Eugene Abrasimov/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC "UA:PBC"/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
(LONDON) -- A Russian drone hit a civilian minibus in Bilopillia, northeastern Ukraine early Saturday morning local time, killing nine people and injuring four others, according to the Sumy regional military administration.
The bus was en route to Sumy, not far from the Russian border and was struck at approximately 6:17 a.m.
Ukrainian national police condemned the attack as a "cynical war crime", stating that Russia once again deliberately targeted a civilian object, violating international humanitarian law as regional governor Oleh Hryhorov called the strike "inhumane."
The attack occurred just hours after Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks since March 2022 in Istanbul. While the negotiations did not produce a ceasefire, both sides agreed to a mutual exchange of 1000 prisoners of war in the coming days.
Russia has not directly commented on the civilian bus strike, but the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have hit a "military staging area" in the Sumy region.
Meanwhile, Russian official Kirill Dmitriev praised yesterday's peace talks in Istanbul -- calling the outcome a "good result" --while highlighting the largest prisoner-of-war exchange, possible ceasefire options and a better understanding of each side’s position.
He credited the progress to Donald Trump’s team and the U.S. delegation sent to help negotiations, saying the talks wouldn’t have happened without their help.
However, many key issues remain unresolved.
Russia is demanding that Ukraine give up control of parts of its territory -- something Ukrainian officials say is unacceptable. and have accused Russia of using the talks to buy time and avoid more international sanctions.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, meanwhile, expressed disappointment and urged Ukraine’s allies to keep up pressure on Moscow to reach a meaningful peace deal.
(DAMASCUS, SYRIA) -- He's a former al-Qaeda insurgent who fought against U.S. forces in Iraq and served time in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. Still, on Wednesday, new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa stood on the world stage shaking hands with President Donald Trump and achieving a major feat for his fledgling administration.
Trump announced he would lift the crippling U.S. sanctions against Syria and urged al-Sharaa to meet specified conditions in hopes that it will stabilize the country. These conditions include normalizing relations with Syria's neighbors, including Israel, as well as the United States.
Syria's civil war ended in December when al-Sharaa and a band of rebel fighters overthrew the government of strongman Bashar al-Assad. Since then, al-Sharaa has been working to form a new government, band together rival rebel groups inside Syria, quell infighting among former Assad-regime loyalists and establish a diplomatic presence on the world stage, ABC News has reported.
"There was always the potential that once a power vacuum was created, it would be filled by someone who was associated with one of the more extremist or terrorist related groups," said John Cohen, a former Department of Homeland Security undersecretary of intelligence.
But Cohen, an ABC News contributor, said the United States has no choice but to engage with al-Sharaa, explaining that a stable Syria is vital to the entire Middle East region.
"We have to engage," Cohen said. "There are other powers, like China and Russia, who would be more than happy to assert geopolitical control over the region. So, it's in our interest not to have that occur."
In a speech to his country after assuming the presidency, al-Sharaa spoke about uniting his country, saying that "together we can open a new chapter in the history of our beloved land."
"From here, I address you today in my capacity as president of Syria in this fateful period, asking God to grant us all success so we can revive our homeland, and overcome the challenges that we are facing, and that will only be through all standing together in people and leadership," al-Sharaa said in the January speech.
Al-Sharaa said he planned to form an inclusive government, "reflecting Syria's diversity in its men, women and youth." He also said he intends to build new Syrian institutions "so that we can reach a stage of free and impartial elections."
"I address you today not as a ruler but as a servant for our wounded homeland, striving with all power and will I have been given to realize Syria's unity and renaissance, as we should all understand that this is a transitional stage, and it is part of a political process that requires true participation by all Syrian men and women, inside and outside the country, so that we can build their future with freedom and dignity, without marginalization or sidelining," he said.
Who is Ahmad al-Sharaa?
The 42-year-old al-Sharaa was born in Saudi Arabia to a family that was originally from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. He grew up in Damascus, the capital of Syria, according to Thomas Warrick, an international lawyer and a former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for counterterrorism.
