TYLER – The community gathered together Saturday in Tyler to celebrate the 91st Texas Rose Festival Parade.
This years Texas Rose Festival theme is “Fanfare of Festivals,” celebrating festivals from various cultures. The parade featured Duchesses and Ladies in Waiting in dresses centered around those themes, and the Queen’s float was the grand finale.
Our news partner KETK has provided a link in which you can watch their coverage of the Texas Rose Festival Parade. The link for it is here.
(WASHINGTON) -- Some ex-pats living abroad, including active-duty service members and their family members, are sounding the alarm after Republicans in three swing states have tried to delay accepting and counting overseas absentee ballots.
And there is already fear among Americans at home and abroad that no matter what the result, the damage has already been done, according to Sarah Streyder, the executive director of Secure Families Initiative, a nonpartisan non-profit that advocates for military families' rights.
"We are already hearing military voters from all states who feel discouraged from participating, if they have concern that their ballot won't even be counted," Streyder, who is stationed in England with her husband a Space Force member, told reporters in a video news conference with other advocates Friday.
Election officials and other political science experts say the suits filed in Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina in the last couple of weeks have no merit. The Republican plaintiffs, however, claim state election offices created loopholes that could allow ineligible people to vote through overseas absentee ballots.
GOP casts doubt on absentee ballots, election officials push back
On Sept. 30, five Pennsylvania GOP House members running for re-election -- Guy Reschenthaler, Dan Meuser, Glenn Thompson, Lloyd Smucker and Mike Kelly -- filed a suit against Al Schmidt, the secretary of the Commonwealth and Deputy Secretary for Elections Johnathan Ivlarks accusing them of providing guidance to local election offices to not allow ID requirements for their foreign absentee voters.
"The Commonwealth's practice is an illegally structured election process which makes Pennsylvania's elections vulnerable to ineligible votes by individuals or entities who could purport to be…eligible, register to vote without verification of identity or eligibility but receive a ballot by email and then vote a ballot without providing identification at any step of the process," the plaintiffs in the Pennsylvania suit alleged.
Reschenthaler is the only member of the five plaintiffs with military experience as he previously served as a United States Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps attorney from 2009 to 2012, according to his bio. He was deployed to Iraq during his tenure with JAG.
The Pennsylvania Secretary of State's office said in a statement that the lawsuit is "nothing more than an attempt to confuse and frighten people ahead of an important election," and the state law ensures that all overseas ballots that are sent out are eligible.
"Ballots cast by ineligible voters occur at extremely low rates and are routinely investigated and prosecuted by the appropriate authorities when they occur. Individuals registering to vote must affirm that the information they submit is accurate, with any false statement subjecting them to a potential felony conviction, prison sentence and substantial fine," the office said in a statement.
Pennsylvania election officials could not immediately provide ABC News data on how many absentee ballots have currently been sent overseas and how many of those ballots have been returned.
The Republican National Committee filed a pair of lawsuits in North Carolina and Michigan last week arguing their state rules are violating federal law and allowing ex-pats to vote despite never residing in their state.
In both suits, the RNC officials allege that the states' election officials have not created a secure system to verify that an overseas voter is an American and have specifically called out provisions in their election laws that permit spouses or dependents of military or overseas voters to vote in elections based on the residency of the military or overseas voter.
"As a result, certain people who have never resided in Michigan (or perhaps anywhere else in this country) are registering to vote and voting in Michigan elections," the plaintiffs in the Michigan case claim in their filing.
Similar language was used in the North Carolina lawsuit.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed amicus briefs this week seeking to dismiss her state's case, contending that the plaintiffs have no standing in their claims.
"Challenging a decades-old statute in this frivolous manner is both irresponsible and abusive. Their actions are a clear attempt to sow doubt about the integrity of the election and suppress the legitimate votes of American citizens," she said in a statement.
Nessel noted that absentee ballots have already been sent out to Michigan voters living overseas, and the RNC failed to file a timely notice of intent to sue under the Michigan Court of Claims Act.
