Sadie Sink joins Tom Holland in ‘Spider-Man 4’

Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Sadie Sink is slinging into Spider-Man 4.

The actress, known for playing Max on Stranger Things, is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the fourth Tom Holland Spider-Man film, Deadline reports. ABC Audio reached out to Sony, but they had no comment. 

While it has not been announced who Sink will portray, the outlet suggests she will play a significant role in the film. It is hinted she could be introduced as the X-Men character Jean Grey, though the outlet does not rule out other options from the Spider-Man universe. Jean Grey has previously been brought to the screen by actresses Famke Janssen and Sophie Turner.

Destin Daniel Cretton will direct the fourth Spider-Man film, taking over for Jon Watts, who helmed the first three. Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige will serve as producers on the project. The sequel comes from both Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios.

Plot details for the fourth MCU Spider-Man film are being kept under wraps.

In the third film, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker opened the multiverse and allowed other versions of the Spider-Man character, played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, to appear alongside him. This also caused his identity to be erased from his own universe, making every person who knew and loved him forget he exists.

Holland is currently filming Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Production on Spider-Man 4 is expected to begin after he finishes wrapping Nolan's epic.

Spider-Man 4 will swing into movie theaters on July 31, 2026.

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News. 

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Texas Senate unveils bill requiring voters to prove citizenship

AUSTIN – With unanimous Republican support, the Texas Senate appears poised to pass a priority bill requiring Texans to prove their citizenship before they could vote in state, local, and presidential elections.

Senate Bill 16, which would apply to new registrants as well as existing registered voters who did not provide proof of citizenship when they registered. That would include voters who registered through a voter registration drive or by mail, rather than while obtaining a Texas drivers license or state ID through the Department of Public Safety.

Voters who don’t provide proof of citizenship would be placed on a separate voter roll and could cast ballots only in U.S. House and Senate races. Voters on that list wouldn’t be allowed to vote for president under the bill, which experts say could invite a legal challenge.

The bill would create a new barrier to voting for some of Texas’ more than 18 million registered voters, and could diminish the rights of eligible voters who are not able to provide documents proving their U.S. citizenship.

It would subject election officials to potential criminal penalties, making it a felony punishable by jail time to knowingly register an applicant without first verifying that they are citizens. .

It would also require election officials to provide the state attorney general’s office a list of voters who have not provided proof of citizenship, and calls for the attorney general to prosecute any offenses if local officials do not.

The bill is part of an accelerating campaign by Republicans in Texas and nationwide to draw attention to the potential threat of noncitizen voting, which is already illegal and which rarely occurs in any significant numbers. Republicans control the Texas Legislature. All 20 GOP senators signed on as authors to SB 16. Similar bills have been filed in the House.

Last summer, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a press release boasting that the state had removed more than potential 6,500 noncitizens from its voter rolls. In October, an investigation by Votebeat, ProPublica and the Texas Tribune found that Abbott’s numbers were inflated and in some cases, wrong.

Most states currently do not require proof of citizenship for voters, but anyone registering to vote must attest under penalty of perjury that they are a citizen. A noncitizen who tries to vote faces severe penalties, including felony charges and loss of residency status. Voter registrars in counties across the country have processes in place to check that only eligible citizens make it onto the voter rolls.

Arizona is the only state with a long history of enforcing a proof-of-citizenship requirement. Other states have passed similar requirements, but their provisions vary, and some aren’t enforced pending the outcome of legal challenges. Republican lawmakers in other states, including Michigan, are considering amending their state constitutions to require documented proof of citizenship to register to vote.

In Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in January added citizenship-proof legislation to his list of priorities for the Senate this session.

SB 16 is co-authored by Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Republican from Central Texas who championed Texas’ sweeping 2021 voting bill. It would replicate the split voter registration system used in Arizona, where people who do not show proof of citizenship to register to vote are placed on a “federal only” voter list and allowed to vote only in federal elections.

The Texas bill would exclude the federal-only voters from presidential elections, specifically saying voters’ choices would be counted only in races for U.S. senator or representative. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February ruled unconstitutional a similar provision in an Arizona law, a decision state lawmakers there said they would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Arizona’s law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote was passed in 2004. It also prompted lengthy legal fights that continue even now. The “federal only” list emerged after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that under federal law, Arizona must allow residents who do not provide such proof to cast ballots in federal elections.

This system has disproportionately affected voters from historically marginalized groups in Arizona.

