after pill," Trump dodged, saying. "Things really do have a lot to do with the states -- and some states are going to have different policy than others."
Some states have also taken it upon themselves to provide contraception access. In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer launched Take Control of Your Birth Control, a program to provide Michigan families access to free contraception including over-the-counter oral birth control pills, emergency contraception, condoms and family planning.
Both Cline and Kantor recommended that patients speak to their health care providers about the best birth control method for them as well as what options are available for them down the road.
"The advice that I would give to people right now is this is a great time to figure out the best birth control method for you, and you can do that in a variety of ways," Kantor said. "It's a terrific time to find an ongoing method of birth control that will work. …There's no reason, however, to panic. Access to birth control is not going away tomorrow, and in fact, it's not going away on the day that Trump becomes president."
ABC News' Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK) -- Americans' credit card debt has hit a record high, the Federal Reserve of New York said in a report released this week.
Credit card debt climbed $24 billion over a three-month stretch ending in September, soaring to a level 8% higher than where it stood a year ago, the report said.
Debt holders may seek solace in a string of recent interest rate cuts at the Federal Reserve, which typically reduce borrowing rates for credit cards. But credit card interest rates have proven stubborn, leaving borrowers saddled with near record-high average payments even after the rate cuts.
The average credit card interest rate stands at 20.35%, just slightly below a record-high of 20.79% attained in August before the Fed began cutting rates, Bankrate data showed.
Credit card interest rates remain high, in part, because the Fed's benchmark rate still stands at a historically high level, experts told ABC News. The incremental cuts in recent months have only partially reversed the previous escalation of rates meant to fight the nation's worst bout of inflation in decades.
That high baseline rate has collided with a rise in the average credit card margin, or the borrowing cost that companies place on top of the benchmark rate to weather default risk, cover overhead costs and recoup profits, experts added.
"Credit card rates are high, and they're staying high," Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate, told ABC News.
To set credit card interest rates, the industry relies on what's called a "prime rate," which is the rate paid by the most creditworthy borrowers. That rate is calculated by adding three percentage points to the Fed's benchmark interest rate. The prime rate, which acts as a baseline for credit card rates faced by all borrowers, currently stands at 7.75%.
The prime rate remains historically high because the Fed has, so far, taken just a few, incremental steps toward dialing back a yearslong series of rate hikes. In recent months, the Fed has cut interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point, but such relief offers little savings for credit card borrowers, experts said.
Policymakers at the Fed forecast another quarter-point cut next month, and cuts next year totaling one percentage point, but that will still leave interest rates at an elevated level, according to projections released in September.
"I don't think the Fed wants a rapid fall in rates," John Sedunov, a finance professor at Villanova University's School of Business, told ABC News. "It wants to gradually ease rates back."
The persistence of high interest rates has coincided with a rise in the margin charged by credit companies over and above the prime rate, some experts said.
The average margin charged by credit card firms reached an all-time high of 14.3% last year, according to a U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau analysis of Federal Reserve data. The margin increased sharply from a rate of 9.3% in 2013, the CFPB found.
The rise in credit card delinquency owes, in part, to a decline in personal savings, as Americans have spent down pandemic-era economic stimulus and turned to credit card loans, Sedunov said.
"Banks may view the amount of risk in credit card lending as higher than it was a few years ago, even though the Fed is lowering rates," Sedunov said.
Growth in credit card margins also stems from old-fashioned profit-taking on the part of credit card companies, some experts said.
Credit card profitability has increased over the past five years, and has outpaced the profitability of other business drivers at the companies that offer them, according to the CFPB report.
"Banks, especially large banks, are trying to make as much profit as they can," Fariz Huseynov, a professor of corporate finance at North Dakota State University, told ABC News.
Credit card rates may gradually decline in the coming months, since the Fed plans to make additional interest rate cuts, experts said. However, consumers should expect a gradual decrease that could be tempered by a bout of resurgent inflation or higher credit card delinquency rates, they added.
"If you're in credit card debt, my advice is: Don't make the hole even deeper, and shift to a debit card or cash if you can," Rossman said, pointing to the likely persistence of high credit card rates.