Patrick Gannon, a spokesman for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, echoed that sentiment and maintained the state law allowing military family members to vote in the state is valid.
"North Carolina lawmakers adopted this law more than 13 years ago, as a way to implement a federal law that required states to make voting more accessible for military families and other citizens living abroad. It has been part of our state’s law for every election since then," he said in a statement.
As of Friday afternoon, over 22,000 Michigan military and overseas voters have requested ballots for the general election, according to data from the Michigan Secretary of State's office. Of that number, almost 8,000 voters have already completed and submitted their ballots to be counted, the data showed.
As of Friday afternoon, 8,451 North Carolina absentee ballots have been requested by military members and 20,571 ballots have been requested by civilians living overseas, according to data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Of those requests, 8,331 ballots were sent to the military members and 2,434 of those have been returned and accepted, the board said. There have been 20,449 absentee ballots sent to other ex-pats, and 10,481 of those ballots have been returned and accepted, according to the data.
Veterans, ex-pats furious over the move
Ray Kimball, a veteran who serves as an Arizona volunteer for the nonpartisan advocacy group Veterans for All Voters, told reporters on Friday he was furious about allegations made by officials who questioned the validity of absentee ballots back in 2020.
Kimball, a former Pennsylvania voter who said he mostly voted by mail when he was deployed overseas, said he was appalled that "partisan actors are doubling down," despite the lack of evidence to their claims.
"I took that as a personal insult to what I and tens of thousands of Americans including service members and civilians abroad have been doing for years prior to this narrative," he said.
One of the biggest concerns from legal experts and overseas voters is the request in all three lawsuits to segregate the foreign absentee ballots and stop counting them until the person can be verified.
Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, the president and CEO, of U.S. Vote Foundation, a nonprofit group that provides ex-pats with resources to help cast their vote, told reporters that this move was done to "just reduce the number of ballots counted overall."
"It is a complete disenfranchisement of U.S. citizens," Dzieduszycka-Suinat, who lives in Munich, said. "We are U.S. citizens. We do have a secure voting process."
Philadelphia City Commissioner Lisa Deeley told reporters that she has concerns that if the request is granted, it would put extra unnecessary work on the already overtaxed election workers.
"All that time, energy and effort doing that, that further chips away at people's confidence in the election," she said.
Lawsuits are just the beginning: Expert
Michael Traugott, research professor emeritus in the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan, told ABC News that the three suits are part of a strategy by Republican leaders aimed at sowing doubt in the election results in the months to come.
He predicted the three suits will be dismissed, especially in Michigan where he said the secretary of state's office has been efficient for determining voter eligibility.
"They do this in a very careful and systematic way and it's worked," he said.
Traugott said that election offices will be prepared for these attacks but they may not be able to control the public relations damage that the suits cause.
Kimball, however, said he believed that the majority of voters want more access to their right to cast a ballot.
"Bottom line this should not be a partisan issue. We should get behind the idea of Americans voting wherever they are all over the world," he said.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
A new take on Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel American Psycho is in the works, with Variety reporting that Challengers director Luca Guadagnino in talks to helm the project.
The trade notes that the film won’t be a remake of the 2000 dark comedy starring Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman and instead will be a new adaption of the novel.
“We are thrilled to add another elite filmmaker to our upcoming slate,” Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson said. “Luca is a brilliant artist, and the perfect visionary to create a whole new interpretation of this potent and classic IP.”
American Psycho follows a New York City investment banker who leads a double life as a serial killer. The 2000 film also starred Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto and Chloë Sevigny.
The film's soundtrack was filled with '80s hits from artists like David Bowie, Phil Collins, New Order and more. Huey Lewis and the News' “Hip To Be Square” played a prominent role in the film, but was removed from the soundtrack because it was included without getting the band’s permission.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
TYLER – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Tyler State Park announced the opening of a new headquarters for the park on Friday. According to our news partner KETK, the TPDW said in a release, the new headquarters is designed to make visitors check-in much faster and reduce traffic congestion.
