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EDINBURG — At 2 a.m. Friday, Rick Saldaña was traveling back to Edinburg from Mercedes, a city about 26 miles away, in an area known as the Mid-Valley.

The roads were flooded. The frontage roads that feed into the expressway resembled lakes. Hundreds of cars were abandoned by people unable to drive further.

The rain kept coming. Winds reached about 60 miles per hour and Saldaña could barely see anything.

“It came with a vengeance,” he said.

Saldaña is the emergency management coordinator for Hidalgo County. In his office in Edinburg, county workers and staff from the Texas Division of Emergency Management were still just at the beginning of what is expected to be a long road to recovery.

The effects from the rainfall killed at least six people. Four died from drowning in the Valley and in Reynosa, Mexico, and two from a house fire suspected of starting from a lightning strike. Hundreds more required rescue from their flooded homes or vehicles. By Monday, three days after the storm, several neighborhoods still remained underwater.

Assessments of the total damage are still underway, but Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for the four counties of the Valley. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was on the ground Wednesday to make their assessment.

Preliminary reports suggest the damage and recovery totals from the flood would likely exceed $100 million, according to the National Weather Service Brownsville.

“We were predicted to get no more than one to two inches of rain,” Saldaña said. “For whatever reason, it shifted. It shifted our way.”

Big storms have hit the Rio Grande Valley region in South Texas before. The most recent in Saldaña’s memory was 2018. March and April when the seasons change can be precarious, he said.

“To me, those are scarier because you have no time to plan, versus with a hurricane, they give you ample time to start monitoring,” he said. “These come in as surprises, and that’s what happened. It surprised all of us.”

Saldaña said the county has made significant strides in improving the drainage system since then by widening the drainage canals to expand the amount of water that can flow through them.

But what the area saw last week was a 100-year flood, he said.

“Our drainage system couldn’t support it,” he said. “It doesn’t make a difference if you have the world’s best drainage system.”

Between March 26 and 28, the Valley received nearly 20 inches of rain, crushing prior daily,

multi-day, and monthly March records in many areas. In a few locations, the amount of rainfall even rivaled the all-time two-day record set by the historic Hurricane Beulah in 1967, according to Barry Goldsmith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Brownsville.

Meteorologists knew rain was coming. The surprise was where it fell.

Forecasts had the storm over the Coastal Bend toward brush country, Goldsmith said.

“It wasn’t until, really, within 12 hours that we were like ‘Oh no, it’s going toward the Valley now!'” he said.

Even at that point, they didn’t know exactly which county or which portion of the Valley was going to get hit.

“It wasn’t until the game was underway that we were able to tell people this is going to be really bad in parts of the Valley,” he said.

A National Weather Service report on the storm acknowledged that their models were off, noting that even the areas predicted to be the strongest hit by the storm were only expected to receive 7-12 inches.

The report explained that the dynamics of the fast-flowing, high-altitude air currents — that are most typical in the Mid-Atlantic or Northeast regions of the U.S. — led to high-energy, recharging of the atmosphere that caused repeated rounds of rainfall and severe weather.

The heaviest rains fell in Cameron County which sustained the most damage where the Valley International Airport in Harlingen had to close for multiple days due to flooding on the runways. Other reports of severe weather included a tornado that briefly touched down in Hidalgo County.

The devastation extended to farmers as well.

Despite longing for rain to sustain their animals and crops during a prolonged period of drought, the huge volume of rain likely destroyed existing crops.

“Torrential storms produced devastating rainfall totals, causing widespread destruction and posing a severe threat to Valley residents, farmers, and ranchers,” Sid Miller, the Texas agriculture commissioner, said in a statement. “In addition to extensive damage to homes, vehicles, and infrastructure, the region is also facing significant agricultural and livestock losses.”

Sonny Hinojosa, water advocate with the Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2, said many crops were already up and the flooding likely killed those plants.

“Poor farmers, they’re taking a beating,” Hinojosa said. “First, they’re short on irrigation water and then you get a flood event like this and it drowns whatever crop you have.”

There is a silver lining.

One of the reservoirs that provides water to Valley farmers, the Falcon International Reservoir, received 45,663 acre-feet of water from the rain, growing from 11.2% to 12.8% of its capacity.

It’s just a fraction, Hinojosa said. However, if the U.S. receives half of those gains, it could provide three to four weeks of irrigation water for farmers.

“They rose a bit,” Goldsmith said of the water levels at the Falcon reservoir. “But they’re still well below what’s needed to help improve the water resource situation that’s facing the Valley.”

