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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sided Thursday with a Texas marijuana user who wants to legally own a gun, the latest in a line of firearm cases from a court that has expanded gun rights.

In a unanimous decision, the justices ruled in favor of Ali Danial Hemani, who argued that a law barring guns from anyone who uses drugs illegally violates the Second Amendment. Hemani wasn’t charged with any other crimes or accused of using the weapon under the influence.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion, saying the ruling limits but doesn’t end the government’s power to take guns from drug users.

The decision is a loss for President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, which had defended the 1968 law despite arguing against other gun restrictions. The measure was also used in a case against Hunter Biden, who was convicted in Wilmington, Delaware, of buying a gun while addicted to cocaine in 2018. He was later pardoned by his father, then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

Someone addicted to a drug could still be prosecuted after Thursday’s decision, Gorsuch wrote. “We do not address efforts to ban addicts, or those presently intoxicated, from possessing a firearm,” he wrote. Prosecutors could potentially still charge a marijuana user, if they had evidence the person was dangerous.

It’s the latest in a series of firearm cases to reach the Supreme Court since a landmark ruling expanding gun rights in 2022 led to a wave of challenges around the country.

Since then, the high court has upheld a law aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence and strict regulations on ghost gun kits but has struck down a ban on bump stocks, an accessory that enables rapid fire. The justices are also considering a second firearm case this term over strict regulations on carrying guns in Hawaii.

The Texas case comes after significant shifts in the legality and use of cannabis. More than half of U.S. states have now legalized it broadly, and it’s gained widespread use for health purposes.

“Whatever one thinks of these developments, the federal government has not just tolerated them; it helped fuel them,” Gorsuch wrote. “All of which leaves it awkwardly positioned to suggest that the millions of Americans who now regularly use marijuana are categorically and unusually dangerous.”

Recreational use remains illegal on a federal level even after the Trump administration reclassified medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug in April.

It’s rare to see standalone criminal charges filed against people accused solely of owning guns and using drugs. The charge is more often filed against people also accused of other crimes.

The case made for some unusual political alliances. The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Rifle Association both supported Hemani’s case, as did cannabis legalization groups like NORML. On the other side were gun safety groups like Everytown that usually oppose the Trump administration on Second Amendment issues.

The man who died when a small jet crashed on a Texas highway was an entrepreneur well-known in the state for being at the center of Austin’s turbocharged evolution as a technology hub.

Joshua Baer, 50, described himself as an “Austinpreneur,” a reference to the state capital and his enthusiasm for getting people into business. He founded Capital Factory, which has grown into an important Austin-based venture capital firm supporting a range of technology startup companies, from robots to autonomous ships.

Baer’s LinkedIn page shows him wearing a black T-shirt and pointing at the message: “I help people quit jobs.” His email had a similar handle. Capital Factory’s downtown headquarters is among the offices of tech giants like Google.

“Whether you’re in technology or not, there’s a hole in the heart of Austin today,” Thom Singer, CEO of the Austin Technology Council, which promotes the local tech industry, said of Baer’s death.

Baer listed his life strategy as, “Plant lots of seeds. Water everyone’s. Repeat.” And people noticed: The Austin mayor in 2023 gave him a key to the city, a symbol of civic honor.

Bryan Chambers, co-founder and president of Capital Factory, said his business partner was a “true super connector.”

Baer was aboard a business jet that crashed Tuesday on a highway in Laredo, Texas, after the pilots reported mechanical problems and requested to make an emergency landing at an airport. His LinkedIn profile said he had a wife and three children. It wasn’t known whether three young people who survived the crash were family members.

After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he created an email marketing business, Baer moved to Austin in 1996 to work as a software developer at Trilogy Inc. He started Capital Factory in 2009 and regularly held business chats with people at a coffee shop.

“My hobby is startups,” Baer told the Austin American-Statesman in 2012. “I don’t watch sports or anything like that. So this is what I do. … I want to be an investor in every great tech company that comes out of Austin. That’s probably unrealistic, but I’m going to try anyway.”

Baer often spoke to high school students and had the title of “entrepreneur in residence” at the University of Texas.

“He was passionate that technology could change the world and make people’s lives efficient and better,” Singer said. “And if entrepreneurs did it right, they could make money and help their communities. He believed in those two things.”

Texas U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn said they were saddened by Baer’s death. Cornyn wrote on X that Baer was an “innovative & creative leader in Austin’s entrepreneurial culture.”