Other features include, conference rooms, holding offices, a new radio tower, increased parking and an interpretive gallery that describes the history of Tyler State Park.
“It is exciting to see the hard work and dedication of so many colleagues, partners and supporters result in such a beautiful facility,” said Rodney Franklin, director of Texas State Parks. “I am happy that we are able to design and construct a park headquarters of which all of Texas can be proud. This new facility will help support staff, serve our visitors and tell the story of the park better than ever and is befitting of one our most popular Texas State Parks.”
DALLAS (AP)- One of the largest solar projects in the U.S. opened in Texas on Friday, backed by what Google said is the largest solar electricity purchase it has ever made.
Google executive Ben Sloss said at the ribbon cutting, about two hours south of Dallas, that the corporation has a responsibility to bring renewable, carbon-free electricity online at the same time it opens operations that will use that power. Google expects to spend $16 billion through 2040 globally to purchase clean energy, he said.
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who attended, said the solar project is a posterchild for the administration’s efforts to incentivize manufacturers and developers to locate energy projects in the U.S.
“Sometimes when you are in the middle of history, it’s hard to tell, because you are in the middle of it,” she said. “But I’m telling you right now that we are in the middle of history being made.”
SB Energy built three solar farms side by side, the “Orion Solar Belt,” in Buckholts, Texas. Combined, they will be able to provide 875 megawatts of clean energy. That is nearly the size of a typical nuclear facility. In total, Google has contracted with clean energy developers to bring more than 2,800 megawatts of new wind and solar projects to the state, which it says exceeds the amount of power required for its operations there.
Google, Amazon and Microsoft have all recently announced investments in nuclear energy to power data centers, too, as the tech giants seek new sources of carbon-free electricity to meet surging demand from data centers and artificial intelligence. Google has a commitment to get all of its electricity without contributing to climate change, regardless of time of day or whether the sun is up, but neither it nor other large companies are meeting those commitments with the rise of artificial intelligence.
The International Energy Agency forecasts that data centers’ total electricity consumption could reach more than 1,000 terawatt-hours in 2026, more than doubling from 2022. Estimates suggest one terawatt-hour can power 70,000 homes for a year.
The demand for power is also growing globally as buildings and vehicles electrify. People used more electricity than ever last year, placing strain on electric grids around the world.
In August, Google said it planned to invest more than $1 billion in Texas this year to support its cloud and data center infrastructure.
Google will use about 85% of the project’s solar power for data centers in Ellis County and for cloud computing in the Dallas region. In Ellis County, Google operates a data center campus in Midlothian and is building out a new campus in Red Oak. The rest of the solar power will go to the state’s electrical grid. Thousands of sheep graze in the area, maintaining the vegetation around the solar arrays.
“This project was a spreadsheet and a set of emails that I had been exchanging and a bunch of approvals and so on. And then you come over the rise over there and you see it laid out in front of you and it kind of takes your breath away, right? Because there’s this enormous field of solar arrays,” Sloss said during the ceremony. “And we actually collectively have done this. That is amazing.”
SB Energy said most of the solar farm components are made in the United States, and that’s only possible because the climate law formally known as the Inflation Reduction Act spurred clean energy manufacturing. The company expects the projects to be the first to qualify for an extra tax credit the law affords for using domestic content.
___
UPDATE: TYLER – Our KETK news partner reports that a 54-year-old man was charged with first degree murder after an argument at a Tyler restaurant escalated to a shooting death.
According to Tyler Police Department Public Information Officer Andy Erbaugh, the victim was identified as Heriberto Ramirez, 38 of Tyler.
Witnesses told police that Scottie Lee Goble, 54 of Frost, shot Ramirez after they got into a physical altercation. Erbaugh said Ramirez died from his injuries at a local hospital.
