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DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports a top credit rating firm dimmed its outlook on Dallas’ financial future after voters approved changing the charter to require at least half of annual city revenue increases to boost police pensions, staffing, starting pay and benefits. Moody’s Ratings downgraded the city’s debt outlook from “stable” to “negative” Thursday, citing the expected impact on Dallas’ credit due to the passage of Proposition U, a charter amendment backed by nonprofit group Dallas Hero. The credit ratings agency said the move will limit how the city spends its money amid growing operating expenses. The Dallas Police and Fire Pension System has a funding gap north of $3 billion, and the credit agency said the new mandates to hire 900 more officers, maintain a police force of at least 4,000 and increase starting salaries will increase the pension’s shortfall and require the city to put in more money than planned.

“Although the additional revenue going to DPFP is positive, the reduced financial flexibility and the expected negative impact to the pension liability is likely to weigh on the credit profile,” Moody’s opinion said. “The city’s plan to incorporate the mandates from Proposition U will be a key focus in future reviews.” The update comes two months after the City Council approved a 9% increase of the police department budget to $719 million and greenlit a plan for Dallas to contribute $11 billion over 30 years to the police and fire pension, with increased annual contributions, to address the funding gap. Voters on Nov. 5 approved more than a dozen propositions, including one to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana and another requiring Dallas to remove legal barriers to allow residents and businesses to sue the city if it takes any action that violates the charter, local ordinances or state law. The 16 voter-approved charter propositions won’t go into effect until the City Council certifies the election results on Tuesday.

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Express-News says that YouTuber, gun rights activist and former Congressional candidate Brandon Herrera, otherwise known as San Antonio’s “AK-Guy,” is vying to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under President-elect Donald Trump. In May, Hererra narrowly lost to U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales in the GOP runoff election by 400 votes. The political hopeful is now gunning for another position. Last week, Herrera hinted at his desire to be appointed Trump’s ATF director. “If the Trump administration decided to ask me to become the Director of the ATF, I would gladly accept and help make America great again,” he wrote in a Nov. 9 social media post.

According to the ATF, the agency is primarily responsible for preventing and investigating a variety of federal offenses, including: “the unlawful use, manufacture and possession of firearms and explosives; acts of arson and bombings; illegal trafficking of alcohol and tobacco products.” The agency also regulates the sale, possession and transportation of firearms, ammunition and explosives between states. However, Herrera announced he’s got a few big changes coming for the ATF if he’s appointed its director. “If I were to be considered for Director of the ATF, in my first 100 days I have a plan to hack, slash, and cripple that agency in ways it could never recover from,” he wrote Monday. “And when I’m done, I will ask President Trump to disband the agency entirely.”

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that the presidential changeover was clear on Wall Street. Natural gas stocks, like EQT, soared in the five trading days after Donald Trump won the presidential election. Meanwhile, clean energy stocks, such as Houston-based solar company Sunnova, fell 34% in the same period. Investors are bracing for a federal government likely to roll back aid for clean energy projects and to ease regulatory pressures on oil and gas companies, said Dan Pickering, chief investment officer for Pickering Energy Partners. “There’s clearly pluses and minuses, and most of the pluses stack up on oil and gas, and most of the minuses are stacking up on clean energy,” Pickering said. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to undo a freeze on export permits for multibillion-dollar natural gas facilities implemented by the Biden administration earlier this year. The freeze was put in place to allow time for a review of climate impacts from the facilities.

Lifting it could help more natural gas export projects proceed — a boost for the companies trying to build these liquefied natural gas projects. The LNG industry became a key target for climate advocates in recent years as the industry boomed because of overseas gas shortages ignited by the war in Ukraine. While the Biden era pause had no impact on fully permitted projects already under construction, it threw a wrench in a long, costly process for others that were already years into the development of multibillion-dollar gas export projects. Commonwealth LNG: Houston-based Commonwealth LNG’s marquee project in Louisiana had been nearing the regulatory finish line when the pause took effect in February. Commonwealth had already been waiting more than a year for the Department of Energy to approve its export permit after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission greenlit the project in November 2022. Port Arthur LNG: a “phase 2” expansion of Port Arthur LNG under development by Sempra Infrastructure, California-based Sempra’s Houston subsidiary, and Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, was near the regulatory finish line before the permitting pause. Sempra CEO Jeffrey Martin said Wednesday, during an earnings call following the election, “we have growing confidence” that the project would receive federal permits early next year, according to a transcript provided by Capital IQ. Lake Charles LNG: Energy Transfer’s Lake Charles LNG had an export permit under review with the DOE when the pause took effect, throwing the project into limbo. Energy Transfer’s Co-CEO Marshall McCrea said during an earnings call last week that Trump’s win offered the “rational, reasonable” leadership necessary to advance the Louisiana project, according to a transcript provided by Capital IQ. NextDecade, the Houston LNG company whose construction permit was struck down by a federal court in August, also appears to be getting a boost from Trump’s win as it tries to build its marquee project in Brownsville. Its shares jumped 7% in the five days since Trump won. NextDecade CEO Matt Schatzman said last week in a statement the company is “committed to taking any and all available legal and regulatory actions” to keep the project on budget and on time.