COVINGTON, La. (AP) — Tropical Storm Arthur was downgraded to a low pressure area along the upper Texas coast Wednesday night but forecasters expected its remnants to bring life-threatening flooding and days of heavy rains to parts of the southeastern United States, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Arthur was the first tropical storm of the season in the Atlantic basin and it’s expected to keep weakening as it moves inland over southeastern Texas and western Louisiana, then cross the southeast Thursday through Friday. Maximum sustained winds were around 35 mph (55 kph).

All coastal watches and warnings were discontinued Wednesday night, but flooding was likely through Friday over parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle, the hurricane center said.

In Louisiana and Mississippi, some communities had set up locations for residents to collect sandbags and cleared debris from drainage systems.

“The main threat from Arthur is going to be a prolonged, multiday, heavy rainfall event that could produce dangerous to life-threatening flash flooding,” National Hurricane Center director Michael Brennan said.

The storm spun off the Texas coast on the same day a World Cup match took place in Houston but did not disrupt the contest, which was played indoors. Heavy storms in the Houston area earlier in the week had canceled outdoor watch parties and fan events.

New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said police were preparing boats and setting up barricades in known flood areas. Collection points for residents to fill sandbags also sprung up around the state.

“We both decided we got so much rain yesterday at our house that it was probably a good idea just to pick up a few bags,” said Luke Barwick, who filled sandbags at a collection center in Covington, Louisiana.

After being inundated with heavy rain earlier this week, parts of central and south Mississippi braced for a second wave of potential flooding.

Officials in Picayune, Mississippi, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of New Orleans, declared a state of emergency Tuesday after downpours brought nearly 7 inches of rain in six hours. On Wednesday, city officials gave out thousands of sandbags and put emergency responders on standby.

Arthur is expected to produce rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters), with isolated higher totals near 20 inches (50 centimeters).

Swells generated by Arthur are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip-current conditions along the northwestern Gulf Coast for the next couple of days, forecasters said. Tornadoes were possible through Thursday.

Arthur formed as some areas along the Texas coast had already been drenched by bands of heavy storms that caused flooding and high waters. Near Houston, a 15-year-old drowned Tuesday after entering the water of a retention pond while playing near a construction zone, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. ___ Fischer reported from Miami. Associated Press writer Sophia Bates in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to this report.

The business jet barreled cockeyed down the dark highway, knocking down one light pole after another, an orange glow of sparks trailing it.

From a distance, Ivan Franco thought it must be a car. But as he approached in his tow truck, he saw it was a plane — broken in half, its fuselage resting on its side, bright fire beginning to rise above. He stopped and rifled through the rescue kit his company keeps in the truck, grabbing a sledgehammer as well as three fire extinguishers, which he handed off to police officers.

“At that moment, you don’t think much about what to do, because I knew the plane could explode since it was on fire,” Franco told The Associated Press in Spanish. “My idea was to try to break the windows because the pilots hadn’t come out yet.”

Franco was one of several motorists who happened across the crash in Laredo, Texas, late Tuesday night and rushed to help — putting their own lives in danger to help those on board escape as smoke filled the cabin.

Passersby helped save lives

Police were also on the scene quickly, and their teamwork with the good Samaritans undoubtedly saved lives, officials said.

“The officers and the good Samaritans that went to the scene, our firefighters that responded — I do also want to commend each and every one of them,” Laredo Police Chief Mike Rodriguez said during a news conference Wednesday. He said he asked his staff to track down all the civilians who helped.

The Cessna Citation Latitude twin jet departed Tuesday evening from the Mexican resort city of San José del Cabo and was bound for Austin, Texas, the FAA said in a statement. The plane was operated by NetJets, a company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway that lets people buy part ownership in private jets. NetJets said in a statement that it was cooperating with authorities.

The crash occurred after its pilots reported mechanical problems while requesting an emergency landing at a nearby airport. The fuselage came to rest across a concrete barrier, while its tail broke off and fell to a lower section of roadway.

One person was killed: Joshua Baer, a leader in Texas’ technology and startup sectors. Three teenage passengers and two pilots survived, as did a person in a truck struck by the plane as it crashed. Authorities have not released more detail about the passengers’ connections to one another.

Investigators combed through wreckage Wednesday for clues to the cause.

It was the third significant aviation accident in as many days in the U.S. A B-52 crashed Monday during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California and killed all eight people aboard, while on Sunday, 12 people were killed when a plane on a skydiving outing in Missouri crashed.

‘It looked like part of a movie’

Among the motorists who stopped in Laredo was Zayra Garza, an esthetician who was driving her co-workers home when she saw the wreckage. She recorded video as her husband ran to help.

“It looked like part of a movie. I was in shock,” Garza said. Most worrisome was the fire: “I was concerned that it could have just exploded at any time.”

