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A giraffe named Gracie escaped in Texas, authorities on the hunt

SAN ANTONIO (AP) – A giraffe named Gracie is missing in Texas, and the search for her has become a tall order.

Gracie, who is about 3 years old, has been missing for nearly two weeks after escaping her enclosure at Cedar Hollow Ranch in the Texas Hill Country, said Vic Jones, who owns the remote property about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of San Antonio. He said Wednesday that Gracie had wandered into a part of the privately owned preserve that other giraffes previously avoided.

Jones said he has sent up helicopters to look for Gracie, a few sightings have trickled in, and a $5,000 reward is on the table.

But the giraffe, which stands roughly the height of a tree, hasn’t turned up.

“She wound up going up and feeding in an area on the hillside and the rocky ledges that none of the other giraffes had ever gone on before,” Jones said. “And when she came down off of there, she came down on the wrong side of the gate.”

The ranch is in rural Real County, where its roughly 2,700 residents were put on alert to be on the lookout for a missing giraffe. Jones said the search area is extremely remote, and the likelihood of Gracie encountering any humans is low.

“People are not in danger of her because she’s not around people,” Jones said. ‘She’s out in very, very rough, heavily wooded lands.”

The Texas Hill Country has one of the largest concentrations of exotic captive animals in the country. Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson said the mild climate and rugged terrain seems to serve as a good stand-in for most of the animals’ native African environments.

He rattled off a list of animals that have gone missing over the years, especially after floods, but said this was his first giraffe.

“I’ve had wildebeests, I’ve had water buffalo, I’ve had monkeys, I’ve had zebras, all go missing,” Johnson said. “Sometimes we recover them, and sometimes we don’t.”

While the middle of Texas is not a giraffe’s native environment, Jones said Gracie should be able to find plenty of leaves and other vegetation to eat. He said other animals were not likely to bother her.

Jones said he initially had helicopters searching an area of about 7,500 acres (3,000 hectares) with no luck. A few days later, there was a report that Gracie was spotted to the south.

But by the time they could search the area, Jones said, she was already gone.

“We’re always two three days late for where the information is coming from, so that makes it tough,” Jones said.

What to know about the push to make Bible stories required reading in Texas public schools

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas would make Bible stories required reading for more than 5 million public school students under a proposal that has reignited debate over widening efforts in the U.S. to put more religion in classrooms.

A final vote by the Republican-controlled Texas State Board of Education on whether to approve the plan is set for Friday. Last year Texas became the largest state to require every classroom to display the Ten Commandments.

The proposed list has drawn fierce opposition. Critics argue that it violates the constitutional separation of church, lacks diversity and favors Christianity over other religions. Supporters say Judeo-Christian traditions were fundamental to the nation’s founding and that should be reflected in the public school curriculum.

Here’s what to know about the proposal and the broader fight over religion in public schools:
Republicans and Trump have pushed more religion into classrooms

President Donald Trump has pledged to protect and expand religious expression in public schools nationwide, and Texas — a red state that is home to about one in 10 of all U.S. public school students — often sets the agenda.

In 2023, Texas became the first state to allow the hiring of chaplains to counsel students, and the following year, the board narrowly approved an optional Bible-infused curriculum for elementary schools. Last year, Republican lawmakers required public schools to display the Ten Commandments, a measure recently upheld by a federal appeals court.

Texas has about 5.5 million public school students from kindergarten through high school. If approved by the board, the required reading list would take effect in 2030.

“We need to focus on what our nation was founded on and not apologize for that,” Susan Perez, founder of Citizens for Education Reform, told the education board during testimony this week. “It is the truth and we should not be afraid.”

List requires Bible readings from elementary to high school

Picture-book stories for elementary students including “Noah’s Ark,” “David and Goliath” and “Daniel and the Lion’s Den” are on the required reading list. By fourth grade, students would encounter passages about Jesus in the New Testament.

By middle school, students would be expected to read several passages about Jesus, including passages from his most famous sermon, and another where he instructs people to cast aside earthly anxiety and seek the kingdom of God. Another would connect a reading from the Book of Lamentations and its themes of the destruction of Jerusalem with readings about the Holocaust.

In high school, students would read the parable of the prodigal son, portions of the Book of Job, and the story of Adam and Eve.

Some education observers said Texas may be the first state to enact a required reading list, with the added layer of mandated religious text.

Antero Garcia, president of the National Council of Teachers of English and a Stanford University professor, said he doesn’t know of any other state that has such a list. Educators at the district and school level usually choose what texts their students will read, Garcia said.

Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, said she believes such a mandated reading list would be “unique” to Texas.

“I think there’s lots of state lists that exist that are like advised readings, suggested readings,” she said.
Critics say the proposal favors Christianity over other religions

The required readings rely heavily on the King James Bible, one of the most popular translations, and more recent evangelical translations that critics argue lean too heavily on Christian interpretations of the texts.

Other critics question whether religious stories should be taught at all in schools attended by thousands of children of Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and other faiths, and others who identify as atheist or agnostic.

“I do think that it’s disturbing that there are no texts from other religious traditions that are included,” said Frank Strong, an English and journalism teacher and co-founder of the student advocacy group Texas Freedom to Read.

___

Stengle reported from Dallas.

Lufkin man dead after vehicle drives into Neches River on Monday

ANGELINA COUNTY (KETK) — A Lufkin man was pronounced dead on Monday afternoon after his vehicle reportedly drove off U.S. Highway 59 and into the Neches River, officials said.

According to a preliminary report from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the crash occurred at around 1:43 p.m. near the Polk and Angelina County line. A 2022 Ford Bronco was traveling north on the highway before reportedly traveling off the road, down an embankment and into the Neches River.
Mount Pleasant ISD mourns 2 students killed in car crash

DPS identified the driver as 71-year-old Theodore Fajen III of Lufkin, who was pronounced dead on the scene by a justice of the peace.

The investigation remains ongoing and no information is available at this time, DPS said.

Police update on Whiskey J’s assault

UPDATE: Dejae Brown and Alana Mumphrey voluntarily surrendered to law enforcement sometime Thursday. This according to Longview Police Department Public Information Officer LaDarian Brown. The investigation is ongoing.