This article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

BERKLEY, CA (AP) – Real estate software company RealPage filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Berkeley, California — the latest city to try to block landlords from using algorithms when deciding rents. Officials in many cities claim the practice is anti-competitive and is driving up the price of housing.

Texas-based RealPage said Berkeley’s ordinance, which goes into effect this month violates the company’s free speech rights and is the result of an “intentional campaign of misinformation and often-repeated false claims” about its products.

“Berkeley is trying to enact an ordinance that prohibits speech — speech in the form of advice and recommendations from RealPage to its customers,” RealPage attorney Stephen Weissman told reporters on a conference call.

The Department of Justice sued Realpage in August under former President Joe Biden, saying its algorithm combines confidential information from each real estate management company in ways that enable landlords to align prices and avoid competition that would otherwise push down rents. That amounts to cartel-like illegal price collusion, prosecutors said. RealPage’s clients include huge landlords who collectively oversee millions of units across the U.S.

In the lawsuit, the DOJ pointed to RealPage executives’ own words about how their product maximizes prices for landlords. One executive said, “There is greater good in everybody succeeding versus essentially trying to compete against one another in a way that actually keeps the entire industry down.”

San Francisco, Philadelphia and Minneapolis have since passed ordinances restricting landlords from using rental algorithms. The DOJ case remains ongoing, as do lawsuits against RealPage brought by tenants and the attorneys general of Arizona and Washington, D.C.

Berkeley’s ordinance, which fines violators up to $1,000 per infraction, says algorithmic rental software has contributed to “double-digit rent increases … higher vacancy rates and higher rates of eviction.”

RealPage said all these claims are false, and that the real driver of high rents is a lack of housing supply.

The company also denies providing “price fixing software” or a “coordinated pricing algorithm,” saying its pricing recommendations — higher, lower or no change — align with whatever property-specific objectives the housing providers want to achieve using the software.

And since landlords already are incentivized to maximize revenue, RealPage argues that real estate management software can show them how best to maintain high occupancy, and this in turn reduces constraints on the supply of homes.

The lawsuit accuses American Economic Liberties Project, an advocacy group that opposes monopolistic practices, of spreading falsehoods that have caused local officials to pursue misguided policies.

“AELP’s false narrative has taken root in certain municipalities that are particularly eager to find a scapegoat for their own hand in impeding the housing supply,” the lawsuit said.

Weissman said RealPage officials were never given an opportunity to present their arguments to the Berkeley City Council before the ordinance was passed and said the company is considering legal action against other cities that have passed similar policies, including San Francisco.

A spokesperson for Berkeley City Council did not comment on the lawsuit and said officials had not been formally served with the complaint. A spokesperson for the AELP did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

AUSTIN – The Texas Senate, with the bare minimum number of votes, approved the nomination of a formerly indicted Austin police officer to a law enforcement watchdog agency on Wednesday, despite a Democratic effort to block his confirmation over misconduct allegations.

Justin Berry, a senior Austin Police Department officer who had been indicted on charges of aggravated assault during the racial justice protests in 2020, was confirmed Wednesday, 21-10, to serve a second term on the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which sets standards for police training and conduct.

Senate Democrats, whose ranks had the potential to tank Berry’s nomination if they stayed united, had urged their colleagues to reject Berry on the floor Wednesday.

But state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa — a Democrat from McAllen in South Texas, a region that has recently surged toward the right — broke with his party to provide the critical vote needed to confirm Berry to a second term. Hinojosa is one of the more conservative Democrats in the Senate.

In an interview, Hinojosa said that he “didn’t take the vote lightly,” and had reviewed the allegations against Berry and met with him one-on-one on Tuesday before deciding to approve his confirmation.

Hinojosa found insufficient evidence backing the accusations of misconduct, he said, and had spoken to other members of the law-enforcement commission who described Berry’s work on the board so far as “competent and professional.” Hinojosa alerted the Senate Democratic Caucus chair, Sen. Carol Alvarado of Houston, of his decision Wednesday morning.

“I didn’t feel there was any criminal behavior that would rise to the level of rejecting his nomination,” Hinojosa said, adding that he thought rejecting Berry would make him a “scapegoat” for failures at higher levels of police command. “It’s not an easy one, but at the same time, I’m not here to second guess the governor.”

Berry’s confirmation marked another failed attempt by Democrats to exercise power in a state government long dominated by Republicans. Gov. Greg Abbott nominated Berry in January 2024 for a second term, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who tightly controls the Senate, was determined to win a confirmation vote.

In opposing Berry’s confirmation, Democrats cited past allegations against Berry that said he used excessive force and misused his police power. The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, according to Abbott’s announcement of Berry’s nomination, “establishes and enforces standards to ensure that the people of Texas are served by highly trained and ethical law enforcement, corrections, and telecommunications personnel.”