Goble was booked into the Smith County Jail for murder and is being held on a $500,000 bond.
Continue reading One dead, one charged with murder after Tyler restaurant shooting
TYLER – 
Tyler ISD recognizes National School Bus Safety Week from October 21 to October 25. This annual campaign serves as a powerful reminder of the critical role every driver plays in ensuring the safety of children as they travel to and from school. Each school day, millions of children rely on school buses, and the greatest risk to their safety occurs when children enter or exit the bus. Tyler ISD is using National School Bus Safety Week to raise awareness and encourage the entire community —parents, students, teachers, motorists, and school staff — to commit to these safe reminders. Continue reading National School Bus Safety Week
(TEL AVIV, Israel and GAZA STRIP) -- The situation in northern Gaza is "beyond horrific" as people experience intense levels of hunger and overcrowded hospitals struggle to care for patients amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, international aid organizations warn.
Last week, Israeli forces ordered evacuations of several regions in the north, including Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahia, as they work to surround Hamas fighters who are allegedly in the area.
Medical staff in the north say they are getting calls from all over northern Gaza asking for help, but ambulances are unable to reach the injured.
"The situation is beyond horrific and is very difficult and indescribable," Dr. Taghreed Al-Imawi, a member of the Palestinian NGO Juzoor for Health and Social Development and an OB-GYN doctor at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, said in a statement. "We have seen more than 23 pregnant women among the injured coming to the hospital since last week, wounded either by shrapnel or gunfire, suffering from fractures."
Kamal Adwan was one of three hospitals that doctors say were ordered to evacuate last week, but medical staff have refused to do so. The Israel Defense Forces has not confirmed if hospitals were ordered to evacuate.
In an audio message sent in Arabic to ABC News, Dr. Eid Sabah, the director of the nursing department at Kamal Adwan Hospital, said the maternity ward is overflowing with children who were transferred from the ICU to accommodate the growing number of patients.
"Medical supplies are dwindling to nothing -- especially medical supplies related to surgery, maternity and critical care," he said. "This is very dangerous and hard. The medical staff is exhausted and are not enough to cover critical patient care. They work 24/7 nonstop."
He went on, "We only have seven or eight beds in the critical care ward. This is terrifying. Patients on artificial respirators are suffering ... we emphasize that we don't have food. The medical staff can't eat, and they have to take care of suffering patients."
Gazans in the north say they are cut off from access to food, medicine and clean drinking water, and are unable to feed their families.
"We have not gotten any food or water for the past 11 days, the suffering is getting worse by the day," Ismail, a father of two currently in the vicinity of Jabalia, said through the nonprofit organization CARE International. "All the necessities for survival are lacking here in the north, no hospitals, no safe place, no safe drinking water, no medications for our children."
A new report released Thursday from the U.N.-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative warned that the risk of famine persists across the entire Gaza Strip, adding that the "worst case scenario may materialize."
If humanitarian aid delivery continues to be restricted, concerning levels of food insecurity and malnutrition will intensify, the IPC said.
The entire Gaza Strip has been classified as Phase 4 under the IPC, meaning there are large food consumption gaps that "are reflected in very high acute malnutrition and excess mortality" and that only emergency strategies can mitigate those gaps.
Nearly 133,000 people, or about 6% of the population, are classified as Phase 5, the highest stage of food insecurity. The report estimates the number of people classified as Phase 5 -- the equivalent to famine levels of starvation -- is expected to triple between November 2024 and April 2025, with the north and Rafah, on the southern border with Egypt, being the most affected.
Although there was a temporary surge in humanitarian aid being delivered between May and August 2024, September had the lowest volume of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza since last March.
"This sharp decline will profoundly limit food availability and the ability of families to feed themselves and access services in the next few months," the IPC report said.
The report also warned that about 60,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children ages 6 months to under 5 years old are expected to occur between September 2024 and August 2025 without significant intervention. Of those cases, 12,000 are predicted to be severe acute malnutrition.