"He was a quiet boy, studious and very intelligent, according to all the reports we received about him when he was a terrorist leader," said Warrick, now a nonresident senior fellow in Middle East programs for the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.
Unlike some terrorist leaders -- including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the late leader of the Islamic State jihadist group, and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the late al-Qaeda chief and accused plotter of the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- al-Sharaa has not been known as a charismatic leader, said Warrick.
"He doesn't attract fanatical followers in quite the same way that those terrorist leaders did, and he's certainly not known as a religious scholar like Anwar al Awlaki of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was," said Warrick, who has worked under the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and under Donald Trump during his first term in the White House.
As a young man, al-Sharaa joined al-Qaeda following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, said Warrick.
"Right after the invasion of Iraq, he fought for them. He said he was a foot soldier," Warrick said.
After joining al-Qaeda, al-Sharaa adopted the name Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, Warrick said, adding that the al-Jolani part of his pseudonym in Arabic means "of the Golan," a reference to where his family originated.
While fighting for al-Qaeda in Iraq, al-Sharaa was captured by U.S. military forces and imprisoned at Abu Ghraib and other detention sites, according to Warrick.
Sometime after U.S. forces began to pull out of Iraq in 2007, al-Sharaa was released from prison and returned to Syria, Warrick said.
In Syria, al-Sharaa founded and led the al-Qaeda affiliate organization al-Nusrah Front, Warrick said.
Al-Sharaa later had a falling out with al-Baghdadi over the al-Qaeda leader's decision to form an Islamic territorial caliphate, according to Warrick.
Al-Sharaa then rebranded the al-Nusrah Front as the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) during Syria's civil war, setting up shop in Idlib in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border, Warrick said. HTS remains on the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations.
"But there's a very interesting history from then, partly because of ego, partly because he was ambitious, and he understood economics and how groups like his need to have economic support in order to have power," Warrick said.
To generate revenue for his group, Warrick said al-Sharaa began "what would be considered either taxation or extortion" of trucks crossing from Turkey into Syria.
"He used taxation to raise money from businesses and anybody who wanted to either transit or stay," Warrick said. "This is what enabled him to become one of the more effective warlords for that part of northwest Syria."
Rise to the presidency
During the civil war in Syria, more than 1 million Syrians fled to Turkey, prompting that country's president, Recep Erdogan, to ask al-Assad in mid-2024 for concessions to ease the refugee burden Turkey was experiencing, Warrick said. But a dispute between the two leaders developed when al-Assad refused Erdogan's request, according to Warrick.
At the same time, al-Sharaa and other rebel groups opposed to the al-Assad regime came up with a plan to carry out a limited military offensive against the government's forces. With support from Erdogan, according to Warrick, al-Sharaa's organization and other rebel groups were able to overthrow the regime and oust al-Assad from power.
In 2018, Trump, during his first term in office, ordered U.S. missile strikes on al-Assad's chemical weapons facilities and ISIS fighters in Syria. The United States also set up a military presence in Syria in early 2016 to train and advise Kurdish and Arab rebel forces fighting ISIS in northern and eastern parts of the country.
The U.S. intervention in Syria's civil war, combined with missile strikes on the country by Israel, severely weakened al-Assad's forces by the time al-Sharaa and his rebel group launched their attack in 2024 that would eventually topple the Assad regime.
"What nobody really appreciated was how brittle Assad's forces were, and so this 'limited effort' began to become like an avalanche rolling downhill," Warrick said. "It picked up momentum and led al-Sharaa eventually to taking over Damascus within a matter of weeks."
Facing big challenges
The new Syrian leader will attempt to convince Western and European leaders that his days as a terrorist are behind him.
With Edogon and the Saudi Crown Prince helping pave his way, al-Sharaa, in just a matter of months, has garnered support and legitimacy from other leaders in the region, including the Emir of Qatar, whom he visited. Getting Trump to lift the sanctions is seen as a major achievement by the Syrian people.
But al-Sharaa has major challenges to face, the two biggest being asserting control over all of the Syrian territory, as well as the armed groups that helped him ascend to power.