Arizona had 34,933 federal-only voters, who made up less than 1% of the roughly 4.4 million active voters eligible for the November 2024 election. A Votebeat analysis found that the list includes disproportionately high numbers of voters who live on Native land, on college campuses, and at the state’s main campus for homeless people. Such voters also were generally younger than the overall voting-age population in the state, and were less likely to vote this past November than voters who had provided proof of citizenship, the analysis found.

Arizona officials discovered last summer that for decades, the state mistakenly labeled some voters as having provided proof of U.S. citizenship, when in fact they had never been asked to do so.

The Texas legislative proposal is the latest of at least five bills requiring documented proof of citizenship that were filed in December. This one, however, is backed by 20 influential Republican senators, including some members of the State Affairs Committee, which reviews legislation and decides whether it moves forward in the Senate. The committee has in recent years voted to approve laws that would tighten voting access. This bill would require Texans registering to vote to provide — along with their paper application — documented proof of citizenship, in person or by mail, to their county voter registrar or to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which issues driver’s licenses.

The proposal says the following documents would be accepted as documented proof of citizenship: a U.S. passport; a passport card; a certified copy of a birth certificate issued by a U.S. state or territory; “United States citizenship papers”; identification issued by the U.S. agency responsible for citizenship and immigration; and for citizens born outside the U.S., a consular report of birth abroad. The list does not include tribal documents, which Arizona does accept.

As for Texans who are already registered to vote, the bill directs the Texas Secretary of State’s Office to by the end of the year, send all counties data of voters who had not provided proof of citizenship prior to September 2025. It directs election officials to document every effort made to check for such proof. If election officials aren’t able to find information about whether a voter is a U.S. citizen, the bill requires that they notify the person that they are qualified to vote only a “federal limited ballot” unless they’re able to provide proof.

The bill means that “everyone, whether you’re registered now or whether you want to register, has to comply” with the proof-of-citizenship requirement, said Daniel Griffith, senior director of policy at Secure Democracy Foundation. “So if you haven’t already, you have to provide this information, and you have to make sure that DPS or [a voter registrar] has noted that you have this information.”

A voter who has previously provided proof or has been verified as a U.S. citizen is not required to provide proof when submitting an update, change, or correction to the voter registrar, the bill says.

The provision could affect voters who registered prior to the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which created voter identification procedures, and the 2005 Real ID Act, which requires people obtaining a state-issued ID or driver’s license to provide proof of citizenship or proof of lawful presence in the U.S.

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

Trump administration drops lawsuit over alleged abuse at child migrant shelters

McALLEN (AP) — The Trump administration is dropping a civil lawsuit against the largest provider of housing for unaccompanied migrant children over allegations of repeated sexual abuse and harassment of minors in its facilities.

The dismissal was filed on Wednesday after the federal government announced they would no longer use services by Southwest Key Programs. The complaint, filed last year during the Biden administration, alleged a litany of offenses between 2015 and 2023 as Southwest Key Programs, which operates migrant shelters in Texas, Arizona and California, amassed nearly $3 billion in contracts from the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Out of continuing concerns relating to these placements, HHS has decided to stop placement of unaccompanied alien children in Southwest Key facilities, and to review its grants with the organization. In view of HHS’ action, the Department of Justice has dismissed its lawsuit against Southwest Key,” the HHS said in a statement.

Children who were still in shelters operated by the provider were moved to other housing.

Southwest Key Programs furloughed employees across the country. “Due to the unforeseen federal funding freeze and the stop placement order on our unaccompanied minor shelters and Home Study Post Release programs by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, we have made the difficult decision to furlough approximately 5,000 Southwest Key Programs’ employees,” the company said in a statement shared Tuesday.

According to allegations in the 2024 lawsuit, Southwest Key employees, including supervisors, raped, inappropriately touched or solicited sex and nude images of children beginning in 2015 and possibly earlier.

Among the accusations: One employee “repeatedly sexually abused” three girls ages 5, 8 and 11 at the Casa Franklin shelter in El Paso, Texas, with the 8-year-old telling investigators the worker “entered their bedrooms in the middle of the night to touch their ‘private area.’”

The lawsuit also alleged that another employee, at a shelter in Mesa, Arizona, took a 15-year-old boy to a hotel and paid him to perform sexual acts for several days in 2020.