“The point is you have to do something,” Rossman added.
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TYLER — A 70-year-old man from California is now behind bars for the sexual assault of an Irving woman. The man was busted in Tyler. Irving police say Patrick Hoversten was caught on camera pushing his way into a business and forcing a woman into a back room to sexually assault her. Hoversten is a truck driver from Sonoma, California. Public records show the suspect has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 1975, including multiple felony charges and a charge for indecent exposure, which he spent time in prison for since it was a repeat offense. Hoversten is facing aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault charges
President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
This time four years ago I, and most of you who follow this column, were none too happy. We were coming to grips with the realization that Joe Biden had likely just eked out a squeaker of a victory against President Donald Trump in an election that was clouded by COVID-induced voting irregularities.
Though he ran as a “moderate,” I and many like me were convinced – and as it turns out rightly so – that Joe Biden would implement a far-left agenda.
Oh, boy.
But what we couldn’t imagine at the time, given that the smoke hadn’t started clearing, was that Biden’s election might eventually come to be seen as a blessing.
So it was in the days after the election. But by March 25, 2021, just eight and a half weeks after Biden took the oath of office, I, among others, was singing a slightly different tune. Here’s a portion of that week’s column that bore the headline, “The Biden Presidency Will Be Costly – To Democrats.”
All of the perfectly legitimate criticisms of Trump notwithstanding, on his watch wages rose, unemployment fell, order was restored on the border and prosperity flourished. For many traditional Democratic voters – notably blacks and Hispanics – it was their first-ever taste of prosperity.
None of that will be soon forgotten – particularly as Biden policies of higher taxes, open borders and increased regulation take hold and provide a jarring comparison.
Which means that whatever Democrats attain during a Biden presidency in the near term, they will pay for dearly over time.”
That bill came due last week. Thanks to Biden’s victory in 2020, and the administration that ensued, millions of American voters got to see and experience what far-left governance looks and feels like. And they sent a message last week that they aren’t having it.
Nobody sane wants a country with a wide-open border over which a flood of poor, uneducated, social services consuming third world immigrants pours in. Nobody sane wants the concomitant crime, drug trafficking and inevitable importation of incipient terrorism.
Nobody sane thinks that boys who “identify” as girls should compete against actual girls in varsity athletics (after changing clothes in the girl’s locker room).
Nobody sane thinks that men can have babies or that adolescent boys need tampons in their school restrooms.
Ordinary Americans weren’t much impressed when wealthy, liberal, coastal elites condescendingly told them that they are just too unsophisticated to understand the wonders of Bidenomics. That’s a hard sell to people who are having trouble paying for food, gas, and rent.
Put simply, the Biden administration was a real-world clinic in the failures of leftism. So, with a fresh understanding, the heartland of America rejected the radical leftism that hijacked the once semi-sane Democratic Party and chose a Trump 2.0 presidency instead.
If the history of Ronald Reagan’s similar defeat of Jimmy Carter in 1980 is any guide, the demographic and political realignments that put Donald Trump back in office will prove durable.
We have Joe Biden’s 2020 victory to thank for that.
TEXARKANA- Our news parner, KETK, reports that a Texarkana police officer was injured Thursday morning while working a I-30 crash when an intoxicated driver hit his patrol vehicle.
Officer Kevin Burk was working at the scene of a westbound I-30 rollover crash and parked his vehicle across the highway to divert traffic, the police department said. According to Texarkana PD, Burk was inside the unit flashing his lights when 30-year-old Matthew Patterson crashed into the side of the vehicle. Police said Patterson ignored all flashing lights and warning and was arrested for drinking while intoxicated. Burk was treated for minor injuries at a hospital and has since been released, the police department said.
“This serves as yet another reminder to never get behind the wheel of a vehicle if you’ve been drinking,” the Texarkana Police Department said. “Too many tragic things could happen in a heartbeat. It’s simply not worth the risk.”
The department said Patterson is sitting behind bars at the Bi-State Jail.