LONGVIEW – An ongoing assault investigation is underway by the Longview Police Department after one woman was left seriously injured early Sunday morning. The incident took place outside of Whiskey J’s, a local bar in Longview, early on Sunday morning and led to the arrest of Ciarrianne Fuller, who was taken into custody on Tuesday after being charged with assault causing bodily injury. Continue reading Police update on Whiskey J’s assault

Watermelon season struggles in wet weather

TYLER — A fresh watermelon is a Texas Fourth of July staple, but growers across South Texas are facing a tough season as persistent rain and cooler temperatures slow production. Texas A&M AgriLife reports that the unusually wet weather has fueled weeds, insects and crop diseases, all of which make growing and harvesting far more difficult in one of the state’s most important watermelon?producing regions.

According to our news partner KETK, in East Texas the ripple effects are already being felt. Sparks Enterprise Stand, located off Highway 155 in Tyler, has sourced its melons from Grapeland for eight years and says supply?chain prices have climbed. Even so, owner Bianca Woods says they’re keeping customer prices steady, topping out at $15 per melon, because “we’re in business for the people.”

Despite the challenges in South Texas, Woods says crops across the Pineywoods have remained steady. Early?season melons may not be as sweet due to the lack of sunshine, but growers expect flavor to improve as sunny days return and fields begin to dry out.

Texas officials say rodents and other small wildlife could be to blame for New World Screwworm infestations

McALLEN (THE TEXAS TRIBUNE) — As the New World screwworm continues to infiltrate livestock and other animals in Texas, many have been asking how the parasitic fly landed here to begin with.

Last week, the Texas Animal Health Commission identified a potential cause: small wildlife and rodents like armadillos, opossums and rabbits.
MAP: Where have New World screwworm cases been reported in Texas?

Until now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has pointed to multiple factors, including border policies under President Joe Biden to the illicit movement of cattle at the hands of drug cartels.

The new finding is based on conversations with entomologists, Lewis R. “Bud” Dinges, executive director of the Texas Animal Health Commission, told the Texas House Committee on Agriculture and Livestock.

However, the source of the first case of New World Screwworm remains under investigation, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Other health experts say it’s still undetermined what allowed the invasive pest to finally breach the Texas-Mexico border.

Tracing the source

During last week’s committee hearing, Dinges said epidemiological investigators have found no evidence so far linking Texas cases to the illicit movement of cattle from Mexico.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said it is still investigating to determine how screwworm spread.

“That’s very much an unknown, still, at this time. But wildlife is susceptible to New World Screwworm in the same manner that livestock and other warm-blooded animals are,” said a spokesperson for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

However, the spokesperson added that small mammals don’t travel long distances such as the distance between the last known detection in Mexico at the time to the location of the first case in Texas, which was detected in LaPryor on June 3.

Moving north

The USDA has repeatedly mentioned that models predicted that screwworm would inevitably arrive in the U.S. after the parasitic fly began moving north from South America in 2023.

The pest began trickling up through Panama after it broke through the Darien Gap, which had served as a barrier for screwworm for decades.

It then slowly moved through Costa Rica until it reached Nicaragua where it traveled quickly, said Jeremy Radachowsky, Mesoamerica and the Caribbean regional director for the Wildlife Conservation Society.

“Not only was it moving very quickly, but it was moving exactly along these paths of cattle trafficking and cattle contraband that we’ve been able to identify earlier,” Radachowsky said.

Screwworm detections followed those cattle-trafficking paths into Honduras and Guatemala. A few weeks later, Mexican officials detected their first case in November 2024.

Screwworm was predicted to have arrived in the U.S. last summer, USDA officials said, but efforts to stop it delayed it for a year.

“We’ve been actively and vocally warning that in order to stop screwworm, you have to stop this illegal and unregulated movement of cattle from south to north,” Radachowsky said. “That is definitely the driver.”

But how it crossed from Mexico into the U.S. remains unclear, he said.

The USDA closed all southern ports of entry to livestock imports from Mexico in May 2025 and have kept them closed since then, preventing cattle from legally crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.

The Wildlife Conservation Society does not have clear information on how screwworm crossed into Texas, Radachowsky said, but noted that it can infest and travel with other warm-blooded animals like pets and wildlife.

Governor Abbott launches New World Screwworm tracker website

“At the Texas-Mexico border, you’ve got feral pigs, white tailed deer, other wildlife, basically moving back and forth as well,” he said.
The unknown

There are 13 active cases of New World Screwworm in Texas as of Tuesday. An average of 15 suspected cases are reported to the Texas Animal Health Commission every day, Dinges said during the committee hearing last week.

State Rep. Ryan Guillen, a Republican from Rio Grande City who chairs the committee, asked whether it would be logical to assume there are more cases between the Texas-Mexico border and the location of the confirmed infestations that just haven’t been reported.

Dinges replied that testing for screwworm has been ongoing for over a year and cases had not been detected until now.“We’ve been submitting anywhere from two to six larvae samples a week since last May and we have not detected any New World Screwworm larvae until June 3,” Dinges said.

Despite those assurances, farmers and ranchers throughout Texas are operating under the assumption that screwworm is present in their area.

“There’s just so much country that’s unsurveilled,” said John Sewell, a rancher from Kinney and Uvalde County said during the hearing. “I’m in between two — one south of me and one north of me. Do I think I don’t have it? I would be a fool to think I didn’t have it.”

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

New exhibit explores WW2 veteran

KILGORE – The East Texas Oil Museum will open a new exhibit July 3, “One Texan’s Improbable and Unimaginable Journey: Albert ‘Pappy’ DeHart’s Best-Worst Seat in History,” highlighting the life and military service of an East Texas native whose experiences placed him at the center of one of World War II’s most significant events.