In December, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported that a meeting of the heads of the rebel groups and al-Sharaa "ended in an agreement on the dissolution of all the groups and their integration under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense."
However, reports of human rights abuses allegedly carried out by some of the rebel forces during fighting with Assad loyalists have raised questions about the Syrian president's control of these forces. He announced an investigation and vowed to hold accountable anyone responsible for violence against civilians.
After meeting with President Trump on Wednesday, al-Sharaa delivered a televised speech to his nation, saying Syria would no longer serve as an arena for foreign struggles, nor would it allow the resurgence of the old regime narrative that divided his country. He signaled that his country is interested in pivoting toward building international partnerships rooted in sovereignty and mutual interest.
During the speech, he invited Syrian investors abroad to return to the country and help it rebuild, saying, "Hope in modern Syria has become a tangible reality," and he praised Trump's decision to lift sanctions, calling it "historic and courageous."
During Wednesday's meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with al-Sharaa, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Erdogan, who phoned into the meeting, Trump urged al-Sharaa to take five specific actions, according to a readout of the meeting provided by the White House.
The conditions Trump laid out, according to the readout, include deporting Palestinian terrorists, ordering all foreign terrorists to leave Syria, helping the United States prevent a resurgence of ISIS, and signing the Abraham Accords -- a series of agreements formed in 2020 to normalize relations between Israel and several Arab states.
Israel occupies a demilitarized buffer zone along the southern Syrian border, and Israeli officials have publicly accused al-Sharaa's Islamist government of targeting the Druze, a minority religious group, south of Damascus.
On May 2, Israel bombed an area near the presidential palace in Damascus. In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said the strike was "a clear message to the Syrian regime: We will not allow [Syrian] forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community." Al-Sharaa's government said the bombing marked "a dangerous escalation."
Israel has been hitting Syria in multiple locations since al-Assad's fall in December. Israeli forces have also moved past the demilitarized buffer zone and have publicly said they won't leave the positions they're in currently.
Al-Sharaa told Reuters he's been having indirect talks with Israel to ease the violence. He says an investigation is underway in the Druze attack.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Indiana, who recently traveled to Syria and met with al-Sharaa, told ABC News this week, before Trump decided to lift sanctions, that it was the right move to help Syria recover.
"This is an important time to support a government that will not only respect human rights in the country, but respect women's rights, religious rights," Stutzman said.
Asked if he believed al-Sharaa is truly interested in uniting the Syrian people, Stutzman said, "I hope so, and we pray so, because of what the Syrian people have been through."
"We traveled into the community of Jobar, where there was just billions and billions of dollars of destruction, homes and lives ruined by [Assad]," Stutzman said. "This was a political genocide. It wasn't religious, it wasn't racial, it was strictly political genocide."
Stutzman added, "So, I think there's a great opportunity. He's talking to the right people and he's saying the right thing. But obviously his actions are going to speak louder than words at the end of the day."
'Potentially transformative moment'
Mathieu Rouquette, country director for Syria for Mercy Corps, a U.S.-based humanitarian organization, said in a statement to ABC News that lifting the sanctions on Syria "marks a potentially transformative moment for millions of Syrians."
"This decision, if successfully implemented, could enable broader recovery efforts, help revive markets, mobilize resources for the rehabilitation of heavily damaged or destroyed infrastructure and housing, and give Syrians a long-awaited opportunity to rebuild their lives with dignity," Rouquette said.
But Rouquette said what matters most to the Syrian people is whether lifting the sanctions will bring meaningful improvements to their daily life, from access to critical infrastructure, jobs, food and clean water to functioning markets and services.
"For organizations like ours, the lifting of sanctions could remove long-standing operational barriers that have hampered recovery programming, aid delivery and local engagement," Rouquette said. "With fewer restrictions on financial transactions and imports, we can more effectively support Syrians to restore livelihoods, revive small businesses, and strengthen local markets. This moment offers a real opportunity to shift from a heavy reliance on aid toward long-term resilience."