Garza saw people leave their cars to try to smash the cockpit glass. Her video shows the aircraft’s door popping open slightly from inside as a voice cries “Help! Help! Help!” The rescuers strain to lift the door farther open as the three teenagers dart out, followed quickly by one pilot and then by another.

Franco, a 23-year-old from Laredo, frantically swung the sledgehammer through heavy smoke. Others struck at the window with a shovel and tools from their own vehicles.
Cockpit windows are designed not to shatter

They accomplished little more than spiderwebbing the cockpit window with small cracks: Airplane windshields have multiple layers of glass and are designed to remain structurally sound even if the outer layer shatters. The windows must be able to withstand a bird strike at cruising speed and hold up to extreme pressure differences at high altitudes.

“They are basically bulletproof,” said retired airline pilot John Cox, who is CEO of Safety Operating Systems.

Police officers tried to remove the final person inside — Baer — as the smoke grew thicker. Officers doubled over coughing after turning away from the smoke.

Eventually firefighters with oxygen masks were able to get inside.

Firefighters also removed a dog from the plane that was suffering from smoke inhalation. The dog was turned over to animal control and was expected to survive, said Jose Baeza, an investigator with the Laredo Police Department.

Five officers were treated for smoke inhalation; the five people who survived the crash were also released from a hospital.

As the plane crashed on the northbound lanes of the highway, its wing hit a truck traveling southbound. The driver of that vehicle also survived, Baeza said.

There has been an outpouring of support on social media for those who stopped to help, heralding their bravery and selflessness.

Laredo Mayor Victor Treviño called it “nothing short of a miracle that this tragedy did not become a mass fatality event,” thanks in part to the late hour when the crash occurred and the quick action of first responders.

Franco said that as he tried to help, all he could think of was getting people out of the plane. But to do it, he had to conquer another feeling.

“You’re in constant fear,” he said. “You don’t know what situation you’re in.”

___

Johnson and Golden reported from Seattle. Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California. AP journalists Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.

MIAMI (AP) — A disorganized cluster of storms that had been plaguing the Gulf Coast for days came together to form Tropical Storm Arthur on Wednesday — the first tropical cyclone of the season in the Atlantic basin.

Flash flooding was the main threat from Arthur, a weak tropical storm that the National Hurricane Center in Miami said would be short-lived. Maximum sustained winds were around 45 mph (75 kph), with little change in strength forecast before it is expected to dissipate by Wednesday night or early Thursday. A tropical storm warning remained in effect for a roughly 350-mile (560-kilometer) stretch along the coast of Texas and Louisiana.

The storm hung over coastal Texas on the same day a World Cup match was being played between Portugal and the Democratic Republic of Congo in Houston. The stadium is covered, and no plans were announced to move or reschedule the match.

National Hurricane Center director Michael Brennan said during a briefing that flash flood warnings were already being issued in the Houston metro area, with more likely to follow across the region, even after the center of the storm passes.

“The main threat from Arthur is going to be a prolonged, multiday, heavy rainfall event that could produce dangerous to life threatening flash flooding,” Brennan said.

A teenager appears to have drowned in a flooded retention pond outside Houston, authorities said Tuesday evening. A group of teens was playing near a construction zone and an adjacent retention pond when a 15-year-old boy entered the water, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said on social media. Rescue workers found his body using sonar technology following an extensive search.

“This incident serves as a solemn reminder of the dangers associated with floodwaters, particularly following periods of heavy rainfall,” the post said.

With the storm so spread out, forecasters weren’t particularly concerned with when and where the center would make landfall.

“A lot of the winds have already been occurring along portions of the coast of Texas and Louisiana,” National Hurricane Center operations chief Dan Brown said. “And there’s also been a lot a heavy rainfall that’s kind of preceded both the development of the storm and center of the storm.”

Flooding was likely through Friday over parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle, the hurricane center said.

The tropical storm is expected to produce rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters), with isolated higher totals near 20 inches (50 centimeters). The combination of storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.

Swells generated by Arthur are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along the northwestern Gulf Coast for the next couple of days. Tornadoes are possible through Thursday.

The center of Tropical Storm Arthur was located Wednesday afternoon about 55 miles (90 kilometers) northeast of Port O’Connor, Texas, according to an advisory. The storm was moving northeast near 9 mph (15 kph), and an increase in forward speed was expected.

PLANO (AP) – Pizza Hut, the 68-year-old chain that has long struggled with growing competition and outdated restaurants, will be sold for $2.7 billion by parent company Yum Brands.

Yum Brands said this week that the private equity firm LongRange Capital will buy Pizza Hut, excluding the mainland China business, for about $1.5 billion.