The exhibit chronicles the journey of Albert “Pappy” DeHart, who was born in Jacksonville and raised in Marshall. During World War II, DeHart served with the 509th Composite Group, the unit responsible for carrying out the atomic bomb missions over Japan in August 1945. Continue reading New exhibit explores WW2 veteran

Father, son missing off Oahu coast, search underway

In this screen grab from a video released by the Honolulu Fire Department, HFD responded to a report of a missing swimmer reported at Hanauma Bay Ridge Trail, on June 24, 2026. (Honolulu Fire Department)

(OAHU, Hawaii) -- The United States Coast Guard and local officials are conducting a search for a 49-year-old man and his 16-year-old son who went missing Tuesday morning after leaving for a hike on the eastern coast of Oahu, a Coast Guard press release said.

Family members said the pair left their hotel at around 7 a.m. Tuesday to hike the Hanauma Bay Rock Bridge Trail, according to officials. Passersby found a backpack containing the man's belongings near the trail at 8:45 a.m. and notified the Honolulu Police Department, the release said.

Police, the Honolulu Fire Department, Honolulu Ocean Safety Department and the Coast Guard launched a joint search operation late Tuesday morning after confirmation that the father and son were missing, ABC News Honolulu affiliate KITV reported.

The names of the father and son have not been released.

The agencies searched along the trail and surrounding areas, and deployed fire department helicopters and rescue boat, safety department jet skis and Coast Guard resources, the fire department said.

The mission was suspended at 5:30 p.m. local time Tuesday due to adverse weather conditions and was scheduled to resume Wednesday morning, fire officials said.

Top Oversight Dem demands info from Reflecting Pool contractors overseeing renovation

A U.S. Army National Guard troop stands watch at the Lincoln Memorial on June 08, 2026, in Washington, DC. Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been partially re-filled after the bottom of it was repainted as part of President Donald Trump's effort to repair Washington landmarks in for preparation the country’s 250th birthday this summer. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee sent letters Wednesday to the contractors overseeing the renovation at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, requesting information such as contracts and water quality records.

The Reflecting Pool has been plagued with algae and peeling paint in the days since the Trump administration completed its renovation, which cost taxpayers more than $16 million.

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., sent separate letters to the company hired to paint the reflecting pool and the company hired to remove the algae that later appeared in the pool.

"Donald Trump's disastrous renovation of our national reflecting pool is his latest failed vanity project," Garcia said in a statement. "The President should be focused on making life more affordable for the American people, not rewarding his loyalists with government contracts and wasting taxpayer money on failing projects. We're demanding answers straight from the contractors about the project's failures."

The ranking member requested information by July 8, 2026, including the scope of the work, contract performance standards, communications with the National Park Service and amounts invoiced or paid.

Democrats, who are in the minority, do not have subpoena power to compel these contractors to hand over information or even respond.

Trump said this week the Reflecting Pool will be drained again for "permanent repair" around the Fourth of July and said that six people have now been arrested for alleged damage to the site. No charges had been filed in the alleged arrests.

The Interior Department and the U.S. Park Police have not responded to multiple outreaches for evidence of the alleged vandalism.

‘Dutton Ranch’ renewed for season 2 at Paramount+

Cole Hauser as Rip Wheeler and Kelly Reilly as Beth Dutton in the second episode of 'Dutton Ranch' season 1. (Emerson Miller/Paramount+)

It's time to go back to Texas.

Dutton Ranch has been renewed for season 2 at Paramount+. This renewal comes ahead of the release of the first season's final two episodes.

Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser return to their Yellowstone roles of Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler in the spinoff series. Also starring are Oscar nominees Ed Harris and Annette Bening.

The ensemble cast also includes Finn Little, Juan Pablo Raba, Jai Courtney, J.R. Villarreal, Marc Menchaca and Natalie Alyn Lind.

Dutton Ranch follows Beth and Rip, who "are grateful for the peace they sought, fought, and nearly died for with their 7,000-acre Dutton Ranch," according to a press release. "With tough times and stiff competition, Beth and Rip do what they must to survive, all while ensuring Carter becomes the man he's supposed to be."

As Beth and Rip fight to build their future far away from Yellowstone and all its ghosts, "they collide with brutal new realities and a ruthless rival ranch that will stop at nothing to protect its empire. In South Texas, blood runs deeper, forgiveness is fleeting, and the cost of survival might just be your soul," an official synopsis reads.

The spinoff garnered the biggest original series launch in the streaming service's history, according to numbers from the company. It generated 12.9 million global streaming views in the seven days following its premiere.

Chad Feehan serves as showrunner on Dutton Ranch. Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan executive produces, as do stars Hauser and Reilly.

“Dutton Ranch has resonated with audiences in a powerful way, building on the legacy of beloved characters, while establishing its own identity,” Matt Thunell, president of Paramount Television Studios, said in a press release. “We look forward to bringing fans more stories from these unforgettable characters in season 2.”

Woman killed in Longview crash, driver arrested

LONGVIEW – A man was arrested in Longview on Monday after he was involved in a crash on Mobberly Avenue that left a 44-year-old woman dead, according to Longview Police, and our news partner, KETK.

Police say officers responded to a report of suspicious activity when they found a vehicle that was allegedly in a crash at around 12:30 a.m. When officers tried to make contact with the driver, he fled in the vehicle. Police said he was later stopped and arrested for evading arrest with a vehicle. Continue reading Woman killed in Longview crash, driver arrested

Chamber talks water rule changes

TYLER – The Tyler Chamber of Commerce convened local developers, engineers and government officials on Tuesday for a briefing on proposed revisions to the federal Waters of the United States regulations that could significantly reshape how water resources are managed across Texas.

The session focused on emerging federal guidance and the potential ripple effects for water quality, permitting and land-use planning at the state and municipal levels.

The proposed updates follow a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that narrowed the definition of federally protected waters. In response, federal agencies are revising their rules, a move that could transfer substantial regulatory authority from Washington to state and local governments.

Judge permanently blocks Trump EO requiring proof of citizenship to vote

President Donald Trump holds an executive order he signed during an Ambassador Meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on March 25, 2025.(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- A federal judge on Wednesday permanently blocked the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order signed last year that required proof of citizenship to register to vote and demanded mail-in ballots be received by Election Day.

Judge Denise Casper ruled that the president lacks the authority to oversee elections and rejected the Trump administration's unsupported claims of "widespread illegal voting, discrimination, fraud, and other forms of malfeasance and error."