Following Wednesday's meeting, Trump complimented al-Sharaa while speaking with reporters on Air Force One on his way to Qatar, describing the Syrian leader as a "young, attractive, tough guy. Strong past, very strong past -- fighter." The president added that al-Sharaa has "got a real shot at pulling it together."
In a speech he gave at an investment forum in Riyadh before leaving Saudi Arabia, Trump said he would call off the sanctions on Syria to "give them a chance at greatness."
On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani in Turkey and affirmed the United States' support for sanctions relief to stabilize Syria, according to the White House. Rubio, the White House said, welcomed the Syrian government's calls for peace with Israel, efforts to end Iran's influence in Syria and commitment to ascertaining the fate of U.S. citizens missing or killed in Syria.
Rubio underscored to al-Shaibani the critical importance of protecting the human rights of all Syrians regardless of ethnicity or religion, the White House said.
PALESTINE – According to our news partner, KETK, a Palestine family who lost their infant daughter last year, donated their infant preservation device to a local hospital so other families could spend more time with their recently deceased babies.
A Palestine family, who lost their infant daughter last year, donated their infant preservation device to a local hospital so other families could spend more time with their recently deceased babies. While nothing could sooth their pain, all they wanted was another moment with Skipper Kate. The moment may not have been the way they imagined it, but the family was able to use a Cuddle Cot to make it happen.
“This device gave us the gift of time,” Pierce said. “It keeps them cold. And by keeping them cold, it allows families to get time they otherwise would not have gotten without the aid of this cooling device.”
Five Texas district attorneys are suing Attorney General Ken Paxton in two separate lawsuits filed Friday over new rules that would give the state’s top law enforcer meticulous access to their office’s records.
The two lawsuits, filed in Travis County District Court, seek to overturn a new rule created by Paxton’s office giving the attorney general office’s employees discretion to request almost all documents from cases county officials work on, regardless of whether they are being pursued. The district attorneys suing Paxton said the rule is an unconstitutional overreach that would needlessly burden offices who would have to present “terabytes” of data to the attorney general.
The rule, which took effect in April, only applies to counties with 400,000 residents or more — a threshold only 13 counties in the state meets. Paxton’s office has marked the provision as a way to “rein in rogue district attorneys” refusing to uphold the law. District attorneys from Travis and El Paso counties filed one suit, while district attorneys from Harris, Dallas and Bexar counties filed another. Both seek to block Paxton from being able to enforce the rule, alleging it violates the state constitution and federal law.
Five Texas district attorneys are suing Attorney General Ken Paxton in two separate lawsuits filed Friday over new rules that would give the state’s top law enforcer meticulous access to their office’s records.
The two lawsuits, filed in Travis County District Court, seek to overturn a new rule created by Paxton’s office giving the attorney general office’s employees discretion to request almost all documents from cases county officials work on, regardless of whether they are being pursued. The district attorneys suing Paxton said the rule is an unconstitutional overreach that would needlessly burden offices who would have to present “terabytes” of data to the attorney general.
The rule, which took effect in April, only applies to counties with 400,000 residents or more — a threshold only 13 counties in the state meets. Paxton’s office has marked the provision as a way to “rein in rogue district attorneys” refusing to uphold the law. District attorneys from Travis and El Paso counties filed one suit, while district attorneys from Harris, Dallas and Bexar counties filed another. Both seek to block Paxton from being able to enforce the rule, alleging it violates the state constitution and federal law.
Included in the rule’s definition of “case file” materials eligible for review are all documents, correspondence and handwritten notes relevant to a case. It also requires counties to submit quarterly reports to the attorney general on twelve different subjects, including specific information on indictments of police officers or for violations of election code.
The new Chapter 56 rules cite a 1985 statute prompting district and county attorneys to report information to the attorney general “in the form that the attorney general directs.” To enforce the collection of documents and communication, the rule would create an “oversight advisory committee” composed of employees from the attorney general’s office. The committee would be able to request entire case files from district attorneys at their discretion. Failing to provide the requested documentation to the advisory committee would result in “official misconduct” under the rule, allowing a district judge to remove a district attorney from office.