In mainland China, Pizza Hut will be purchased by Yum China Holdings Inc. for approximately $1.2 billion, the company said. China is Pizza Hut’s second-largest market outside the U.S., accounting for 19% of sales. Yum China Holdings Inc. spun off from Yum Brands and became an independent company in 2016.

Yum Brands, which also owns KFC and Taco Bell, began to explore its options for Pizza Hut in November. Last year, Yum Brands’ global sales rose 5% but Pizza Hut’s sales fell 2%.

In February, Yum Brands announced plans to close 250 U.S. Pizza Hut locations. Pizza Hut had 19,974 restaurants worldwide at the end of last year.

“Pizza Hut has long been the weak link in Yum’s portfolio,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, wrote Tuesday. “Despite efforts to revitalize the brand and shut underperforming locations, it has become increasingly clear that pushing the division back into growth will require a level of investment and patience that Yum is just not prepared to commit to.”

Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by two brothers who borrowed $600 from their mother to open the store. They chose the name because their sign only had room for eight letters.

Pizza Hut’s familiar red roof debuted in 1969 and by 1971 it was the top pizza chain in the world by sales. PepsiCo acquired Pizza Hut in 1977 but spun off its restaurant division — which became Yum Brands — in 1997.

By the 1980s, Domino’s was the fastest-growing U.S. pizza company, buoyed by its promise of 30-minute delivery. As pizza carryout and delivery grew in popularity, Pizza Hut was saddled with large, dine-in restaurants. In 2020, even as pizza delivery boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pizza Hut closed 300 U.S. restaurants.

The chain has been further pinched in recent years by the growth of DoorDash, Uber Eats and other restaurant delivery companies which marketed access to a slew of cuisines besides pizza.

U.S. pizza sales have slowed considerably since the pandemic, growing less than 1% in 2024 and falling less than 1% in 2025, according to Technomic, a restaurant consulting company. But Pizza Hut performed worse than average, with U.S. sales down 8.2% last year, Technomic said.

By selling Pizza Hut, Yum Brands can focus more on its brands with stronger sales, Yum CEO Chris Turner said.

“Under LongRange and Yum China, Pizza Hut will be well positioned for future growth with ownership that brings deep expertise in the restaurant industry,” Turner said in a statement.

Connecticut-based LongRange Capital was founded in 2019 by Bob Berlin, who previously engineered a turnaround at Arby’s when he led private equity investments at The Baupost Group. Berlin said Tuesday he looked forward to working with Pizza Hut’s executive team and franchisees “to drive its next phase of growth.”

“Pizza Hut is a beloved global brand with a rich heritage and a loyal customer base that few brands can match,” Berlin said in a statement.

Asked Tuesday if LongRange planned to close any Pizza Hut locations, the company said it had no comment beyond Berlin’s statement.

Yum Brands, based in Louisville, Kentucky, expects the sale in U.S. and China to close in the third quarter. The global corporate headquarters for Pizza Hut is in Plano, Texas.

NACOGDOCHES — A lawsuit filed in 2025 against Stephen F. Austin State University, claiming to have violated the Title IX rights of student athletes, continues to move forward in court, despite Monday’s ruling to remove five plaintiffs as individuals.

Last year, SFA decided to axe three women’s sports teams: beach volleyball, bowling and golf. According to SFA, the programs were eliminated because of budget deficits and upcoming revenue-sharing requirements.

Consequently, seven student-athletes filed a lawsuit against the institution, claiming that the university discriminated against its female student-athletes by eliminating the teams. Continue reading SFA discrimination lawsuit moves forward

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator John Cornyn released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Justice officially opened s Cornyn-created program for applications from eligible states. In addition to the nearly $10 billion fund announced earlier this month by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the $3 billion fund was authorized through a provision led by Sen. Cornyn as the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. A total of $13.5 billion in funding will be reimbursed to secure the border.

“For four years, President Biden’s disastrous open-border policies wreaked havoc on our nation, and no state did more during that time to fill in the gaps to try to protect and defend the southern border than Texas,” said Sen. Cornyn. “I’m glad the Department of Justice has followed through on my reimbursement provision by opening the application process for funding to reimburse states like Texas for the billions of dollars spent to try and secure the border after Joe Biden’s dereliction of this federal responsibility. Coupled with the funding delegated to the Department of Homeland Security, states who pitched in on border security efforts can now apply for reimbursement for costs incurred by their taxpayers during the Biden administration.”