HOUSTON (AP) – A surprise pitch from a Chicago company with no experience building offshore wind farms has reignited enthusiasm for wind energy development in the Gulf of Mexico.
Hecate Energy, a company best known for land-based solar projects, presented its plan to build a 133-turbine wind farm in the Gulf shortly after the Biden administration canceled the region’s second lease auction in July due to insufficient interest from bidders. The failed auction came on the heels of the Gulf’s disappointing first-ever auction in 2023, which drew just one successful bid, submitted by German wind energy giant RWE, for a tract south of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and no bids for two areas near Galveston, Texas.
The Gulf’s offshore wind industry “could use a positive headline,” Hecate wrote in its application to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the agency in charge of offshore wind development in federal waters. By proceeding with Hecate’s application, BOEM could “generate momentum” in a region overlooked by offshore wind developers, the application said.
Hecate’s gambit appears to be paying off. Invenergy, another Chicago energy company, recently threw down a proposal for roughly the same two areas of the western Gulf, about 25 miles from Galveston. In an “Indication of Interest” letter sent to the BOEM in September, Invenergy proposed up to 140 turbines with a total capacity of about 2,500 megawatts, enough to power about a half-million homes. Hecate’s more modest plan would likely produce approximately 2,000 megawatts.
Suddenly, the Gulf is back in play, said Cameron Poole, energy and innovation manager for the economic development organization Greater New Orleans, Inc. While the Gulf has stronger storms and fewer potential energy customers than the East Coast, which has been the focus of U.S. offshore wind development, “these new proposals show that developers aren’t scared away by that,” Poole said. “It shows that interest is still growing in the Gulf.”
BOEM is waiting to see if more companies propose projects for the two areas, which total about 142,000 acres. The areas differ from the ones BOEM planned to auction in July, but the agency had identified them as suitable for offshore wind development in 2021. BOEM will likely initiate a competitive lease sale but no timeline has been set, a BOEM spokesperson said this week.
“The interest from industry leaders such as Hecate and RWE demonstrates the commercial potential in the region,” said James Kendall, BOEM’s Gulf region director.
Founded in 2012, Hecate has developed more than 47 solar and energy storage projects in the U.S. and Canada and a wind farm in Jordan. Its minority investor, Repsol, is an oil and gas company with offshore extraction rights in the Gulf and off the Alaska coast.
Invenergy has 74 solar and energy storage projects and 118 land-based wind projects in North America, Europe and Japan. The 23-year-old company is developing offshore wind projects off the New Jersey and California coasts.
Betting on the Gulf
While lagging behind the East Coast, the Gulf has the potential to be a wind energy powerhouse. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory determined the Gulf could generate more than 500,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy per year. That’s twice the energy needs of all five Gulf Coast states, and larger than the potential offshore wind capacity of the Great Lakes and Pacific Coast combined.
An initial flurry of interest in the Gulf from some of the world’s biggest offshore wind developers has waned as the industry’s overall growth in the U.S. cooled in recent years. The reasons are varied: supply chain delays, high interest rates, rising inflation and a lack of trained workers.
Louisiana and Texas have already capitalized on the offshore wind industry even if no turbine blades are spinning over the Gulf.
Louisiana firms with close ties to the offshore oil and gas industry have played key roles in the wind industry for nearly a decade. Six Bayou State companies supplied designers, engineers, ship operators, and other workers to build the U.S.’s first offshore wind farm, a five-turbine project off Rhode Island, in 2016.
About a quarter of all offshore wind industry contracts in the U.S. have gone to Gulf-based firms, with about $1 billion in investments flowing to the region’s ship and metal fabrication yards in recent years, according to the Oceantic Network, an industry trade group.
Louisiana has approved agreements with two companies to build small-scale wind farms in state-managed waters near Cameron Parish, in the southwest corner of the state, and Port Fourchon, the Gulf’s largest oil and gas port.
Texas political winds
RWE, the Gulf’s only lease-holder in federal waters, had lobbied regulators to boost leasing opportunities near Louisiana because it was the only state in the Gulf “that has signaled its interest in pursuing offshore wind policy,” the company said in a letter to BOEM.