"While the Constitution vests the President with 'executive Power' and commands him to 'take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,' it does not grant the President any specific powers over elections," Judge Casper wrote.

The decision is more than a year in the making, with a group of state attorneys general last April filing a lawsuit in Boston to block Trump's first executive order on voting. That order sought to require proof of citizenship to register to vote as well as impose an Election Day deadline for mail-in ballots, and Judge Casper last June issued a preliminary injunction blocking the policy.

In a 59-page ruling issued Wednesday, Judge Casper made that decision permanent on largely the same legal basis as her decision last year. In addition to finding that Trump overstepped his authority with the order, the judge said the Department of Justice failed to demonstrate the alleged fraud that purportedly justified the order, and the policy would have disenfranchised thousands.

"There is no evidence in this record of widespread 'illegal voting, discrimination, fraud, and other forms of malfeasance and error' within American elections, which the Executive Order purports to safeguard against," she wrote.

The ruling is the latest setback in the Trump administration's attempt to reshape federal elections, with courts blocking multiple efforts to impose federal oversight on elections.

Multiple lawsuits are challenging Trump’s second executive order on voting that attempted to create a national database of approved voters, and earlier this week, a judge blocked an attempt to use an immigration database to check voter rolls. Judges across the country have also rejected the Department of Justice's attempt to obtain state voter rolls.

Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman star in ‘Practical Magic 2’ official trailer

Nicole Kidman as Gillian Owens and Sandra Bullock as Sally Owens in 'Practical Magic 2.' (Warner Bros. Pictures)

We come to this official trailer for magic.

Warner Bros. Pictures has released the official trailer for Practical Magic 2. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman once again star as the magical Owens sisters in this highly anticipated sequel to the 1998 film Practical Magic.

Along with Bullock and Kidman, who are both producing the project, the film stars Joey King, Lee Pace, Maisie Williams, Xolo Maridueña, Solly McLeod, Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest.

Practical Magic 2 follows the Owens sisters as they "must confront the dark curse that threatens to unravel their family once and for all in a must-see cinematic event of fun, magic and mayhem," according to an official description from Warner Bros.

The trailer finds all of the Owens women living in the same picturesque white home by the water from the first film.

"No magic is stronger than sisterhood," Channing's Franny says in the trailer. "Cast by fate, tested by time and never broken."

We also see the daughters of Bullock's Sally Owens and Kidman's Gillian Owens dreaming about romantic love — and doubting the family curse. That doubt causes heartbreak when Kylie (King) finds her boyfriend dead.

"Kylie said she's gonna go fix the curse," Gillian says later in the trailer.

"This will lead her into the dark path," Franny responds. "If you want to find her, you have to work together."

Susanne Bier directed the film from a script by Akiva Goldsman and Georgia Pritchett. It's based on the novel The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman.

Practical Magic 2 debuts to theaters on Sept. 11.

Jacob Elordi, Teyana Taylor among those invited to join Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Teyana Taylor attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026, in Hollywood, California. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images) | Jacob Elordi attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026, in Hollywood, California. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Jacob Elordi, Teyana Taylor and Josh O'Connor are among the 529 people The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited to join its ranks as members.

Other actors invited to join the academy include Jon Bernthal, Josh Gad, Julia Garner, Mia Goth, Simu Liu, Jenna Ortega, Bill Skarsgård and Jenny Slate.

Along with Elordi and Taylor, 2026 Oscar acting nominee Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas also received an invitation to join the academy's ranks.

“We are delighted to invite this remarkable group of film artists and professionals from around the world to join the Academy,” academy CEO Bill Kramer and academy President Lynette Howell Taylor said in a press release. “Through their commitment to filmmaking, this year’s exceptionally talented class has made significant contributions to our global movie industry.”

The rest of the actors who have received invitations to join the academy are Mathieu Amalric, Raúl Briones, Kenneth Choi, Jemaine Clement, Paddy Considine, David Dastmalchian, S?o?pe?? Di?ri?su?, Veronica Ferres, Stephen Fry, Wood Harris, Suzy Eddie Izzard, Scoot McNairy, Tig Notaro, Daniella Pineda, Lily Rabe, Anthony Ramos and Miguel Sandoval.

If all of the people invited decide to accept their membership, the total amount of academy members will increase to 11,319, including emeritus. The number of voting members will stand at 10,338.

With the new additions of the 2025 member class, the academy would consist of 36% women, with 25% of them from underrepresented communities and 22% international.

Suspect arrested in back-to-back blowgun dart shootings in Cleveland

Police in Cleveland, Ohio, are investigating back-to-back attacks, June 22, 2026, in which victims were shot with blowgun darts similar to one in this photo. (The Washington Post via Getty Images)

(CLEVELAND) -- A man suspected of shooting two people with blowgun darts in back-to-back broad daylight attacks this week in the same Cleveland, Ohio, neighborhood, has been arrested, police said on Wednesday.

The 42-year-old suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of felony assault following a two-day manhunt, according to the Cleveland Police Department.

One of the victims was shot multiple times with blow darts and had to undergo surgery, according to police.

The bizarre attacks unfolded around 4 p.m. local time on Monday in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood of west Cleveland, police said in a statement to ABC News on Wednesday morning.

A woman targeted in the first incident alleged the suspect, whom she recognized from the neighborhood, verbally insulted her and struck her in the face with his hand in an unprovoked attack, according to the police statement.

The victim alleged that a short time later, the suspect confronted her again in the parking lot of a Family Dollar store, according to the police report. The man allegedly pulled out a blow-dart gun and fired it repeatedly at the woman, striking her with needle-like darts at least five times, according to police.

"Upon arrival, officers located a 56-year-old woman who had been struck with several long-needle darts," police said.

She was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, where she underwent surgery to remove one of the darts that pierced her liver, according to police.

While at the hospital with the first victim, police received a report that a second person had been shot with a blowdart gun in the same Clark-Fulton neighborhood near the busy intersection of West 25th Street and Clark Ave., according to police.

Officers who responded to the scene in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood discovered a 40-year-old man suffering from wounds in the blowgun dart attack, police said.