Background:

Senator Cornyn has led the fight in Washington to secure federal reimbursement for Texas by, swiftly backing Governor Abbott’s request for Texas to be reimbursed for the taxpayer dollars spent on Operation Lone Star, calling attention to the on-going reimbursement effort on the Senate floor, meeting with the governor and members of the Texas congressional delegation to discuss the legislative strategy for the reimbursement push, holding on-going meetings and phone calls with Gov. Abbott, Senate and House leadership, and congressional colleagues regarding the effort, leading legislation in the Senate to set aside $13.5 billion in funds to reimburse states for costs they incurred to secure the border as ‘a result of the Biden Administration’s disastrous immigration policies’, and, leading a letter with members of the Texas congressional delegation to the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security – urging them to prioritize the release of funds set aside to reimburse Texas for the more than $11 billion spent on border security efforts.

EL PASO (AP) – Contractors running Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities can rely more heavily on artificial intelligence tools to communicate with detainees and continue refusing to pay the minimum wage for detainees’ “voluntary work,” under relaxed detention standards released Monday.

ICE said the standards, which apply to for-profit contractors and jails that hold detainees, were revised to “reduce the burden on our detention operators.” Experts said the changes would help contractors limit legal liability, reduce costs and get more operational flexibility while doing little, if anything, to improve conditions for roughly 60,000 people currently detained.

“100% it’s going to result in deterioration of already problematic conditions of detention,” said Michelle Brane, a former Department of Homeland Security ombudsman who oversaw immigration detention practices during part of the Biden administration. “It’s consistent with their general practice, which is to eliminate accountability and oversight. They are not concerned with people’s basic rights or safety of detainees.”

The revisions come as ICE detention facilities are reporting deaths in unprecedented numbers and face accusations of medical neglect, inadequate food and other inhumane conditions. They come as ICE is flush with cash, receiving more than half of the $70 billion immigration enforcement spending bill signed by President Donald Trump last week.

Dr. Sanjay Basu, an public health researcher who has studied ICE custody deaths, said the changes include “genuine improvements” to suicide prevention standards and mental health care. But he said the overall trajectory is “toward weaker standards governing a growing share of the detained population.”

ICE said the changes streamline its rules and move toward more relaxed standards used by the U.S. Marshals Service to hold pretrial federal inmates in jails. The agency said it considered input from operators “alongside operational, legal and policy requirements when making a final decision.”

Dr. Homer Venters, an expert on correctional health care, said the changes could curtail access to language assistance by eliminating mandates that required in-person and telephone interpretation and translation services.
New standard allows use of AI

The revised standard says facilities can use artificial intelligence tools such as machine-learning-based translation or generative AI for “noncritical communication” or “informal interactions with detainees.” That communication could include giving and receiving information to or from detainees during intake, having conversations with detainees in housing units and responding to a detainee’s grievance or other concerns, it says.

Venters called the changes alarming because grievances often include “very urgent or even emergent information such as when a patient has been denied lifesaving care.” He said the rule also leaves unclear whether health assessments, crucial to flagging medical and mental health conditions, could be conducted through AI.

ICE said the standards ensure contractors provide interpretation and translation services “at no cost to the detainees.”

Several experts said they were concerned by a change that bars facility operators from refusing to admit any detainee ICE sends them.

The change means facilities may not be able to immediately refer severely ill or disabled detainees whom they cannot accommodate to hospitals or other settings for care — but it could reduce their liability for subsequent deaths. A related rule change requires facilities to request that ICE transfer detainees they cannot serve elsewhere, but that might not happen for several days after they are admitted.
A favor to contractors

New language making clear that detainees who participate in voluntary work programs are not employees and therefore not entitled to wages and benefits “is a favor” to ICE’s for-profit contractors, said Dora Schriro, former director of ICE’s Office of Detention Policy and Planning during the Obama administration.

For years, advocates for detainees have argued in lawsuits that these programs, in which detainees receive a stipend of as little as $1 per work day, amount to forced labor. The lawsuits have sought millions of dollars in unpaid wages from ICE contractors like GeoGroup and CoreCivic, and now they could face tougher odds of success by strengthening their legal defenses, Schriro said.

Another change bars facilities from paying above the longtime $1-per-day minimum stipend, which was allowed under the previous standard and an argument that had been used against contractors in court, said Carmen Iguina Gonzalez, an immigration detention expert at the American Civil Liberties Union.

Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former DHS and ICE official who is an expert on detention standards, said ICE could use its increased budget to improve conditions instead of “lowering standards across the board.” She recalled that under prior administrations, she pushed ICE facilities to add soccer fields and other recreation and visitation improvements with leftover money.

“Their goal is to make it easier for the jail operators,” she said. “No longer are they trying to make sure the focus is on the detainees and their care and the experience in custody.”