Texas has stronger wind speeds, but its leaders have expressed strong opposition to offshore wind development. The Texas Legislature threatened to block wind farms from linking to the state’s power grid and hit companies with fines if they failed to meet energy generation goals. Just before last year’s auction, the Texas land commissioner pledged to do “everything in my power … to thwart this proposed boondoggle,” calling wind farms an impediment to shipping and fishing.
While the state of Texas may appear hostile to offshore wind, its cities are offering a warm welcome. Hecate’s application notes that Texas’ four largest cities – Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin – have adopted climate action plans that commit to a goal of net zero emissions by 2050. The four cities offer a combined customer base of about 6 million people.
The market for offshore wind power isn’t limited to cities. Hecate indicated it could steer its wind energy to oil and gas companies keen on making their extraction and refining processes a touch greener. The company would also likely tap into the growing market for “green” hydrogen, a fuel made by using wind or solar energy to split water’s molecules. Unlike coal or gas, hydrogen doesn’t produce greenhouse gases when it’s burned.
Federal and state grants are pouring into green hydrogen projects. The Biden administration and Louisiana have awarded about $75 million to develop interrelated green hydrogen initiatives in south Louisiana. A $426 million green hydrogen plant planned in Ascension Parish, about 50 miles west of New Orleans, is also tapping into government grants. Hecate cited the two projects as evidence of a robust developing market for its proposed project and other offshore wind farms.
“It’s a thin landscape right now with three wind developments in the Gulf,” said Poole, referring to the large RWE lease and the two smaller projects envisioned in Louisiana waters. “But we remain optimistic about offshore wind. It’s not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when.’”
TYLER – 
A Longview woman has been sentenced to federal prison for distributing fentanyl resulting in death in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs. Rebecca Diane Merkel, 43, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle. According to information presented in Court, Merkel operated what was known to drug users as the “Walmart of drugs” out of her residence located on Williams Street in Longview. There, she and her co-defendants sold various illegal narcotics, including methamphetamine and pills laced with fentanyl, in exchange for money, stolen goods, and firearms. Merkel’s customers included street-level dealers in Gregg, Rusk, and Panola counties. Continue reading Gregg County woman sentenced for distributing fentanyl
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AUSTIN – The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports private employers across the state are calling on lawmakers to mend existing gaps in the child care sector that are preventing businesses and the state economy from reaching their full potential at an annual price tag of about $9.4 billion. A task force of almost 70 businesses and organizations announced the specific actions they want to be taken in the upcoming Texas legislative session, which focus on creating partnership models, harnessing relevant data and simplifying the existing array of regulations. The Employers for Childcare Task Force — founded by the Texas Restaurant Association, Early Matters Texas, Texas Association of Business and Texas 2036 — revealed its legislative agenda on Wednesday, Nov. 13, in a virtual press conference about a year after its formation in late 2023.
The task force was created in response to the lack of affordable, accessible and quality child care that limits — or fully prevents — some parents’ ability to participate in the workforce. The resulting turnover and understaffing seen by employers has prompted them to take action toward building a better economic foundation for the state. A recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation study showed Texas is estimated to be losing out on roughly $9.4 billion annually because of child care woes. State lawmakers in both chambers have been assigned to study the issues impacting the child care sector, and proposed solutions, ahead of the legislative session that begins Jan. 14. House Speaker Dade Phelan last month announced eight work groups for House members to voluntarily join, one of which is focused on child care accessibility and affordability. The group laid out the following six policy recommendations: Pass legislation to help employers, no matter their size, help their employees find affordable, quality child care through partnerships. Require Texas Workforce Commission and Texas Health and Human Services Commission to collaboratively streamline child care regulations. Improve data sharing across agencies to better inform state officials on child care opportunities and outcomes. Maintain existing sunset scheduling dates for the Texas Workforce Commission and Texas Health and Human Services Commission so the legislature can evaluate the proper regulatory structure for child care in a timely manner. Strengthen child care workforce by helping eligible workers obtain child care subsidies for themselves. Remove costly local regulation barriers (such as zoning) for home-based child care operations, which are already regulated extensively by the state.
HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Astrodome has been in limbo, waiting for its chance at a second life since being shuttered more than 15 years ago.
It was a technological marvel when it opened in 1965. But its heyday has long passed and it hasn’t been home to a sports team since the Astros left in 1999 and it was closed to all events a decade later.
Over the years, ideas for its redevelopment and rebirth have been plentiful, everything from turning it into an indoor water park to flooding its sunken floor in order to reenact naval battle scenes. But none of these plans garnered enough public support or financing.
The latest proposal to refurbish the Astrodome was unveiled on Wednesday by a nonprofit focused on saving the beloved domed stadium. The group, the Astrodome Conservancy, proposes redeveloping the inside of the structure to create new areas for restaurants, retail, office and cultural spaces. But like the others before it, this plan could face a similar fate, with a $1 billion price tag and an initial lack of support from local entities that would need to give their OK for the project to go forward.
Beth Wiedower Jackson, the conservancy’s executive director, said that unlike previous proposals, her organization believes theirs is backed by data and would be economically viable in part because there would be enough private investment to support it.
“This is a big, big, bold vision. And those previous plans, even admitted by Harris County officials, were a first step towards a future Astrodome. And this is the full swing of the bat. And this gives people something to be excited about,” Jackson said.
The plan, Vision: Astrodome, proposes the construction of four state-of-the-art buildings inside the stadium that would offer spaces for restaurants, stores and offices. Similar spaces for shopping and eating would also be located around the Astrodome and connected to other facilities around the stadium. The Astrodome is at NRG Park, a 350-acre complex that includes NRG Stadium, located right next to the Astrodome and home to the NFL’s Houston Texans, as well as an arena and exhibition halls.
“The Astrodome is ready now for its next chapter, redevelopment,” said Phoebe Tudor, the conservancy’s chairman. “It is time for all of us in Houston to come together and do something hard, working together to repurpose the Astrodome.”
Nicknamed “the Eighth Wonder of the World,” the Astrodome ushered in a change in how people attended sporting events. It also hosted various cultural events, including concerts by Elvis and Tejano music star Selena as well as the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King in 1973.
Some people have called for its demolition. But a 2017 designation by the Texas Historical Commission as a state antiquities landmark essentially protects it from wholesale destruction. The stadium also maintains a strong foothold in the memories of many people both in and outside of Houston.
Rafi Kohan, whose 2017 book “The Arena” explores the place sports stadiums hold in American culture, said the Astrodome’s construction came at a time of incredible technological innovation in the United States, and it helped transform Houston from what some saw as a “backwoods cow town” into a leader in technology. Houston became the home of the space program with the opening of Johnson Space Center in 1964.
“There was and continues to be a lot of civic pride around the Astrodome, what it represented, the sort of space age feat, you know, in stadium form,” Kohan said.
Douglas Brinkley, a historian and professor at Houston’s Rice University, said the Astrodome has tremendous historical relevance and is worth saving.
“It’s been our fault that we’ve neglected it or not invested in it. But a turnaround is upon us right now. We’re going to get this done,” Brinkley said.
But whether there continues to be enough support in Houston to refurbish and save the Astrodome remains to be seen. It costs between $100,000 and $200,000 a year to maintain the stadium.
The Astrodome is owned by Harris County and managed by the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation.
The office of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the county’s top elected official, declined to comment on the conservancy’s proposal.
James Dixon, the sports and convention corporation’s chairman, said in a statement that he respects the conservancy’s efforts but “over the last few years, we have seen several concepts that, while thought-provoking, haven’t resulted in viable funding and maintenance solutions.”
Dixon said his organization and the county are working with other stakeholders on a plan for the future of NRG Park and “the solution for the Astrodome must be decided within that context.”
One of those stakeholders, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which holds its annual event at NRG Park and would have a say on what to do with the Astrodome, was not on board with the conservancy’s proposal.
“The proposed plan by the Astrodome Conservancy does not align with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s strategic vision and operational requirements,” Chris Boleman, the group’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Just hours after Republican Sen. John Thune was elected as the incoming Senate majority leader on Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump presented him with one of his first tests — an announcement that he intends to nominate controversial Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general.