The Israeli government has denied that conditions causing malnutrition exist inside Gaza and has said it works with international organizations to ensure necessary aid crosses the border into Gaza from Israel.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
HOUSTON (AP) — Robert Roberson, set to be the first person in the U.S. to be put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, was nearly out of options to stop his execution in Texas.
A state parole board, multiple lower courts and the U.S. Supreme Court had all rejected his requests to delay his lethal injection on Thursday evening for the killing of his 2-year-old daughter in 2002. And it seemed unlikely that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott would use his power to grant a one-time 30-day reprieve as he had only stopped one imminent execution in his nearly 10 years in office.
Roberson’s final hope rested with a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers who believe he is innocent and their extraordinary and unprecedented strategy to delay his execution: issuing a subpoena for him to testify before a House committee next week, which would be days after he was scheduled to die.
After several hours of legal debate Thursday evening among three different state courts, the Texas Supreme Court sided with the lawmakers and upheld a temporary restraining order that stayed the execution.
The unconventional method of using a subpoena to stop Roberson’s execution was punctuated by the delay coming from the Texas Supreme Court, the state’s highest civil court and which rarely gets involved in criminal matters.
“It really is highly dramatic and something I certainly have never seen,” said Sandra Guerra Thompson, a law professor at the University of Houston Law Center.
Roberson is now set to speak before the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on Monday. But beyond that, it is unclear what will happen in his case. A new execution date could be set. Roberson’s attorneys say they will use the extra time he has to fight for a new trial.
Here’s what to know about Roberson’s case and how his execution was delayed:
What was Roberson convicted of doing?
Roberson, 57, was convicted of killing of his daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine. Authorities say Curtis died from injuries related to shaken baby syndrome. Roberson’s lawyers and some medical experts say his daughter died not from abuse but from complications related to pneumonia. They say his conviction was based on flawed and now outdated scientific evidence.
The diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome refers to a serious brain injury caused when a child’s head is hurt through shaking or some other violent impact, like being slammed against a wall or thrown on the floor.
Roberson’s supporters don’t deny head and other injuries from child abuse are real. But they say doctors misdiagnosed Curtis’ injuries as being related to shaken baby syndrome and that new evidence has shown the girl died from complications related to severe pneumonia.
Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell has said the prosecution’s case showed the girl had been abused by her father.
How did Texas House committee try to stop the execution?
Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee late Wednesday decided to issue a subpoena for Roberson as a way of delaying his execution.
“This was the one of the few avenues open to them was the subpoena power that that they have,” Thompson said.
The committee’s members argued before on judge in Austin on Thursday, less than two hours before Roberson’s scheduled execution, that they needed to hear from Roberson about whether a 2013 law created to allow prisoners to challenge their convictions based on new scientific evidence was ignored in his case.
The judge sided with the lawmakers and issued a temporary restraining order that would essentially delay the execution. The order came as the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Roberson’s request to stay his execution.
The judge’s order was appealed by the state to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s top criminal court, which overturned it. The lawmakers had one final move: an appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.
Thompson said the lawmakers were able to ask the Texas Supreme Court to step in because laws regarding subpoenas are civil in nature.
“I think it’s extremely unusual, but not likely to become a regular occurrence,” Thompson said.
In its ruling, the Texas Supreme Court said while it has no authority over criminal cases, the questions being raised over whether the Legislature can use its authority to compel a witness to testify and as a result block the enforcement of a death sentence is a matter civil law that will have to be decided.
“While the news from the Supreme Court is encouraging, we cannot stop advocating for Robert because of this temporary win. Despite the extraordinary efforts of our elected officials, his attorneys, medical experts and the hundreds of thousands of people who spoke out for Robert, his fate is far from certain,” the Innocence Project, which is working with Roberson’s legal team, said in a statement.
What happens next?
Roberson is scheduled to testify before the Texas House committee Monday. Once he appears before the committee, that fulfills the subpoena and there is nothing to prevent the setting of another execution date, Thompson said.
Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson’s attorneys, said Friday that Mitchell, the district attorney in Anderson County, could seek a new execution date at any time after Monday’s hearing.
But under Texas law, a new execution could not take place until about 90 days after a judge sets a new date. The earliest a new execution could be set would be in 2025, Sween said.
“We will continue to seek out avenues to get relief for Robert in the form of a new trial. But the only obvious way that can happen at this time is through the (Texas Court of Criminal Appeals), which has not yet been inclined to look at the new evidence,” Sween said in an email.
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s road safety agency is investigating Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in documents that it opened the probe on Thursday after the company reported four crashes when Teslas encountered sun glare, fog and airborne dust.
In addition to the pedestrian’s death, another crash involved an injury, the agency said.
Investigators will look into the ability of “Full Self-Driving” to “detect and respond appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions, and if so, the contributing circumstances for these crashes.”
The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.
A message was left early Friday seeking comment from Tesla, which has repeatedly said the system cannot drive itself and human drivers must be ready to intervene at all times.
Last week Tesla held an event at a Hollywood studio to unveil a fully autonomous robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals. 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.
The investigation’s impact on Tesla’s self-driving ambitions isn’t clear. NHTSA would have to approve any robotaxi without pedals or a steering wheel, and it’s unlikely that would happen while the investigation is in progress. But if the company tries to deploy autonomous vehicles in its existing models, that likely would fall to state regulations. There are no federal regulations specifically focused on autonomous vehicles, although they must meet broader safety rules.
NHTSA also said it would look into whether any other similar crashes involving “Full Self-Driving” have happened in low visibility conditions, and it will seek information from the company on whether any updates affected the system’s performance in those conditions.
“In particular, this review will assess the timing, purpose and capabilities of any such updates, as well as Telsa’s assessment of their safety impact,” the documents said.
Tesla reported the four crashes to NHTSA under an order from the agency covering all automakers. An agency database says the pedestrian was killed in Rimrock, Arizona, in November of 2023 after being hit by a 2021 Tesla Model Y. Rimrock is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Phoenix.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety said in a statement that the crash happened just after 5 p.m. Nov. 27 on Interstate 17. Two vehicles collided on the freeway, blocking the left lane. A Toyota 4Runner stopped, and two people got out to help with traffic control. A red Tesla Model Y then hit the 4Runner and one of the people who exited from it. A 71-year-old woman from Mesa, Arizona was pronounced dead at the scene. Further details weren’t immediately available.
Tesla has twice recalled “Full Self-Driving” under pressure from NHTSA, which in July sought information from law enforcement and the company after a Tesla using the system struck and killed a motorcyclist near Seattle.
The recalls were issued because the system was programmed to run stop signs at slow speeds and because the system disobeyed other traffic laws. Both problems were to be fixed with online software updates.
Critics have said that Tesla’s system, which uses only cameras to spot hazards, doesn’t have proper sensors to be fully self driving. Nearly all other companies working on autonomous vehicles use radar and laser sensors in addition to cameras to see better in the dark or poor visibility conditions.
Musk has said that humans drive with only eyesight, so cars should be able to drive with just cameras. He has called lidar (light detection and ranging), which uses lasers to detect objects, a “fool’s errand.”
The “Full Self-Driving” recalls arrived after a three-year investigation into Tesla’s less-sophisticated Autopilot system crashing into emergency and other vehicles parked on highways, many with warning lights flashing.
That investigation was closed last April after the agency pressured Tesla into recalling its vehicles to bolster a weak system that made sure drivers are paying attention. A few weeks after the recall, NHTSA began investigating whether the recall was working.
NHTSA began its Autopilot crash investigation in 2021, after receiving 11 reports that Teslas that were using Autopilot struck parked emergency vehicles. In documents explaining why the investigation was ended, NHTSA said it ultimately found 467 crashes involving Autopilot resulting in 54 injuries and 14 deaths. Autopilot is a fancy version of cruise control, while “Full Self-Driving” has been billed by Musk as capable of driving without human intervention.