AUSTIN — Our news partners at KETK report that Texas lawmakers submitted over 1,500 bills as the filing period opened on Tuesday, setting a new record for the most number of bills filed on the first day.

Some staffers even camped out in the hallway behind the Senate chamber to secure their spot in line — more of a symbolic move than a strategic one, as there is no real advantage to filing a bill early. Last year, fewer than 15% of bills filed became law — only 1,169 of the more than 8,000 filed.

“A lot of pent-up demand for legislation… certainly Republicans have been emboldened by the election results here in Texas,” publisher of Quorum Report and veteran Capitol analyst Harvey Kronberg said.

Some of the first bills filed this year targeted border security as Republicans look to bolster their immigration enforcement under a new Trump administration. Some of Tuesday’s bills would restrict undocumented students from receiving in-state tuition, require proof of citizenship to register to vote, and allow Texas to negotiate with Mexico on border security.

Democrats filed bills addressing abortion and voting access, including a bill to create an exception for rape in the abortion ban and to allow electronic and same-day voter registration.

The marquee items, though, are still unclear. State leadership will prioritize school choice – a plan to use public money to subsidize private school tuition – another reduction in property taxes, and new border security efforts. Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to name each of those measures and more as an “emergency item,” allowing lawmakers to work on them earlier than other bills.

One big question at the Capitol is who will be the next House Speaker. Speaker Dade Phelan currently faces a challenge from Mansfield Republican David Cook.

Democrats Ana-Maria Ramos and John Bryant also filed to run for Speaker. Republicans will hold the majority in the House in the next session by an 88 – 62 margin, realistically making the Speaker vote a contest between Cook and Phelan.

Former Governor Rick Perry is working to help Phelan retain the Speaker’s gavel. Ryan Chandler spoke with Perry about how he sees the race and what he believes is at stake for the state.

Chandler: How confident are you that Speaker Phelan will remain Speaker Phelan?

Perry: Oh, he’s got the votes to be elected speaker, I’m not concerned about that. What I’m trying to help these members focus on is, how do we move forward in this state? They had a great session last session. Obviously, one of the issues that’s out in front of us is that of our public schools and school choice. I’m a big proponent of school choice, have been for 20 plus years, and I will suggest to you that these education savings accounts that’s going to go forward, that’s going to pass this session of the legislature. And, you know, just helping the members understand, here’s the focus we need to have.

There’s a Nuclear Caucus this session of the legislature. We’ve already talked about small modular reactors. Members of the Legislature are understanding that is important. Even in a state that has this great amount of fossil fuels available to us, we need to have an all of the above energy policy. I supported wind energy, I supported solar energy. I think the federal government’s gone a little over the top on all of the subsidies that they give. Let the market figure this out, but all of those sources of energy are really important for a state growing as much as Texas is we’re going to need it all if we’re going to be luring artificial intelligence data centers in here, we’re going to need a lot of power. So let’s figure out how to make it available.

Chandler: You say Speaker Phelan has the votes, a lot of people are asking, where and who are those votes? We know Representative (David) Cook has put out a list of 48 Republicans who’ve pledged their support to him. How does that stack up with your internal math? Will you be publishing a list of support soon?

Perry: I will suggest we’ll just wait until the votes happen and and see who was right. I’m not sure I could pick Representative Cook out of a lineup. I’m sure he’s a fine young man, and wish him well, but he’s not going to be the speaker when the gavel comes down.

Chandler: Does the pathway for Speaker Phelan — I would assume it would run through keeping Democratic support and then supplementing with Republicans. Does that make sense?

Perry: Yeah, it makes total sense. I’ve been dealing with the legislative process for 40 years now. I came in January of 1985 and there have always been Democrats as chairs when we had Republican speakers, I suggest that will continue to. We are a diverse state, and I think you sit down and you work with Democrats. I’m not going to change my philosophy. I’m going to keep my philosophy and my beliefs, but I’m going to work with you.

I’ll give you a great example. Representative, Senfronia Thompson. She is as different as I am as you can be. She’s a female African American, left-leaning trial lawyer from Houston, Texas. I’m a country boy, Anglo male and Republican. But we found things that we could work on together. And Representative Thompson, she and I don’t agree on a lot of philosophical things in the grand scheme of things, but we found places we could work together. And this was on child sexual trafficking the last session that I was governor in 2013.