Abbott’s announcement of Berry’s nomination cited his over 16 years of experience in law enforcement and the “numerous awards, medals and commendations” he had received, including the Austin Police Department Honorable Conduct Medal and the Austin Police Department Meritorious Service Medal.

Before the confirmation vote, Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, said: “The governor’s selection of an officer with his history is evidence of a growing intolerance of dissent at the highest levels of our government. … There are more than 8,000 peace officers in the state of Texas. Why did the governor pick one with this very public record?”

Berry, who twice ran for the Legislature as a Republican, was indicted on charges of aggravated assault in February 2022 related to an incident in which a Black Lives Matter protester was shot in the face with “less-lethal” munitions. Austin District Attorney Jose Garza dropped the charges against Berry and most of the other 18 officers who were indicted on use of excessive force a year later.

Eckhardt, who led the effort to block Berry’s confirmation, said her teenage daughter was at the protest and witnessed the shooting.

“This incident alone should cause some question regarding his fitness to set the standards of conduct and training for peace officers in Texas,” she said during a committee hearing Monday, adding that other allegations against Berry of employing excessive force or misusing his police power over the past two decades caused her “additional concern.”

The political fight over Berry’s confirmation began when he did not appear for questioning before the Senate Nominations Committee at its March 10 hearing — when his nomination was listed on the agenda — as Democrats had requested.

All 11 Senate Democrats then signed onto a March 19 letter to state Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels and the committee chair, requesting that Berry appear for questioning.

“We are unaware of any prior instance in which a sitting committee member’s request for a nominee to appear has been denied,” the lawmakers said, adding that Berry’s nomination is “not uncontroversial,” and citing three individuals who were seriously injured by munitions during the 2020 protests and $18 million in civil settlements paid by the city of Austin to protesters as a result of police conduct.

“Although most of the indictments have been dismissed (four indictments remain active), questions regarding Mr. Berry’s actions that day go to the heart of his fitness to serve on the commission,” they said.

Berry later met privately with the committee’s three Democrats — Eckhardt, Alvarado and Borris L. Miles of Houston — but did not appear before the larger committee, whose Republican members on Monday unanimously sent his nomination to the full Senate.

On Monday, Eckhardt said that Patrick denied Democrats’ request last week that Berry appear before the committee.

“Senators offer their advice and consent through their deliberations and vote,” Patrick said in a Wednesday statement before the vote. “I will not allow any nominee to be subjected to an unfair process outside of that scope.”

Eckhardt had “made it clear she wanted to turn a committee room into a courtroom,” he added. “That is clearly outside the scope of offering advice and consent.”

The tension over Berry’s nomination came to a head in committee on Monday, as Eckhardt began explaining her concerns with his record and describing a packet of documents she had compiled and shared with lawmakers on the allegations against him.

Campbell quickly interjected. “Senator Eckhardt, you can make these very brief. You will have time to express your concerns on the mic, on the floor,” she said.

Eckhardt continued, and less than a minute into her remarks, Campbell cut her off again and tried to move the hearing forward. The two spoke over each other before Eckhardt, appearing exasperated, concluded.

Berry’s second term is set to conclude in August 2027.

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla sales fell 13% in the first three months of the year, another sign that Elon Musk’s once high-flying car company is struggling to attract buyers.

The leading electric vehicle maker has faced a growing backlash from Musk’s embrace of right-wing politics and his role in the Trump administration. Opponents have staged protests at Tesla showrooms in the U.S. and in Europe, where the sales declines have been steeper.

Tesla’s line-up is aging, and some consumers may have held off from buying its bestselling Model Y while waiting for an updated version. The Austin, Texas, company also faces fierce competition from other EV makers offering vastly improved models, including those of China’s BYD.

Tesla reported deliveries of 336,681 globally in the January to March quarter. The figure was down from sales of 387,000 in the same period a year ago. The decline came despite deep discounts, zero financing and other incentives and could be a warning that the company’s first-quarter earnings report later this month could disappoint investors.

Dan Ives of Wedbush said Wall Street financial analysts knew the first quarter was likely bad, but turned out even worse than expected. He called the sales results a “disaster on every metric.”

“The brand crisis issues are clearly having a negative impact on Tesla…there is no debate,” he said.

Musk has been President Donald Trump’s point man in his effort to cut government spending. As criticism of Musk mounted and Tesla’s sales and stock price slumped, Trump last month held an extraordinary press conference outside the White House in which he praised Tesla, blasted boycotts against the company and bought a Tesla himself while TV cameras rolled.