The investigation that was opened Thursday enters new territory for NHTSA, which previously had viewed Tesla’s systems as assisting drivers rather than driving themselves. With the new probe, the agency is focusing on the capabilities of “Full Self-Driving” rather than simply making sure drivers are paying attention.
Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said the previous investigation of Autopilot didn’t look at why the Teslas weren’t seeing and stopping for emergency vehicles.
“Before they were kind of putting the onus on the driver rather than the car,” he said. “Here they’re saying these systems are not capable of appropriately detecting safety hazards whether the drivers are paying attention or not.”
MIDLOTHIAN (AP) — One of the largest solar projects in the U.S. opened in Texas on Friday, backed by what Google said is the largest solar electricity purchase it has ever made.
Google executive Ben Sloss said at the ribbon cutting, about two hours south of Dallas, that the corporation has a responsibility to bring renewable, carbon-free electricity online at the same time it opens operations that will use that power. Google expects to spend $16 billion through 2040 globally to purchase clean energy, he said.
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who attended, said the solar project is a posterchild for the administration’s efforts to incentivize manufacturers and developers to locate energy projects in the U.S.
“Sometimes when you are in the middle of history, it’s hard to tell, because you are in the middle of it,” she said. “But I’m telling you right now that we are in the middle of history being made.”
SB Energy built three solar farms side by side, the “Orion Solar Belt,” in Buckholts, Texas. Combined, they will be able to provide 875 megawatts of clean energy. That is nearly the size of a typical nuclear facility. In total, Google has contracted with clean energy developers to bring more than 2,800 megawatts of new wind and solar projects to the state, which it says exceeds the amount of power required for its operations there.
Google, Amazon and Microsoft have all recently announced investments in nuclear energy to power data centers, too, as the tech giants seek new sources of carbon-free electricity to meet surging demand from data centers and artificial intelligence. Google has a commitment to get all of its electricity without contributing to climate change, regardless of time of day or whether the sun is up, but neither it nor other large companies are meeting those commitments with the rise of artificial intelligence.
The International Energy Agency forecasts that data centers’ total electricity consumption could reach more than 1,000 terawatt-hours in 2026, more than doubling from 2022. Estimates suggest one terawatt-hour can power 70,000 homes for a year.
The demand for power is also growing globally as buildings and vehicles electrify. People used more electricity than ever last year, placing strain on electric grids around the world.
In August, Google said it planned to invest more than $1 billion in Texas this year to support its cloud and data center infrastructure.
Google will use about 85% of the project’s solar power for data centers in Ellis County and for cloud computing in the Dallas region. In Ellis County, Google operates a data center campus in Midlothian and is building out a new campus in Red Oak. The rest of the solar power will go to the state’s electrical grid. Thousands of sheep graze in the area, maintaining the vegetation around the solar arrays.
“This project was a spreadsheet and a set of emails that I had been exchanging and a bunch of approvals and so on. And then you come over the rise over there and you see it laid out in front of you and it kind of takes your breath away, right? Because there’s this enormous field of solar arrays,” Sloss said during the ceremony. “And we actually collectively have done this. That is amazing.”
SB Energy said most of the solar farm components are made in the United States, and that’s only possible because the climate law formally known as the Inflation Reduction Act spurred clean energy manufacturing. The company expects the projects to be the first to qualify for an extra tax credit the law affords for using domestic content.