"The victim stated that he was in the area of West 25th Street when an unknown male shot him with a blow dart. He reported running from the area and calling 911," according to the police report.

The victim was treated at a hospital for his injuries, police said.

A search was immediately launched, according to police. On Wednesday, officers arrested the suspect after spotting him in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood, according to the police statement.

During the arrest, officers recovered a blowgun as evidence, police said.

Dallas man arrested for assaulting officer

SMITH COUNTY – According to arrest records, a man from the Dallas area assaulted a Smith County deputy on Sunday morning while attempting to take the deputy’s gun and repeatedly resisting arrest. Members of a nearby church allegedly intervened to assist, according to the documents. Delano Davis is accused of resisting arrest, assaulting a peace officer, trying to steal a weapon from an officer, and interfering with public duties. Since Sunday, he has been detained at the Smith County Jail. Around 11:20 a.m. on Sunday, a Smith County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to a call regarding a man stepping in front of moving cars close to County Roads 165 and 168 in the Flint-Gresham area, according to an arrest affidavit. Continue reading Dallas man arrested for assaulting officer

Lufkin man dead after vehicle drives into Neches River on Monday

ANGELINA COUNTY (KETK) — A Lufkin man was pronounced dead on Monday afternoon after his vehicle reportedly drove off U.S. Highway 59 and into the Neches River, officials said.

DPS identified the driver as 71-year-old Theodore Fajen III of Lufkin, who was pronounced dead on the scene by a justice of the peace.

The investigation remains ongoing and no information is available at this time, DPS said.

Suspect in custody in weekend shooting

UPDATE: Emiliano Lorenzo Alonzo Ebanez was taken into custody at around 5:41 p.m. on Wednesday, the Jacksonville Police Department said. He will be transported to the Cherokee County Jail, where he will be processed for booking.

JACKSONVILLE – An 18-year-old Rusk man was identified by the Jacksonville Police Department as a suspect in the Lincoln Park shooting. According to Jacksonville police spokesperson Amanda Bragg, Emiliano Lorenzo Ebanez is regarded as armed and dangerous. In a press release, she stated that if Ebanez is spotted, the public is “strongly advised” to stay away and to call the police. Jacksonville police received several 911 calls about a shooting near Lincoln Park, close to Davis Avenue and Holloway Avenue, at approximately 9:35 p.m. on Sunday.

According to a press release, officers found three adult males who had been shot, and private vehicles transported them to nearby hospitals. According to reports, their condition is stable.

A sizable crowd gathered in the 7-Eleven North parking lot while responding officers tried to disperse them. Around 10:10 p.m., more gunfire was reported in the area. According to Bragg, the reports of the shootings are being looked into. Call Jacksonville police at 903-586-2546 if you have any information.

New Tyler utility pay system

TYLER – The push to modernize the Water Business Office came from our customers. Over the past several years, utility customers have asked for more payment options, better account information, and tools that make managing utility accounts easier. On Wednesday, June 24, the City of Tyler took another step toward those goals when the new utility payment system went live.

The new payment provider, Invoice Cloud, introduces several expanded features designed to give people more flexibility in how they pay and manage their accounts.

Anyone currently enrolled in autopay will need to re-enroll in the new system. Continue reading New Tyler utility pay system

‘My Life with the Walter Boys’ gets season 3 release date

Noah LaLonde as Cole Walter and Nikki Rodriguez as Jackie Howard in episode 1 of 'My Life with the Walter Boys' season 3. (Netflix)

My Life with the Walter Boys is getting ready to return.

Netflix has announced that the third season of the romance series is set to debut on Aug. 6.

The streaming service also released first-look photos from season 3 to tide fans over before they get to see the fallout of Jackie (Nikki Rodriguez) and Cole's (Noah LaLonde) overheard love confessions.

"The path of true love never runs smooth, especially in Silver Falls. The last time we saw the Walters, Jackie and Cole finally confessed their love for each other, only for Jackie’s boyfriend — and Cole’s brother — Alex (Ashby Gentry) to overhear," according to an official description from Netflix. "But their conversation was interrupted when Walter patriarch George was rushed to the hospital. Season 3 sees the Walters realize what’s important in the fallout from this – and discover that it’s okay to go after what you want."

Season 3 finds Alex turning toward his new rodeo racing team while Cole is discovered by a race car driver.

"Meanwhile, Jackie pours her heart into developing the town’s community space. But when a childhood friend arrives from New York, the life she left behind proves harder to forget than she expected," the description concludes.

Also starring in season 3 are Sarah Rafferty, Marc Blucas, Connor Stanhope, Jaylan Evans, Corey Fogelmanis, Zoë Soul, Ashley Tavares, Dean Petriw and Johnny Link.

My Life with the Walter Boys has already been renewed for season 4. Season 3 will consists of 10 episodes. The series is based on the novel of the same name by Ali Novak.

‘Canary in the coal mine’: States threaten crackdown on election betting

Booths await Maine residents to cast their ballots at a polling station inside the Portland Exposition Building on June 9, 2026 in Bangor, Maine. (CJ Gunther/Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) -- On prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, bettors can put money on dozens of election-related bets in Maryland, from the winner of the upcoming gubernatorial race to the margin of victory in the state's 6th Congressional District.

For most Americans, the Maryland elections are fair game -- races in the state are already generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in trading volume on the major prediction markets. But not for residents of Maryland, which is one of a handful of states that ban election betting. And Jared DeMaranis, the state's election administrator, plans to enforce it.

"If we have credible information about illegalities and it's not within our civil citation authorities, we will of course refer those matters to the office of the state prosecutor for enforcement," DeMaranis told ABC News. "This is going to be a growing issue and something that we need to stop in its infancy."

Federal regulators and the courts have given Americans the green light to wager on elections, prompting a frenzy of wagering on the outcomes of races, the likelihood of candidates dropping out, the amount of voter turnout, and more. But more than half of U.S. states have existing laws on the books that limit or restrict the practice, according to research from the Pew Research Center -- and now state leaders are sorting out how exactly to enforce those rules.

