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WASHINGTON (AP) — The election of Donald Trump returns an ally of school choice to the White House, this time with a Republican-controlled Senate — and potentially House — that could be more supportive of proposals that fizzled during his first term.

Although proposals to expand private schooling suffered high-profile defeats in several states, Trump’s victory has brought new optimism to advocates of supporting school choice at the federal level. One of their main priorities: tax credits for donations to organizations that provide private school scholarships.

Jim Blew, who served as an assistant secretary in the U.S. Education Department in the first Trump administration, said he’s hopeful the new Congress will greenlight ideas like tax credits for scholarships.

“The new members are all very clearly supportive of school choice, and I think that’s going to change the dynamics,” said Blew, who co-founded the conservative Defense of Freedom Institute.

Private school choice comprises several ways of using taxpayer money to support education outside of traditional public schools, including vouchers, education savings accounts and tax-credit scholarships. The idea of giving this option to all families regardless of income — known as universal private school choice — has soared in popularity in recent years and is now enshrined in law in a dozen states. Nearly three dozen states have some form of private school choice.

Yet the concept has faced pushback — and not just from groups like teachers unions that have long advocated for keeping public money in public schools. Some conservatives in states with large rural communities have questioned the programs’ merits, citing the lack of private schools in sparsely populated areas. In those areas, public school districts are often the largest employer.

In Tuesday’s election, voters in Kentucky rejected a measure to enable public funding for private school attendance, and Nebraska voted to partially repeal a law that uses taxpayer money to subsidize private education. A proposed constitutional amendment in Colorado that would’ve established schoolchildren’s “right to school choice” also was defeated.

Concerns about diverting money from public education appeared to gain traction in deep-red Kentucky and Nebraska. Ferial Pearson, the chair of an organization in Nebraska that advocates for public education, said it would continue working to provide public schools “the support and resources they need to thrive.”

In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday that voters sent a clear message that taxpayer money should go to public schools.

“This should end any and all debate. And this should end any attempts to take money away from our public schools to send them to unaccountable private schools,” Beshear said at a news conference. He renewed his pitch for larger pay raises for public school teachers and other school personnel, along with his plan to establish universal pre-K across Kentucky.

To some observers, it was unsurprising that even states that voted for Trump took a stand against school choice.

“Especially in the wake of the pandemic, with all the school closures and learning loss and chronic absenteeism, parents want something different — but they also like their public schools,” said Liz Cohen, the policy director at FutureEd, a nonpartisan research center at Georgetown University. “People want something new, but it doesn’t mean they want to get rid of everything.”

Cohen, who has studied private school choice expansion across the country, emphasized decisions on a ballot measure “feel a lot more local and specific than who you’re voting for for president.”

During his campaign, Trump touted school choice as a form of greater parental rights, aimed at countering what conservative critics describe as leftist indoctrination in classrooms and promoting a free-market approach to education.

One of his platform pledges is to “serve as a champion for America’s homeschool families” and “to protect the God-given right of every parent to be the steward of their children’s education.” He proposes allowing homeschooling families to use 529 college savings plans for spending on their children’s educational expenses, an option he advanced for private-school families during his first term.

In that term, Trump tapped Betsy DeVos — a fervent supporter of school choice — as his education secretary. That administration, however, struggled to get its school choice pitches off the ground. An effort to provide federal tax credits for scholarship donations flopped, as did proposals to slash federal public school programs by billions of dollars.

With a more favorable Congress, those initiatives could have a better shot. U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and the frontrunner to chair the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, has supported tax incentives for scholarship donations. And Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he will focus the next Congress on “maximizing school choice for parents and holding woke university administrators accountable.”

Some conservatives argue there would be benefits to leaving the issue to states.

“I … worry that we’re going to return to the political dynamics of Trump’s first term, which were very bad for the charter schools sector in blue states,” said Michael Petrilli, the president of the Fordham Institute, a right-leaning think tank. “Because Trump strongly supported school choice, including charter schools, he made those issues radioactive on the left, so reform-oriented Democrats were sidelined or silenced.”

In other races around the country, preliminary results show victories for school board candidates in Los Angeles and Chicago were concentrated among candidates who promoted traditional public education over alternatives such as charters.

In Texas, various pro-voucher legislators endorsed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott won their races. Abbott had sought to unseat GOP legislators who’d voted against a plan to subsidize private school tuition with public money. The newly elected candidates could give Abbott the votes needed to pass that voucher legislation.

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Associated Press writer Bruce Schreiner contributed to this report from Louisville, Ky. ___

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or maybe not.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He declined to say who the other potential bidders were.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A message was sent Friday seeking comment from Tesla.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Story courtesy of KXAN Austin