The Florida Republican is one of the more universally disliked members of Congress, including among GOP lawmakers after he led the effort to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year. He has spent his congressional career agitating against the Justice Department and has been under a House Ethics investigation probing whether he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct. Gaetz denies the allegations.
Asked about the nomination as he left a Senate vote, Thune smiled and declined to answer. “That’s probably a good question for the chairman of the Judiciary Committee,” he said.
An hour earlier, the likely incoming chairman of the Judiciary panel, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, also deflected, saying he doesn’t know Gaetz but will look at the nomination. “Don’t ask me any other questions,” Grassley said.
Two months before Trump even takes office, he is already challenging those congressional Republicans to defy him as he nominates potentially controversial figures to his Cabinet — including Gaetz, former Democratic House Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and conservative media personality Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense. On Sunday, Trump even said in a post on X that he wants the new Senate leader to allow him to make appointments when the chamber is on recess, bypassing confirmation votes altogether.
“I think it’s a little bit of a test,” said Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, who called the Gaetz nomination a “Hail Mary” pass from Trump. Cramer said he sees Gaetz as a disruptive force in the House and has concerns about the “serious allegations” against him, but stopped short of saying he wouldn’t vote for his confirmation.
“It will take a lot of political capital to get him across,” Cramer said, adding that “there will forever be tension between the branches.”
What’s unclear is how much political capital Trump will have to expend to get his picks through — or whether it will even be necessary. Republicans will have a 53-seat majority in the Senate next year, giving them room to lose a few votes.
Immediately after his election as the incoming GOP leader, Thune suggested that the Senate will not fully relinquish its power to vet nominations — but kept the door open to Trump’s suggested changes.
“The Senate has an advise and consent rule in the Constitution,” Thune said, adding that Senate Republicans will do everything they can to get Trump’s nominees quickly in place.
“How that happens remains to be seen,” Thune said.
While Trump’s announcement about Gaetz sent an immediate shock wave around Capitol Hill, many Republican senators who will be tasked with confirming him were reluctant to publicly criticize the pick.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Judiciary panel, said he didn’t know Gaetz “other than his public persona,” and said he won’t “prejudge any of these” nominations.
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, elected Wednesday as the incoming No. 2 Republican in the Senate next year, would only say that Trump “is going to continue to make his appointments. We’re going to continue to look forward to them coming to the Senate and have hearings and get his Cabinet confirmed as quickly as possible.”
“I’ve got nothing for you,” said Sen. Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican. “We’ll see,” said Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin when asked whether he would support Gaetz’s confirmation.
A few GOP senators praised Gaetz, who resigned from the House shortly after the announcement, ending the House Ethics investigation and making way for a replacement to be elected before the new Congress is sworn in Jan. 3.
“I’ve known Matt for a very long time, we’re friends,” said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who was nominated for secretary of state Wednesday, but was instead flooded with questions about Gaetz. “I think he would do a very good job for the president.”
Gaetz is “a smart, clever guy,” said South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, though he said “he’ll have to answer some tough questions in the hearing, and we’ll see how he does.”
Other Republican senators, like Cramer, were skeptical while stopping short of saying they would oppose his nomination.
Gaetz “will have his work cut out for him,” said North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, adding that it should “make for a popcorn-eating confirmation hearing.”
Maine Sen. Susan Collins said she was “shocked” by Gaetz’s nomination.
“I recognize that the president-elect has the right to nominate whomever he wishes, but we in Congress have a responsibility under the Constitution and our advise and consent, which will lead to hearings, an FBI background check and an awful lot of questions being asked in this case,” Collins said.
Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, and said last year that the Justice Department’s investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls had ended with no federal charges against him.
Democrats were appalled.
“This nomination is the first test of whether Republicans are willing to stand up to Donald Trump and go with conscience and conviction as opposed to just politics,” said Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic member of the Judiciary panel.
New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., was even more blunt.
“People voted for cheaper eggs, not whatever the f@#€ this is,” he posted on X, referring to last week’s election.