Maryland, Texas and Arizona are among those states with laws explicitly banning election betting. And in Wisconsin, residents cannot cast ballots in elections in which they have placed a "bet or wager depending upon the result of the election," according to state law.

Ann Jacobs, the chair of the Wisconsin Election Commission, said Wisconsinites who bet on an election and then vote in it could have their vote challenged or face voter fraud charges. Jacobs acknowledged that it would be a difficult rule to enforce, but stood by the spirit of the law.

"The policy behind saying, 'You can bet or you can vote, but you can't do both,' is 100% a sound policy," Jacobs said. "We want people to vote based on their belief that the person they are voting for is going to be the best for their community ... it just makes sense."

Arizona officials have focused their efforts on the platforms themselves. The state's attorney general filed criminal charges against Kalshi earlier this year claiming the platform operated an illegal, unlicensed gambling business and accepted unlawful wagers from Arizona residents.

In April, a federal judge blocked Arizona from continuing its criminal case. The injunction followed a lawsuit against the state by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission -- the federal regulator overseeing prediction markets -- which argued that prediction markets fall under federal oversight rather than state gambling regulations.

The Arizona attorney general's office declined to comment on the active case or how it will address potential election betting this season.

Officials in Texas, another state with a law banning election betting, did not respond to inquiries from ABC News. But Christopher McGinn, the executive director of the Texas Association of County Election Officials, said he and other administrators are engaged in early discussions about how to handle prediction markets, particularly the likelihood that individuals with a financial stake in the outcome of an election may have "more incentive to attempt to manipulate [elections], or spread misinformation."

Prediction market advocates believe election-related event contracts strengthen political forecasting and can predict outcomes with greater accuracy than traditional polls. But many election experts warn that election wagering could threaten to compromise the integrity of elections or incentivize offenders to profit from insider information.

"I can't think of all of the ways that people might try to make money off of election outcomes, but I'm sure there are enterprising people who will come up with all kinds of things," said Rick Hasen, an expert in election law at the University of California-Los Angeles. "We don't want to start thinking of elections as a financial incentive. The potential for manipulation is too great."

Legalized election betting in the U.S. is a new phenomenon. In 2024, Kalshi prevailed in a lawsuit that allowed it to offer event contracts for politics and elections. More recently, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission proposed new rules that classified elections "as contests, not gaming," further clearing the way for platforms to offer election-related wagers.

Those developments present state officials with a challenge: How can they enforce state-level bans on election betting without support from federal regulators or the platforms themselves? The answer for some, including Maryland, is to pursue the individuals.

"Right now, it's on the person. The person that places the wager on the platform is doing the illegality," said DeMaranis, the Maryland elections chief, adding that lawmakers will eventually "need to clarify the role of those platforms to make sure they're liable for offering monetary incentives on elections."

Matthew Wein, a former Homeland Security official, said a similar dynamic emerged with social media giants over the past decade. In the absence of a crackdown on platforms, authorities were left to pursue users "for doing things they shouldn't have been doing on the platforms, but not against the platforms themselves."

"And this seems to be heading in the same direction with prediction markets," said Wein, who now authors a gambling newsletter called "Secure Stakes."

A Polymarket spokesperson said states with election betting bans "run counter to the established framework for regulating prediction markets."

"We look forward to addressing these claims through the appropriate legal process," the spokesperson said.

A Kalshi spokesperson said the company's services are "federally regulated and have stock-market-grade systems for identifying and addressing market manipulation."

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., lawmakers continue to scrutinize prediction market platforms. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., have introduced legislation that would prohibit event contracts on election outcomes, which they said "spreads civic cynicism and distrust in our democratic institutions."

DeMaranis said he has struggled to instill a sense of urgency among the nation's election officials, many of whom he said have never heard of prediction markets.

The effort, he said, has left him feeling like the "canary in the coal mine."

"It's about the integrity and public trust of the electoral process," DeMaranis said. "When you have people that are engaging in election-related wagering, the integrity of the entire process now comes into question."

Global oil prices fall to lowest level since before the Iran War

A cargo ship remains anchored on May 16, 2026 in the Strait of Hormuz near Larak Island, Iran. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) -- Global oil prices on Wednesday fell to their lowest level since before the outbreak of the Iran war.

Brent crude futures, the benchmark index for worldwide trading, dropped to $73.50 a barrel. That figure, which amounted to a nearly 5% decline on Wednesday, marked the lowest price since Feb. 27, the day before the Middle East conflict began.

Stock prices, meanwhile, ticked higher Wednesday after a down day Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 105 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P 500 increased 0.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.2%. Gas prices fell below $4 per gallon last week, crossing the milestone as oil costs eased in response to negotiations between the U.S. and Iran to end the war.

The national average price of a gallon of gas stands at $3.92, marking a decline of 58 cents, or 13%, over the past month, AAA data showed. Gas prices, however, remain 94 cents higher than where they stood before the Iran war.

The Middle East conflict prompted the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of the global oil supply. The standoff triggered one of the largest oil shocks ever recorded, sending gasoline prices higher.

Delegations from the United States and Iran arrived over the weekend at the Bürgenstock resort in Switzerland, where they began negotiations aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed last week by both countries.

The memorandum in part called on Iran to allow commercial shipping to resume through the strait, and to do so toll-free for the next 60 days.

In a social media post on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said Iran told him that there would be "no tolls, no insurance costs" and "no other charges of any kind" for ships traveling through the strait.

Claims to the contrary are "troublemaking" false reports, Trump said in the post.

US stocks rise as falling oil prices help take pressure off the market

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose on Wall Street Wednesday as falling bond yields and lower oil prices helped ease pressure on the market.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 432 points, or 0.8%, as of 11:03 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.9%.

Technology stocks were gaining ground after two days of losses that weighed on the market. That helped push indexes higher as gains broadened out to other sectors, including retailers and industrial companies.

Apple rose 1%, Amazon jumped 3% and Caterpillar rose 1.6%.

Nvidia rose 0.6% following a 4.1% drop on Tuesday. Micron Technology, which reports its latest results later Wednesday, fell 0.4% following its 13.2% plunge on Tuesday.