Tesla investors have complained Musk’s work at the Department of Government Efficiency has diverted his focus from running Tesla. On Tuesday, New York City’s comptroller overseeing pension funds holding Tesla stock called for a lawsuit accusing a distracted Musk of “driving Tesla off a financial cliff.”

After falling as much as 6% in early Wednesday, Tesla stock shot up more than 5% on indications that Musk may soon return his attention to Tesla. Politico, citing anonymous sources, reported Trump has told Cabinet members that Musk will step back from his role at DOGE in coming weeks.

Tesla’s stock has plunged by roughly half since hitting a mid-December record as expectations of a lighter regulatory touch and big profits with Donald Trump as president were replaced by fear that the boycott of Musk’s cars and other problems could hit the company hard. Analysts are still not sure exactly how much the fall in sales is due to the protests or other factors.

Still, even bullish financial analysts who earlier downplayed the backlash to Musk’s polarizing political stances are saying it is hurting the company, something that Musk also recently acknowledged.

“This is a very expensive job,” Musk said at a Wisconsin rally on Sunday, referring to his DOGE role. “My Tesla stock and the stock of everyone who holds Tesla has gone roughly in half.”

Tesla cars have been smashed and set on fire in recent weeks, and protests have been staged at hundreds of Tesla dealerships. Owners have put bumper stickers on their cars saying, “I bought this before Elon went crazy.”

Europeans have also balked at buying Tesla, especially Germans upset after Musk publicly supported a far-right party in national elections and gave what many say was a Nazi-like salute at a Trump inauguration rally in January.

Tesla is expected to report earnings of 48 cents per share for the first quarter later this month, up 7% from a year earlier, according to a survey of financial analysts by research firm FactSet.

Nearly all of Tesla’s sales in the quarter came from the smaller and less-expensive Models 3 and Y, with the company selling less than 13,000 more expensive models, which include X and S as well as the Cybertruck.

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AP Business Writer Michelle Chapman contributed to this report from New York.

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — A 17-year-old student was fatally stabbed by another student during an altercation at a high school track meet in suburban Dallas on Wednesday, police said.

The suspect, 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony, was taken into custody and charged with murder, according to police in Frisco, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Dallas. Bond had not yet been set.

A police spokesperson said Anthony was being held at the city jail and would be transferred to Collin County jail. The spokesperson also said he did not know whether Anthony had an attorney yet.

Efforts to find contact information for family members to speak on Anthony’s behalf were not immediately successful.

The Frisco Independent School District said the stabbing happened at a meet where student athletes from eight of the district’s 12 schools were competing.

The student who was killed was Austin Metcalf, an 11th grader at Memorial High School, according to an email the principal sent to parents Wednesday.

Details on what led to the stabbing were not immediately released. Frisco police asked for anyone with information to come forward.

___

This story has been updated to correct the age of the student who was killed to 17. Police said previously that he was 16.

HAYS COUNTY – The Texas Department of Public Safety, working with federal agencies on a joint investigation into a Venezuelan gang, arrested more than 40 people and seized drugs after serving a search warrant on an undisclosed Hays County residence, the state agency and the FBI announced Wednesday.

A DPS and FBI news release said the warrant was executed after FBI agents “developed intelligence” earlier this week about a gathering of individuals tied to Tren de Aragua, a gang that started in Venezuelan prisons and has become a target of state and federal officials. DPS did not elaborate on how the dozens of detained people may be linked to the gang.

President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted the criminal organization as part of its broader vow to deport millions of immigrants. But relatives of Venezuelans who have been detained and deported elsewhere in the country say they are not gang members.

It was not clear what potential crimes authorities believe the individuals had committed to be taken into custody. State and federal prosecutors plan to review evidence obtained during the execution of the search warrant to determine potential criminal charges, according to DPS and the FBI.

DPS, the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Hays County Sheriff’s Office, which participated in the operation, did not immediately return requests for comment Wednesday.

It was not immediately clear where the dozens of people taken into custody are being held.

The San Antonio Police Department helped with an investigation leading up to the operation, but not with the execution of the search warrant, a department spokesperson said, declining to comment further because it is “part of a larger ongoing case.” The DPS release said several local, state and local law enforcement agencies have been investigating members and associates of the gang for more than a year.

This is a developing story.