The two lawsuits both claim the law cited by the new Chapter 56 does not provide Paxton’s office with the sweeping jurisdiction the rule creates — and that providing the information requested would be both expensive and illegal. One lawsuit from Dallas, Harris and Bexar county attorneys claims the rule seeks to achieve a “political objective” by burdening officials and creating strict consequences for noncompliance.
“These reporting requirements do not make communities safer,” Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said. “They do not identify trends, improve transparency, or enhance public trust. Instead, they create barriers that divert limited resources away from what matters most, which is prosecuting violent offenders and protecting our community.”
The trio’s lawsuit also maintains the rule violates the Texas Constitution’s protections on separation of powers because the attorney general has “no authority” to expand the definition of official misconduct.
The second lawsuit filed by the district attorneys from El Paso and Travis counties marks similar issues with the new rule, and also claims it would require illegally forfeiting the private information of victims working with their offices. In a press release from March, Paxton’s office states the new rule will help “assist citizens” in judging prosecutors’ performance, which attorneys in the second suit worry indicates private information could be shared with the public.
“The Challenged Rules purport to require an unprecedented level of disclosure of privileged and confidential information from only some of the State’s prosecutors for the sole purpose of unconstitutional oversight,” the lawsuit reads.
The attorney general has lauded the new rule as a way to help the public better understand how their local prosecutors are operating, and create consequences for those who do not act. In a statement to the Texas Tribune about the lawsuit, Paxton called the rule a “straightforward, common-sense measure” that aims to shed light on attorneys who may be refusing to prosecute dangerous crimes.
“It is no surprise that rogue DAs who would rather turn violent criminals loose on the streets than do their jobs are afraid of transparency and accountability,” Paxton said in a statement about the lawsuit from Dallas, Harris and Bexar county officials. “This lawsuit is meritless and merely a sad, desperate attempt to conceal information from the public they were sworn to protect.”
Paxton’s office also waived concerns about potentially burdensome time or financial costs, stating in the Texas Register that their assessment finds “minimal, if any, fiscal impact.”
The new rule is not the only way elected officials in Texas have sought to rein in “rogue” district attorneys in recent years through a similar enforcement mechanism. The state Legislature passed House Bill 17 in 2023, which allows courts to remove district attorneys who refuse to prosecute certain crimes, also through “official misconduct” designation.
Republican lawmakers at the time rallied behind the bill after criticizing Democratic district attorneys for not pursuing alleged voter fraud or prosecuting abortion-related cases. José Garza, the Democratic district attorney for Travis County who joined El Paso and Bexar counties in suing Paxton, was unsuccessfully sued through the law’s provision in 2024.
Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.
AUSTIN – Newsweek reports that a new poll of the 2026 Texas Senate race shows Attorney General Ken Paxton, the leading candidate in the Republican primary, trailing former Representative Colin Allred, a Democrat, in the Lone Star State. Democrats are hoping to make the race for the seat competitive, particularly if Paxton defeats Senator John Cornyn in the GOP primary, but a Cornyn campaign spokesperson told Newsweek the campaign is “confident” in his chances.
Republicans currently hold a Senate majority with 53 seats, compared to 47 seats held by Democrats. The Democratic Party hopes to take back the majority in the 2026 midterms but face a challenging map. GOP-held seats in Maine, which backed former Vice President Kamala Harris, and North Carolina, which backed President Donald Trump by only about three points in 2024, are viewed as Democrats’ best flip opportunities in the midterms. Beyond those two, they’ll have to flip states Trump won by double-digits to reclaim a majority. Other double-digit Trump states they are eyeing include Alaska, Florida, Iowa and Ohio—but Republicans are favored in each of those races. Texas has for decades been a reliably Republican state. Although it became more competitive in the 2010s, Democrats have been unable to flip it, and the state did move rightward again last year. Still, some Democrats believe it could be competitive next year if Trump’s approval fuels a 2018-style “blue wave.”
HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that the Texas power grid is expected to sail through the first major heat wave of the year without issue, largely thanks to its diverse and growing mix of power plants and renewable energy. That’s an observation energy professionals closely following the Texas Legislature made with some irony, as state lawmakers have proposed numerous bills to constrain the very same renewable energy that’s expected to help keep the power grid afloat this week. “If there is not a crisis (this week), it’s in part because of these resources that right now get considered to be not important or not having very much value,” said Aaron Zubaty, CEO of Eolian, a California-based company with battery storage projects in Texas. Electricity demand increases during hot weather as Texans tend to crank up the air-conditioning when the heat arrives. And this week, extreme heat is expected to arrive unseasonably early: Temperatures are forecast in the mid-to-high 90s for the Houston area, while San Antonio and Austin could eclipse 100 degrees.
Electricity demand is also expected to be unseasonably high. In fact, power demand could set an all-time May record of 81 gigawatts Wednesday afternoon, according to forecasts from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the operator of the state’s main power grid. For comparison, the all-time power demand record on the ERCOT grid is 85.5 gigawatts, set during a record-shattering heat wave in August 2023. Still, ERCOT does not anticipate electricity shortages this week, spokesperson Trudi Webster said in an email statement. ERCOT’s main role is to ensure electricity supply matches demand at all times. It has the authority to order rotating blackouts to reduce power demand as a last resort. “The grid is operating under normal conditions, and we expect to have sufficient capacity to meet demand,” Webster said.As recently as three to four years ago, a similar May heat wave to the one Texas is seeing this week would’ve “almost certainly” brought a power grid emergency during the hottest afternoon hours, Stoic Energy Consulting president Doug Lewin wrote in his newsletter on Monday. Just two summers ago, a string of days with 80-plus gigawatts of power demand forced ERCOT to issue nearly a dozen requests for Texans to conserve electricity use to stave off rotating blackouts. What’s changed? The ERCOT grid has added more solar arrays to cushion the grid during the hottest hours, and more battery storage to help fossil fuel power plants fill in the gaps when solar power is unavailable, said Rob Allerman, a senior director at Enverus, an energy analytics company.
WASHINGTON D.C. – A long-running lawsuit against Texas’ foster care system may get another look after lawyers representing children in state care asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.
The petition, filed Monday, asks the high court to review a recent ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that overturned a contempt order against the state and removed the judge who had overseen the case to this point.
U.S. District Judge Janis Jack was removed from the case in October, after more than 13 years as the state’s de facto foster care czar. She issued the original ruling in the 2011 lawsuit that found kids were leaving state care more damaged than when they entered, after being “shuttled throughout a system where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication, and instability are the norm.”
She placed the state system under federal oversight, which the state fought in court for many years.
In the years since that initial ruling, Jack found the state in contempt three times for failing to comply with court ordered reforms. The most recent contempt order was in April 2024, when she ordered the state to pay $100,000 a day until it could prove it was properly investigating abuse and neglect allegations among the most disabled children in state care. The state appealed that ruling.
In October, the 5th Circuit reversed Jack’s contempt order, ruling that it was criminal, not civil in nature, and ordered her removed from the case. Jack has been replaced by U.S. Chief District Judge Randy Crane.
Jack’s increasing frustration with the state’s noncompliance was evident from the bench, which the appeals court described as “a sustained pattern, over the course of months and numerous hearings, of disrespect for the Defendants and their counsel, but no such attitude toward the Plaintiffs’ counsel.”
In the petition to the Supreme Court, lawyers for the foster children said this was an overreach by an appellate court that previously had upheld Jack’s rulings on the merits. Reassigning a judge should be an extraordinary step, “not a workaday offensive weapon for disgruntled litigants,” they wrote in the petition.
Lead counsel Paul Yetter said in a statement this week that Jack held the state accountable.
“Removing her and overturning her contempt order sends the message that these children don’t
matter, and the state need not continue its reforms,” he said. “That’s especially dangerous for children with disabilities, who face life-threatening risks in a system like this one.”