Google’s parent company Alphabet rose 1.8%. The company is replacing Verizon in the Dow on Monday. Alphabet will become the fifth Magnificent 7 company to join the index. The others are Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia.

Big Tech companies, especially those focused on artificial intelligence, have pricey values that give them more sway over the market’s broader direction. That was the case on Tuesday when sharp losses for a few valuable tech companies pulled the market lower.

Oil prices continued slipping as the U.S. and Iran negotiate a possible end to their war. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 4.2% to $73.58 a barrel. It has been trading below $80 in recent days but is still above the roughly $70 per barrel it was trading at in late February before the war began. U.S. crude prices fell 4.6% to $69.85 a barrel.

Oil companies lagged the market. Exxon Mobil fell 2.7% and Chevron lost 2.8%.

Some of the bigger winners on Wall Street included homebuilders following approval of legislation beneficial to the industry. KB Home surged 16.4% and D.R. Horton jumped 7.8%.

Treasury yields mostly fell, removing more pressure from stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.41% from 4.50% late Tuesday. The yield on the 2-year Treasury eased to 4.15% from 4.16%.

Treasury yields are still elevated from earlier in the year, especially the 2-year Treasury, which more closely tracks anticipated action from the Federal Reserve. The central bank has signaled that it is considering raising its benchmark interest rate by the end of the year. Wall Street is forecasting at least one hike to interest rates by December, according to data from CME Group.

The Fed is worried about stubborn inflation, which had been rising throughout the year as tariffs raised the costs for a wide range of goods. A shock to energy prices because of the U.S. war with Iran worsened inflation. Gasoline prices surged and shipping costs rose. The impact is expected to linger even as oil and gasoline prices fall.

The central bank will get a fresh update on inflation Thursday, when its preferred measure for prices is released. Economists expect it to show that prices rose 4.1% in May, which would be the highest level in three years.

Gold prices fell 3%, and at one point slipped below $4,000 an ounce. Gold was above $5,000 an ounce earlier in the year. The precious metal is often seen as a barometer of the appetite for risk among investors, with more buying at times of increased anxiety and more selling as anxiety eases.

Markets were mixed in Europe and Asia.

City swears in new mayor

TYLER – Keep the momentum. Build for the future. That’s the message Stuart Hene carried throughout his campaign, and it’s the trajectory he plans to continue as he steps into his new role as Tyler’s mayor.

On Wednesday, June 24, elected Mayor Stuart Hene was sworn into office for the 2026-2028 term. He brings 5 years of experience serving as the District 1 councilmember from 2021 to 2026, demonstrating a strong commitment to public service and the Tyler community.

Throughout his campaign, Hene emphasized the importance of building on the foundation created by City improvement projects. His goals include: Investing in infrastructure and public safety. Strengthening neighborhoods and housing. And, building opportunities for the community and maintaining the quality of life.

Hene plans to accomplish his vision for a better Tyler by continuing collaboration between council members, City employees, and all of his constituents. Continue reading City swears in new mayor

Shooting suspect could face death penalty

HENDERSON COUNTY – A judge in Henderson County has given the prosecution a deadline to decide whether to pursue the death penalty for a suspect in a double murder. Chandler resident Lance Kaeden Rains, 25, showed up for a pretrial hearing in Judge Scott McKee’s courtroom Wednesday morning. Rains is charged with the shooting deaths of Chandler residents Gabriel and Beverly McBride in December 2018. Continue reading Shooting suspect could face death penalty

Trump says DOJ will ‘immediately’ look into price gouging at the gas pump

A view of gas pumps at a USA Gasoline station on May 04, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump has called for the Department of Justice to "immediately start looking into" oil companies as he accused them of price gouging and not lowering the "price at the pump" fast enough in a message on social media.

“The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Those prices are dropping like a rock! In other words, customers are being ‘gouged.’”

“I have instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into this,” Trump continued. “Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!”

A DOJ spokesperson responded to Trump's post, telling ABC News that "The price of fuel is not only a national security issue, it impacts the wallet of every American. We will always commit to ensuring affordability in this nation."

Trump’s call for the investigation comes amid reports of ships beginning to move oil and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) through the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices have continued to lower recently as peace talks between the United States and Iran have been taking place. U.S. oil is trading at $70.13 a barrel -- down 4.18% -- and global oil is trading at $73.74 -- down 4.28%. Oil is now close to where it was before the war began -- U.S. oil ended at $67 a barrel the Friday before the war started.

The Treasury's move allowing more Iranian oil onto the market until Aug. 21 and reports there was more traffic in the Strait of Hormuz are helping push oil prices lower.

The average price of a gallon of regular gas is $3.90, down 9 cents from last week’s average, according to GasBuddy.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said Sunday that oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is "already back to normal" after the U.S. and Iran signed a preliminary agreement to reopen the critical waterway while negotiators spend the next two months trying to work out yet-to-be-resolved nuclear issues.

"I'm long out of the business of predicting oil or gasoline prices, but they will continue to head down. Flows of oil and natural gas through the straits have already returned to normal, and they will continue that way whatever happens with the negotiations with the Iranians," Wright said on ABC News' "This Week." "We've got growing American production, surging production in Venezuela. We've got cooperation with all the other energy producers of the world. So, I think Americans can expect continued declines in energy prices."

U.S. and Iranian leaders signed a memorandum of understanding last week that appears to have broken the monthslong stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway in the Gulf region through which around 20% of the global oil supply normally transits to enter the market.

Energy prices spiked in May, with U.S. gas prices averaging $4.56 per gallon over the month, according to Gas Buddy.

Key Army general relinquishing command

Gen. Chris Donahue assumed command of U.S. Army Europe and Africa in December 2024. (U.S. Army)

(WASHINGTON) -- One of the Army’s most seasoned and high-profile officers is abruptly relinquishing command next week, according to the service.

Gen. Chris Donahue has spent the past 18 months leading U.S. Army Europe and Africa, the command responsible for Army operations across both continents. He will relinquish command halfway through what is normally a three-year assignment.

"Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa and commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command, will relinquish command on July 2, 2026," an Army spokesperson said in a statement. "The Army thanks Gen. Donahue for his leadership of U.S. Army Europe and Africa."