My point is this: saying to the Democrats, ‘we don’t like you and you’re banned to the hinterland’ is bad public policy, and quite frankly, it’s just a bad look. We’re the Republican Party. We’re the majority party, but we need to be open to other people’s ideas. Talk to us. You’re not gonna run the show. You are not going to come and and brow beat us into doing things we don’t want to do, but we’ll work with you. We’re all Texans, and I think that’s a really important message

Speaker Phelan has basically said, ‘Look, we’re going to work with you.’ You’re part of this. We’re going to need your votes for constitutional amendments that require 100 votes, and there’s not 100 Republicans. So you’re going to have to work with the Democrats, find out ways to do it in a thoughtful way. This idea of Texas turning into Washington, D.C. and we won’t even talk to each other because you have the wrong initial behind your name. I think that’s really bad long term policy, and I know it’s bad short-term policy .So I think Speaker Phelan properly has the right outlook. He’s going to be the speaker. And we need to come together and, frankly, quit all of this fighting that’s going on. And, what’s best for Texas? That ought to be the question to everything that’s out.”

Republicans backing Cook are skeptical of Perry’s claim that Phelan has the votes to be Speaker. Newly elected Rep. Mitch Little reacted to the interview on social media, calling on Phelan to name his supporters.

“Post the names,” Little wrote.

Many elected Republicans oppose the traditional practice of allowing members from the minority party to chair committees, positions of influence. Phelan has continued that tradition.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick does not allow Democrats to chair Senate committees. He has been a vocal critic of Phelan and his approach to running the lower chambers.

“People ask me all the time about the difference between the Texas House and the Texas Senate. The difference is that the Speaker allows Democrats to control him on many important conservative issues,” Patrick posted earlier this week on X. “He kills a lot of conservative legislation by ensuring it never reaches the floor for a vote. And if it does get to the floor, he makes sure it’s watered down, killed on a point of order, or voted down—like he did with school choice,” Patrick wrote.

TEXAS – Tougher scrutiny on asylum claims, increased cooperation with local jails and an expanded role for the U.S. Border Patrol and other agencies. That’s what a border security expert sees coming as President-Elect Donald Trump tries to make good on his campaign promise to close the border to illegal immigration and carry out mass deportations, according to Border Report. Trump has already shown signs he means business by tapping Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE – the agency in charge of removing unauthorized migrants – as his border czar. “When people hear mass deportations, Middle America thinks Border Patrol. That’s not the case, it’s the Enforcement Removal Operations of ICE,” said Victor M. Manjarrez Jr., a former U.S. Border Patrol chief in El Paso and Tucson, Ariz. “That’s why Tom Homan was selected as border czar. His background is in enforcement and removal operations.”

At least 11 million million undocumented immigrants live in the United States. And before Joe Biden issued an executive order last June curtailing asylum claims between ports of entry, another 2 million people a year were illegally crossing the border from Mexico. While there are ways Trump can ramp up deportations quickly, the money, personnel and facilities to force a mass exodus are lacking, Manjarrez said. “The idea of mass deportations – we use that term a lot – people are going to be disappointed (with it). It’s going to be very targeted, very focused,” he said. “If anyone is expecting buses rolling down Interstate 10, I don’t think that’s gong to be the case.” Trump can quickly ramp up deportations simply by increasing the number of migrants placed on expedited removal – law-speak for fast-track deportations – right after they cross the border. “Instead of saying, ‘We’re going to send you to an ICE facility’ for deportation, which is an extended process and involves a judge, the individual can waive that and in essence you can do that at the station,” Manjarrez said. “They usually say they just want to go home and it’s very quick. What is does for the government is it reduces the logistical detail: All those beds, all that transportation.” The Biden administration for the most part used expedited removals on Mexican citizens, but that could be applied to other nationalities, especially if Trump secures the cooperation of Mexico to temporarily take in foreigners.

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that Tilman Fertitta, who according to Forbes magazine has vaulted to the top spot among Houston’s billionaires, has disclosed an increased stake in Wynn Resorts, the $10 billion Las Vegas gaming enterprise. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fertitta said he controlled 10.9 million shares, about 9.9% of the company. News of the stake sent shares in the casino operator soaring, climbing 9.5% in midday trading Thursday to almost $94. Wynn shares opened Thursday at $86.83, valuing Fertitta’s stake at $946 million. The price spike, at one point greater than $8 a share, boosted the value of Fertitta’s investment by more than $80 million and past $1 billion. The price paid for the shares was not disclosed.

