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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has approved a settlement package designed to rein in groundwater pumping along one of North America’s longest rivers and ensure enough water reliably makes it from New Mexico to Texas, ending a long-running dispute over management of the Rio Grande.

In a brief order Tuesday, the court accepted the recommendation of a special master to move forward with agreements first proposed last year by New Mexico, Texas and Colorado.

The settlement calls for reducing groundwater pumping along the dwindling river and retiring water rights from irrigated farmland in southern New Mexico. The states held up the proposal as a promise to restore order to an elaborate system of storing and sharing water between two vast irrigation districts in southern New Mexico and western Texas.

“We’re very excited to be redirecting resources from costly and lengthy litigation to solutions on the ground,” Hanna Riseley-White, director of the Interstate Stream Commission, said Wednesday.

Those solutions will include everything from long-term fallowing programs and more efficient irrigation infrastructure to developing new sources of water, like tapping brackish supplies or importing water, and improving stormwater management so more runoff can be captured and stored.

Researchers have warned that unsustainable use of the Rio Grande — which originates in Colorado and stretches south into Mexico — threatens water security for millions of people who rely on the binational river basin.

Farmers in southern New Mexico increasingly have turned to groundwater to irrigate pecan orchards and chile crops as hotter, drier conditions have reduced river flows and storage over recent decades. That pumping is what prompted Texas to sue in 2013, claiming the practice was cutting into water deliveries.

While the Colorado River gets all the headlines, experts say the situation along the Rio Grande is just as dire. Stretches of the river as far north as Albuquerque are expected to go dry again this year, marking the third time in five years.

The settlement package provides for a detailed accounting system for sharing water with Texas. New Mexico could rely on credits and debits from year to year to navigate through drought and wet periods, though it could be responsible for additional water-sharing obligations if deliveries are deferred too long.

Under the settlement, New Mexico must reduce annual groundwater depletions by 18,200 acre-feet, or about 5.9 billion gallons (22.3 billion liters) within the next 10 years. The commitment includes completing half of that within the next five years.

Riseley-White said that represents about 5% to 7% of current groundwater use in the lower Rio Grande. The settlement doesn’t dictate what sector the water savings comes from, so she said industry and municipalities could also partner with the state to meet the mandates.

Still, officials expect to achieve most of the necessary reductions from buying water rights from the agricultural industry, meaning more farmland would be retired.

Riseley-White said listening sessions are underway this week and the first acquisitions are expected to begin later this year. New Mexico has secured more than $40 million in federal funding to support the effort, she said.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX Starship launches are on hold pending an investigation into last week’s test flight.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that the hourlong spaceflight resulted in a mishap based on the performance of the mega rocket’s first-stage booster.

Minutes after Starship blasted off from Texas on Friday, the booster separated as normal but engines conked out as it made its way back to Earth. Instead of a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, the booster came in hard. There were no reports of injury or property damage, according to the FAA, which will oversee the company’s investigation.

The spacecraft continued around the world, releasing 20 mock satellites before ending the mission as planned with a fiery splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

The 407-foot (124-meter) rocket is SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s biggest and most powerful Starship yet, designed to carry crews to Mars. NASA is looking for it to land astronauts on the moon as soon as 2028 and help build a lunar base.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas Democrat James Talarico launched his general election campaign for the U.S. Senate Wednesday by framing his Republican opponent, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, as part of a corrupt political establishment that uses power to serve itself rather than the people.

Talarico has given Democrats their best chance in years of winning a Senate race in Texas and has boosted their still-uphill chances of retaking the majority in the U.S. Senate in November. Talarico, a former middle school teacher and a state lawmaker from Austin, laid out a clear strategy for the months ahead: Litigating Paxton’s scandals to a weary electorate.

“Ken Paxton is the most corrupt politician in America,” Talarico told a crowd of about 1,000 supporters who packed a dance club in downtown Houston. “He has failed the character test. He has put his own interests above the laws of Texas. Those are not my words, those are the words of Ken Paxton’s fellow Republicans.”

He also sought to tie what he called the “rot” at the heart of the nation’s political system to the everyday problems faced by many voters, driving home the concerns over rising costs that have been part of Democrats’ wider messaging strategy for this year’s midterm elections.