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee announced on Monday that he will file a lawsuit against Gov. Greg Abbott if he fails to set an election date for Texas’ 18th Congressional District. Menefee called the governor out during a press conference, urging the governor to set the special election for June to fill the congressional seat left vacated after the late Houston mayor and Congressman Sylvester Turner’s death. Per Texas law, Abbott has the sole authority to call a special election. He has done this in the past, most recently when the seat was left vacant after the death of late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee last July. “The governor knows this, and in fact, in the four instances where a seat has become vacant since he’s become governor, he’s gotten to it straight away, sometimes in 16 days, sometimes in 18 days, and once in four days,” Menefee said. “He knows how important it is that people have representation in Congress.”

DALLAS – WFAA reports that one of the biggest healthcare providers in North Texas is no longer in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas’ network, officials said. Contracts between Southwestern Health Resources – which includes Texas Health Resources and UT Southwestern – and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas expired April 1, according to a statement from the insurance company. North Texas-based Southwestern Health Resources has 31 hospitals, more than 7,000 providers and 650 outpatient facilities and clinics. Blue Cross Blue Shield officials in a statement said the company has “worked closely with SWHR to negotiate new contracts,” but an agreement to “protect the interests of our members and customers” hasn’t been reached yet.

Southwestern Health Resources officials in a statement said Blue Cross Blue Shield “remained unwilling to accept Southwestern Health Resources’ requests for equitable reimbursement to cover the rising costs of providing quality care.” “Our goal is to minimize any disruption to patient care and help guide patients affected by this transition to in-network providers,” the statement said. Starting Tuesday, April 1, Southwestern Health Resources hospitals, doctors and facilities were no longer in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. The impacted Blue Cross plans include: ParPlan, Blue Choice PPO, Blue Essentials, Blue Advantage HMO, Medicaid, Blue Cross Medicare Advantage (PPO), and Blue Cross Medicare Advantage (HMO). Patients with MyBlue Health coverage will remain in-network for Southwestern doctors and hospitals, according to Blue Cross.

AUSTIN – The Houston Chronicle reports tat food stamp recipients could soon be barred from using their benefits to buy chips, sodas and other types of junk food under a bill that passed the Texas Senate. “This bill isn’t about limiting personal choice,” State Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston said. “But taxpayer dollars should not subsidize unhealthy eating habits that contribute to preventable health conditions and place additional strain on Texas’ health care system.” Middleton said the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is supposed to provide nutritious food that is essential to the health and well-being of Americans. Yet, he said about 20% of SNAP benefits are being spent on things like cookies, candy, chips and soda.

“They don’t just lack nutritional value, they are bad for you,” Middleton said during a debate over the bill late Monday. The bill passed 22-8 in the Texas Senate on Monday night and now goes to the Texas House. If it passes without any changes there, it would go to Gov. Greg Abbott who can let it become law. State Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston, said he supports the goal but worries Middleton’s bill will put more burdens on retailers that accept SNAP benefits and potentially lead to more dropping out of the program. Miles said while everyone may want to have healthy food, there are people in urban and rural areas who don’t have access to the type Middleton wants them to eat. He said food deserts that already exist in poor urban areas could grow because of Senate Bill 379. “There are some unintended consequences to this bill that we may not be thinking of,” said Miles, who voted against the measure. “Something to eat is better than nothing to eat.” State Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, voted in favor of the bill but also pushed back, saying if the Legislature is really concerned about Texans getting proper nutrition, it should double the value of food stamps for things like fresh produce so benefits could buy more of the health products and give retailers incentive to stock more of it.

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that for years, Texas politicians have fretted: What will it take for companies to build more natural gas power plants for the state’s strained power grid? As it turns out, for a growing number of developers, even the Texas government handing out taxpayer-backed loans is not sufficient. Four companies have pulled their projects from consideration from the $5 billion Texas Energy Fund, citing various financial and logistical challenges. Another project was denied loans last fall after one company listed on the application accused the other sponsoring company of fraud. In total, nearly a third of new project capacity advanced to the fund’s due diligence review process has left the program.

State lawmakers created the Texas Energy Fund in 2023 and set aside the bulk of the money to give companies low-interest loans towards building new gas-fired generation for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas power grid. The fund was advertised to voters, who approved the program as a constitutional amendment, as a way to bolster the grid after the February 2021 winter freeze caused statewide outages and killed hundreds. Then, last year, ERCOT forecasted an unprecedented increase in electricity demand in the near future as the state’s population and economy grow. Policymakers became even more adamant that Texas needs much more gas-fired power generation for use when wind or solar power isn’t available, even though natural gas is a fossil fuel contributing to climate change. At first, the Texas Energy Fund seemed popular. So many companies applied for loans that state lawmakers — at the urging of Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — are considering appropriating another $5 billion to the program in the ongoing legislative session, so that it totals $10 billion.