Jack’s contempt order focused on a group of approximately 100 children with developmental and intellectual disabilities who receive round-the-clock care. While most of the 9,000 children in state care are managed through the Department of Family and Protective Services, the Health and Human Services Commission oversees this small cadre of disabled children.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs assert that HHSC has different investigatory standards and has not implemented the same reforms as DFPS, leaving the neediest children the most vulnerable to abuse within the state system.
Jack agreed, ordering that HHSC Commissioner Cecile E. Young be held personally in contempt for a failure to properly investigate allegations of abuse. The 5th Circuit, in overturning that ruling, found the state was largely in compliance with investigatory requirements and the ones that were not were “just a drop in the bucket of systemwide investigations.”
Yetter and his co-counsel requested a rehearing before the whole 5th Circuit, which was denied. Judge Stephen Higginson disagreed with denying the request, along with three of his peers.
“I doubt that relegating disabled children, who are most at risk of abuse and neglect in the foster system, to a separate and inferior system of investigations pencils out to substantial compliance under even the most austerely mathematical of standards,” Higginson wrote.
He also disagreed with the removal of Jack, writing that an appeals court should “exercise the utmost restraint in removing district court judges from cases, especially based on sharp and sarcastic statements to counsel of a kind that we have been known to deploy ourselves.”
Citing this dissent, as well as previous Supreme Court precedent, lawyers for the plaintiffs have asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the contempt order and Jack. DFPS and HHSC declined to comment through spokespeople.
The court is expected to decide later this summer whether to take up the case.
Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the original article, click here.
McALLEN — The Federal Aviation Administration will allow SpaceX to launch rockets in South Texas up to 25 times per year, a significant increase from the five launches the company was previously licensed to complete annually.
The FAA approved some modifications for the Starship Flight 9, the company’s next rocket, stopping short of full approval for a launch, it was announced Thursday.
The news is the latest development for Elon Musk’s space company, which has used the Rio Grande Valley beach to test its rockets since 2013.
Earlier this month, residents near the SpaceX launch site — largely SpaceX employees — voted to incorporate their neighborhoods into a new city, Starbase. Cameron County is expected to sign the order to officially incorporate the city on Tuesday.
Musk is also expected to be in South Texas next week.
“I will give a company talk explaining the Mars game plan in Starbase, Texas, that will also be live-streamed on X,” Musk wrote on his social media platform.
SpaceX cannot move forward with its ninth test flight until the FAA allows it to resume test flights following the mishap of Starship Flight 8 on March 6. The launch test ended with the destruction of the starship vehicle about 10 minutes after launch. An investigation into the mishap is ongoing.
Because of that mishap, the FAA is expanding the aircraft and maritime hazard areas in the U.S. and other countries. The safety measure is also because SpaceX will be reusing a previously launched Super Heavy booster rocket for the first time.
Last week, the FAA paved the way for an increase in launches, finding in an environmental assessment that there would be no significant environmental impacts caused by allowing SpaceX to increase launches at their Boca Chica site from five to 25 times per year.
The environmental assessment looked at potential impacts to air quality, climate, noise, land use, water, wildlife, natural resources and energy supply, among other factors.
The FAA released drafts of their environmental assessment last year and held public meetings in Cameron County to allow the public to voice their concerns.
Local environmental and indigenous groups attended those meetings and held demonstrations in opposition to the launches, citing seismic activity that shook people’s homes, illegal dumping on Boca Chica beach, the destruction of wildlife habitat and the failure to consult with the Esto’k Gna Tribal Nation, who are native to the area.
Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.
GUN BARREL CITY – Three people were injured with one person being airlifted to a local hospital on Thursday after three vehicles were involved in a major crash in Gun Barrel City, officials said.
Gun Barrell City Fire Department said they responded to a major accident in the 200 block of Legendary Lane where three passengers of a red sedan were injured. One passenger was flown to a local hospital.
Legendary Lane was closed for two hours while an investigation of the accident was conducted.
WOOD COUNTY – Our news partner, KETK, reports that four people have been arrested following a high-speed chase in Wood County where multiple shots were fired.