His departure comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth presses ahead with a sweeping overhaul of the Pentagon’s senior ranks, firing or sidelining large numbers of top officers with little public explanation, including the Army’s top officer Gen. Randy George.

The command Donahue now leads is also set to be downgraded from a four-star command to a three-star post, according to another U.S. official, part of Hegseth’s broader push to shrink the number of generals across the force.

Officers serving as four-star generals are only eligible to hold a position of that rank. If there are no other slots available, then the only option left for them is to retire.

The Atlantic first reported Donahue’s expected departure.

Lt. Gen. Kevin Admiral, the current commander of the Army’s III Armored Corps, is expected to be nominated to take over the role, according to a U.S. official.

Donahue’s resume includes command of the Army’s elite Delta Force and the famed 82nd Airborne Division, along with extensive combat experience across two decades of war. Inside the Army, he has long been viewed as one of its top officers and a potential future Army chief of staff.

He rose to wider public attention as the last U.S. service member to leave Afghanistan during the 2021 withdrawal, photographed in night vision boarding a C-17 when he was commanding the 82nd Airborne Division.

Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, deputy commander, U.S. Army Europe and Africa, will serve as acting commander, according to the Army.

Judge blocks Trump administration from arresting migrants at immigration courts

Federal agents patrol the halls of immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on March 04, 2026 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from arresting migrants at immigration courts, saying that officials violated the Administrative Procedures Act in enacting the policy.

U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts of the Northern District of California wrote in a blistering 71-page decision Tuesday that policies by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Executive Office of Immigration Review were "arbitrary and capricious" and violated the APA, and he issued nationwide injunction blocking the practice across the United States.

"Because the record before the Court demonstrates ICE and EOIR failed to provide reasoned explanations for their actions, the Court concludes that each of the challenged policies is arbitrary and capricious in contravention of the APA," he wrote in his decision.

The Justice Department attempted to curtail the request to only the Northern District of California instead of a nationwide block.

Scenes of migrants being arrested at immigration courts across the country, including notably in New York City, drew scrutiny from local lawmakers and advocacy organizations, who said migrants were often arrested after their deportation cases were dismissed.

Deportation hearings in immigration court are legal proceedings initiated by the Department of Homeland Security in which an immigration judge determines whether a migrant should be removed from the United States. Often, an immigration judge will dismiss a case to allow the individual to pursue legal relief by seeking asylum, according to attorneys. Other times, DHS attorneys will request dismissals if the individuals are not a priority for removal.

In most cases, when a deportation case is dismissed, it is a positive outcome for a migrant. Immigration attorneys ABC News spoke with said the Trump administration has been using dismissals to detain people at immigration courts and place them into expedited removal without allowing them to fight their cases.

In previous years, ICE has prioritized conducting courthouse arrests of people who were considered risks to the public or were convicted or accused of certain crimes.

The Trump administration had argued that an executive order issued by President Donald Trump allowed for the agencies to enact the policy, but Judge Pitts disagreed.

"It is now clear that the lack of connection between ICE's stated rationales for the 2025 courthouse-arrest policies and the expansion of arrests at immigration courthouses results not from merely unreasoned decision making but a complete lack of decision making. As the government recently revealed, contrary to its prior representations, ICE's 2025 courthouse arrest policies do not cover immigration courthouses at all," he wrote.

That is a reference to a case in New York, in which the DOJ notified a judge that it had been erroneously relying on an ICE memo to justify arrests at immigration courts, according to a court filing. In fact, the ICE memo does not apply to civil immigration enforcement actions in or near immigration courts, the DOJ told the judge in that case.

James Percival, the DHS general counsel, said Tuesday's ruling is "anti-American."

"When a judge sentences a defendant, the defendant is taken into custody. If an alien is ordered removed by an immigration judge, the same should happen," he said in a post on X. "A district judge ordering otherwise is naked judicial activism in service of an anti-American, open borders agenda."

Trump cancels signing of bipartisan housing bill until his SAVE America Act is passed

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a working session on promoting economic growth with G7 leaders and G7 outreach partners as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looks on, during the G7 Summit on June 17, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) --President Donald Trump said he is putting off signing a bipartisan housing reform bill until Congress passes his signature election and voting reform legislation, the SAVE America Act.

Trump was slated to sign the legislation at noon on Wednesday on Capitol Hill, but he abruptly canceled the event just hours before it was due to start, announcing his ultimatum on social media.

"Today's Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency," the president wrote in a post.

Trump has insisted since March that he will not sign any legislation until the SAVE America Act is sent to his desk. In a social media post on March 8, Trump wrote that it "supersedes everything else."

The SAVE America Act would make significant election and voting reforms, including requiring photo ID at polling places and proof of citizenship before a person could register to vote. It has been rejected by Democrats. Trump has pushed Republicans in the Senate to eliminate or modify the filibuster to get the bill through, though Majority Leader John Thune has maintained Republicans don't have the votes to do so.

The housing legislation, The 21st Century Road to Housing Act, passed overwhelmingly in the House and Senate. Once signed into law, big investors will be limited from buying up single-family homes and some building regulations will be loosened in an attempt to increase supply and ease the nationwide shortage.

Trump earlier Wednesday, in a separate social media post, said the housing bill is "of minor importance" compared to lower interest rates, the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the SAVE America Act.

He also criticized the legislation as "Warren centric," referring to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is a co-sponsor.

Warren reacted to Trump's cancellation of the signing ceremony, writing on X: "Huge bipartisan majorities in Congress passed a bill to lower housing costs. But at the 11th hour, Donald Trump is refusing to sign it into law. His policies have made your costs go up -- and he doesn't care."

If a president doesn't sign a bill or veto it, it becomes law after 10 days while Congress is in session. But if Congress were to adjourn before the 10-day period is up, the bill could languish indefinitely -- a maneuver to effectively kill legislation known as a "pocket veto."

ABC News asked the White House whether Trump intends to try to veto the bill, but the White House did not respond to the question, only referring to the president's post cancelling the signing. The housing bill passed with veto-proof majority in both chambers.

ABC's Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.