Fertitta’s stake in Wynn in March, when the company’s proxy statement was issued, was 6.9 million shares, or 6.22%. The hospitality, sports and real estate investor’s net worth was estimated by Forbes at $10.1 billion in October, making him the 99th wealthiest person in the country and 12th in Texas. Last year, he had a net worth of $8 billion. Wynn, which has four primary operating businesses, Wynn Palace, Wynn Macau, Las Vegas Operations and Encore Boston Harbor, reported a third-quarter loss of $32 million on revenue of $6.69 billion, less than the $117 million loss on $1.67 billion in revenue the year earlier. Fertitta, who controls the Golden Nugget casinos, has been expanding his stake in Las Vegas. He received approvals in 2022 for a 43-story, 2,420-room hotel/casino in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that the project “would include restaurants, convention space, spa, wedding chapel, auto showroom and a roughly 2,500-seat theater.”

AUSTIJN – KXAN reports that more than a week after Election Day, all Travis, Hays and Williamson County ballots have been unofficially tallied and they’re enough for KXAN to call an apparent winner in the Austin mayoral race. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has more than 50% of the unofficial vote and is projected to win outright. Watson has secured 50.004% of the overall vote with 175,090 total votes. That’s 14 votes above the runoff threshold. KXAN is reporting Watson as the apparent winner, because those numbers are yet to be finalized. Travis County is expected to do its canvass on Nov. 15 and Williamson County on the Nov. 19, according to the respective clerk’s offices. Hays County’s results are official, according to its website. The deadline set by the Texas Secretary of State to post finalized results is Nov. 19.

The first, ominous sounds came from deep within the massive stack of logs in the darkest hours of the Texas night. Witnesses described hearing the stack of thousands of logs moan and creak before the crack of the center pole as it snapped, then collapsed.

More than a million pounds (450,000 kilograms) of timber tumbled. In an instant, 12 people were killed, dozens more were injured and a university campus rooted in traditions carried across generations of students was permanently scarred.

Texas A&M University is set to mark 25 years since the log stack collapsed in the early hours of Nov. 18, 1999. It was being built in preparation for the annual bonfire ahead of the Texas A&M-Texas rivalry football game in College Station.

The school will hold a Bonfire Remembrance ceremony at the site of the tragedy on Monday at 2:42 a.m., about the time the stack collapsed.

“Year after year, Texas A&M students have worked to ensure that we never forget those members of the Aggie Family who were taken from us 25 years ago,” school President Mark Welsh III said.
The tradition

The “Fightin’ Texas Aggie Bonfire” ranked among the most revered traditions in college football and symbolized the school’s “burning desire” to beat the University of Texas Longhorns in football. The first bonfire in 1907 was a scrap heap that was set ablaze. By 1909, it was a campus event and the bonfire stack kept growing as railroad lines were used to ship in in carloads of scrap lumber, railroad ties and other flammable materials, according to the school.

It reached a record height of 105 feet (32 meters) in 1969 before administrators, concerned about a fire hazard, imposed a 55-foot (17-meter) limit. Over the years, the stack evolved from a teepee-style mound into the vertical timber formation, a shape similar to a tiered wedding cake, that collapsed in 1999.

The annual bonfire attracted crowds of up to 70,000 and burned every year through 1998. The only exception was in 1963, after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
The tragedy

The stack of more than 5,000, 18-foot (5.5-meter) logs toppled a week before it was scheduled to burn. The 12 who were killed included five freshmen, four sophomores, a junior, a senior and a recent graduate. Several were members of the Corps of Cadets, Texas A&M’s student-led, military-style organization that played a large role in its construction.

Rescuers, including members of the Texas A&M football team, raced to remove the logs that had trapped and crushed some of the victims. At rival Texas, Longhorns players organized a blood drive to assist the survivors.

An investigation ordered by the school determined flawed construction led by unqualified student workers led to the collapse.
Campus memorial

In 2003, the school dedicated a memorial on the spot where the stack fell. It includes a “Spirit Ring” with 12 portals representing those who were killed. Each portal contains an engraved portrait and signature of a victim and points toward their hometown. By stepping into the open archway, the visitor symbolically fills the void left by the deceased.
Efforts to rekindle the bonfire tradition

The annual Aggie bonfire was discontinued as an official school event after the deadly collapse.

The school considered reviving the tradition this year to coincide with the renewal of the Texas-Texas A&M football rivalry on Nov. 30. The rivalry split in 2012 when Texas A&M left the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference, but has resumed this year as Texas joined the SEC.

A special committee recommended resuming the bonfire, but only if the log stack was designed and built by professional engineers and contractors. Some members of the public said it should not come back if it was not organized and built by students, according to tradition.

Welsh ultimately decided the bonfire would not return to campus.

“Bonfire, both a wonderful and tragic part of Aggie history, should remain in our treasured past,” the president said in June when he announced his decision.

Students have continued to organize and build unofficial off-campus bonfires over the years and plan to burn this year’s edition on Nov. 29, the night before the Texas A&M-Texas football game.