According to Wood County Sheriff’s Office, deputies arrived at Lake Holbrook recreational area on Thursday evening at around 10:03 p.m. after receiving reports about a suspect who had stolen a firearm, had threatened several people with it and had threatened to shoot at law enforcement.
Once on the scene, deputies witnessed a white SUV attempting to leave from the recreational area at high speed, nearly striking several officials. As deputies began to pursue the vehicle, shots were fired by a suspect from the SUV, according to officials. Continue reading Four arrested in high-speed chase
ARLINGTON (AP) — Paige Bueckers will make her WNBA regular-season debut on Friday night as the Dallas Wings host the Minnesota Lynx to open the season.
The occasion is being marked in her hometown of Hopkins, Minnesota, with a renaming of the city in her honor and a local brewery’s offering of “Paige’s 3-Point Pale” ale.
The 2025 first-overall pick had 10 points and four rebounds in the Wings’ 112-78 loss to the Las Vegas Aces. Bueckers earned the start and matched guard Arike Ogunbowale for a team-high 23 minutes played.
Bueckers comes off a prolific career at UConn, capped with a storybook ending. The Huskies earned their 12th national title with a convincing 82-59 victory over a talented Dawn Staley-led South Carolina team. Bueckers contributed 17 points, six rebounds and three assists in the championship game.
The game will be streaming on Friday, May 16, 2025m, 7:30 p.m. ET on WNBA League Pass, Fubo TV, and Ion.
VAN ZANDT COUNTY – The Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help in identifying a suspect who was caught on video breaking into a house in the Ben Wheeler area on Friday morning, according to our news partner KETK.
Video footage shows the suspect, who appears to be a man walking around the home at around 7 a.m. Friday morning. In the video, posted on Facebook, the suspect’s face remains partially covered by what appears to be a rag.
The Sheriff’s Office is requesting anyone who may be able to identify the suspect through the video to contact the Van Zandt County Criminal Investigation Division at 903-567-4133.
(WASHINGTON) -- The number of measles cases in the U.S. has risen to 1,024, according to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published Friday.
Cases have been confirmed in 30 states: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
The U.S. is nearing the total seen in 2019, of which there were 1,274 confirmed infections across the country over the course of a year, CDC data shows.
The CDC says 13% of measles patients in the U.S. this year have been hospitalized, the majority of whom are under age 19.
"The key thing about all of this is that the cases of measles that we're seeing today and that typically see are nearly 100% in people who have not received the vaccine," Dr. Roy Gulick, chief of infectious disease at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, told ABC News.
Among the nationally confirmed cases, CDC says about 96% are among people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.
Meanwhile, 1% of cases are among those who have received just one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and 2% of cases are among those who received the required two doses, according to the CDC.
"The thing to know about measles is that it is almost entirely 100% preventable and that's by receiving [a] measles vaccination," Gulick said.
The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles, the CDC says.
Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 due to a highly effective vaccination program, according to the CDC. But vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years.
During the 2023 to 2024 school year, 92.7% of kindergartners received the MMR vaccine, according to data. This is lower than the 93.1% seen the previous school year and the 95.2% seen in the 2019 to 2020 school year, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With vaccination rates declining, "that leaves more of the population susceptible to measles and means that it could be passed in the population more easily," Gulick said. "Sustained transmission which if it occurs in enough people and for long enough then we will lose status of eradication."
Dr. Karen Tachi Udoh is an internal medicine resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
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TEXARKANA – Texarkana Area Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,500 reward for any information that can lead to the arrest of the man wanted for shooting and injuring a mother and her 10-year-old daughter while they were sleeping in March.
According to our news partner KETK, 20-year-old Omarion Owens is wanted for multiple violent felonies in Texarkana Texas and Arkansas, including a shooting that left a mom and daughter wounded.
Officials said on March 15 around 12:30 a.m. in the 3000 block of Mason Street a mother and her 10-year-old daughter were shot while sleeping in bed leaving the mom wounded and her daughter in critical condition. “More than 60 bullets were fired into their home in the middle of the night in just 11 seconds,” the department said. Continue reading Police search for shooting suspect that injured 10-year-old