SMITH COUNTY – Smith County residents began casting their ballots October 21 during two weeks of early voting for the November 5, 2024, Presidential Election. Now through November 1, registered voters can cast their ballots at any of the eight early voting locations, which include:
First Christian Church – Christian Life Center Room 5: 4202 S. Broadway Ave, Tyler
Heritage Building: 1900 Bellwood Road, Tyler
The Hub: 304 E. Ferguson Street, Tyler
Kinzie Community Center: 912 Mt. Sylvan St., Lindale
Noonday Community Center: 16662 CR 196, Tyler
Starrville Church of the Living God, 18396 Highway 271, Winona
Whitehouse Methodist Church: 405 W. Main Street, Whitehouse
Green Acres Baptist Church – Flint Campus, at 1010 CR 137, Flint
Continue reading Early voting in Smith County through November 1
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WASHINGTON – The Dallas Morning News reports that when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop Texas from executing death row inmate Robert Roberson III, the Thursday evening ruling included sharp words from Justice Sonia Sotomayor. It was not the first time Sotomayor criticized the way Texas and the courts have handled death penalty cases. Roberson was convicted of capital murder in 2003 after his daughter died of what medical experts believed to be a case of shaken baby syndrome. Defense lawyers, backed by a bipartisan group of state lawmakers, pressed to delay the execution, arguing Roberson’s conviction was based on debunked theories of shaken baby syndrome and that he is likely innocent. When the Supreme Court rejected Roberson’s request for a stay of execution, Sotomayor cited a precedent establishing that the justices have “no power to tell state courts how they must write their opinions.”
“Nevertheless, it is notable that the [Texas Court of Criminal Appeals] decisions in this case do not address the whole of Roberson’s evidence of actual innocence,” she wrote. Sotomayor also criticized the Texas appeals court for inconsistent rulings on cases involving shaken baby syndrome. “The TCCA just this week granted a new trial to Andrew Wayne Roark, a non-capital defendant whose child-abuse conviction rested on the same shaken-baby-syndrome testimony, from the same expert witness, that led to Roberson’s conviction,” she wrote. “When Roberson sought a stay of execution based on the argument the TCCA credited in Roark, the TCCA summarily denied relief.” Roberson filed his fourth post-conviction appeal after the Roark ruling, Sotomayor wrote, “illustrating in detail that the testimony as to shaken-baby syndrome in Roark had been nearly indistinguishable from the testimony in his case.” Even so, she wrote, the Court of Criminal Appeals voted 5-4 to deny relief. Sotomayor acknowledged Roberson’s request for a stay lacked a “cognizable federal claim” for the court to act upon but said “few cases more urgently call for such a remedy than one where the accused has made a serious showing of actual innocence, as Roberson has here.”
DALLAS – WFAA reports that the Texas Department of Agriculture has authorized an executive order allowing farmers to tap the Rio Grande for irrigation. On Thursday, TDOA Commissioner Sid Miller issued the order following heavy rainfall in Mexico. According to a release from the TDOA, that deluge has caused significant runoff causing large amounts of freshwater to flow into the bay—wasting it. Rather than letting that water go to waste, Miller’s executive order allows farmers in the Rio Grande Valley to use it for watering their crops. Though Miller deemed the action justified in his statement, it comes in conflict with an 80-year-old agreement between the U.S. and Mexico—the 1944 Water Treaty. The treaty operates on a five-year cycle, where the U.S. delivers water to Mexico in the West via the Colorado River and Mexico delivers the U.S. water in the East via the Rio Grande. We’re in the fourth year of that cycle, and Mexico will likely be at a deficit with the water it owes the U.S.
Historically, Mexico has not held up its end of the deal, underdelivering on its annual obligation of 350,000 acre-feet of water. According to the U.S. Section of the IBWC, Mexico has fallen behind on its payments to the tune of 750,000 acre-feet of water. That has put farmers in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley operating with a limited water supply. “Enough is enough,” said Commissioner Miller in a release. “We’re done sitting around waiting for someone else to act. There is no reason the water overflow south of the Amistad and Falcon international reservoirs should go down the Rio San Juan to the Rio Grande and be wasted. The water belongs in the hands of those who need it most, not lost to the bay.” Miller’s order has no expiration, which could lead to further water disputes between the U.S. and Mexico in the future.