“In America, we have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis,” Talarico told the crowd.

Talarico’s messaging is tougher than in the primary

It was a stark pivot from the more sunny, spiritual theme of Talarico’s Democratic primary campaign. Now, he’s leaning into the same arguments against Paxton that Republican Senate leaders feared would make the attorney general a weaker candidate than Sen. John Cornyn, who Paxton beat in Tuesday’s Republican runoff.

The diverse crowd in Houston held signs emblazoned with “Talarico,” but with a new twist. On the flipside was the campaign’s new theme: “THE PEOPLE vs. KEN PAXTON.”

Phrased like a court case aimed at the state’s chief law enforcement officer, the theme was launched on the day that also marked the third anniversary of Paxton’s impeachment on allegations he used his office to benefit a wealthy political donor.

Paxton was acquitted on all 20 articles of impeachment, which has emboldened him and fueled his supporters. Many of them have long held that he and President Donald Trump, who endorsed him, have been victims of political persecution.

But the message seemed to resonate with many at Talarico’s rally.

Monique Green, a retired elementary school teacher from Houston, said the most important part of the “The People vs. Ken Paxton” sign she clutched to her chest while standing in line to meet Talarico were its first two words.

“It’s a declaration that it’s about us,” she said. “We are the ones, all of us, what we can definitely do together. And he inspires us to act. He doesn’t just talk — he believes.”

Campaign aides said Talarico had raised $600,000 in small, on-line donations within two hours of Paxton’s win in the Republican Texas runoff Tuesday, the most lucrative two hours for his campaign since he announced he was running in September 2025.

Turning personal attacks into campaign slogans

One of the first speakers at the rally was the Democratic state representative who co-led Paxton’s impeachment, Ann Johnson, alongside a Republican lawmaker.

Talarico emphasized that the impeachment over corruption allegations was brought by the Republican majority in the Texas statehouse, Paxton’s own party. After his rally, he said he is making the campaign about Paxton’s record because “he has escaped accountability for years.”

Paxton’s campaign declined to comment. But after Talarico finished speaking, Paxton posted a link to his campaign’s donation page on the social platform X with a personal attack on his opponent: “James Talarico and his big vegan allies have raised a fortune trying to stop the America First agenda. I need your help!” he wrote.

It echoed a line from Paxton after his runoff victory on Tuesday, and Talarico had a response ready for his supporters at the Houston rally: “I’ve been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment,” he said.

The vegan jab is part of Paxton’s attempt to seek out what he considers weak points in Talarico’s campaign, including past statements in which Talarico said God is nonbinary and that there were six biological sexes. And in a strategy reminiscent of Trump, Paxton also has been testing nicknames for his opponent.

They included “TalaFreako,” which Talarico turned to his advantage Wednesday night. He told his supporters they could go to his campaign website and buy T-shirts stamped with the new nickname.

In an interview with CBS News ahead of Wednesday’s rally, Talarico responded to the claims about his beliefs on gender, saying that what he means is that “God cannot be defined by human categories” and there were “two sexes, men and women.”

“I also know there’s a very small percentage of people who have these chromosomal abnormalities, and I believe that they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” he said.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas (KETK) — A former East Texas coach has been arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in February after driving her home.

According to an arrest affidavit from Titus County, a woman went to the Mount Pleasant Police Department late on Feb. 15 asking to speak privately with an officer. She reported that on Feb. 13 she had been drinking at an unknown residence and that Antione Javon Ross had been asked to take her home.

At about 12:29 a.m., the woman’s mother received a call from a friend saying the woman had been crying and claimed Ross had sexually assaulted her.
Hopkins County man arrested after allegedly stealing mower, power tools

The victim told police she does not remember going home and only recalls waking up and telling Ross to “get off her” before he left. She went to the emergency room for a SANE exam before speaking with officers.

Detectives later went to Mount Pleasant ISD and confirmed Ross was a junior high coach. When they approached him in the parking lot, Ross reportedly said, “I kinda know what you’re talking about,” according to the affidavit. He told detectives he had already spoken with his lawyer and would not answer questions.

Investigators obtained the woman’s SANE kit and related paperwork, which they said provided enough probable cause to charge Ross with sexual assault. Ross was arrested on April 29 and released in early May on a $100,000 bond.