Children were warned not to report the alleged abuse and threatened with violence against themselves or their families if they did, according to the lawsuit. Victims testified that in some instances, other workers knew about the abuse but failed to report or concealed it, the complaint said.

“DOJ’s lawsuit revealed horrific sexual abuse and inhumane treatment of children detained in Southwest Key shelters,” said Leecia Welch, an attorney who represents unaccompanied children in a separate case. “It’s shocking to me that the government now turns a blind eye to their own contractor’s actions. I hope the impacted children will have other legal recourse and support in healing from their abuse.”

At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges related to the allegations since 2020.

The civil lawsuit had sought a jury trial and monetary damages for the victims.

How voucher vendors could make millions from ‘school choice’

AUSTIN – The Texas Observer reports that in August 2024, the business magazine Inc. released its annual list of the top 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the United States. At 815th, a burgeoning upstart called ClassWallet cracked the list’s top 20 percent for the third straight year. By expanding its operations managing school voucher programs for states across the country, earnings for the Florida company grew by 610 percent over the previous three years. Founded in 2014, ClassWallet now has more than 200 employees and has contracts to administer school vouchers and other educational programs in 18 states through its “digital wallet” platform. Indeed, managing school vouchers has become a big business. And, as Governor Greg Abbott and the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature gear up to pass their own program this session, private companies like ClassWallet are descending on the Capitol to lobby for the vouchers legislation and the lucrative contracts it could generate. This comes as other states have drawn scrutiny over myriad problems with the private contractors, including ClassWallet, they’ve hired to administer their voucher programs.

Senate Bill 2, which sailed through the upper chamber early last month, is a universal school voucher proposal that would give students $10,000 a year to attend private school or $2,000 for homeschooling. Lawmakers have initially set aside $1 billion in funding for the Texas school voucher program in 2027, though the Senate bill’s fiscal analysis says the program’s net cost could balloon to $3.8 billion by 2030. The bill stipulates that up to 5 percent of appropriated funds may go to pay up to five outside vendors like ClassWallet, which the legislation calls “certified educational assistance organizations” (CEAOs), to act as middlemen between the state, parents, and private schools by processing program applications and voucher payments. If the bill were to pass, these private companies could soon be reeling in tens and even hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars per year. These private vendors could, under the bill, be tasked with managing a complex application process, connecting parents with private schools and education vendors, accepting payments, and “verify[ing] that program funding is used only for approved education-related expenses.” “They’re a for-profit pass-through, which just means the state appropriates dollars, the vendor holds it, they reserve a small fee for themselves, and then they pass it on to the consumer,” Josh Cowen, education policy professor at Michigan State University and author of the book The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers, told the Texas Observer.

Army Corps projects uncertain under GOP spending bill

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that the future of Army Corps projects along the Texas Gulf Coast, like the overhaul of flood control systems around Houston and the widening of the Houston Ship Channel, are in question after House Republicans on Tuesday passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open through September. Their bill calls for reducing the Army Corps of Engineers’ construction budget by $1.4 billion, a 44% cut. In addition, the White House would assume control over which projects get funded, decisions that are currently made by Congress. The bill nows moves to the U.S. Senate, where Republicans must win over at least seven Democrats to clear the 60-vote threshold needed to consider the measure. To avoid a government shutdown, Congress must pass a spending bill by the end of Friday.

Public officials and contractors in Texas are scrambling to figure out what the possible Army Corps cuts could mean for their projects, said Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston. “It’s anyones guess what the Trump administration will do, but that’s a huge part of the problem. It’s the chaos and uncertainty continuously coming out of this administration,” she said. “The port project is hugely important not only to our regional economy but our national security.” A spokeswoman for Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Richmond, denied the $1.4 billion reduction in Army Corps spending was a “cut,” saying the department’s previous year’s budget had been inflated due to the injection of funds from other legislation. “These funds were expended for a one-time purpose. So, no, House Republicans are not cutting any funds for the Army Corps of Engineers,” he said. The continuing resolution passed by House Republicans on Tuesday calls for a $13 billion reduction in non-defense spending and a $6 billion increase in defense spending — relatively small amounts considering the $6.8 trillion federal budget. It passed in a narrow 217-213 vote, with the Texas delegation split along party lines.

Abbott touts a new ally in his school voucher push

AUSTIN – The Houston Chronicle reports that as state House members began debating a school voucher plan on Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott appeared more optimistic than ever that his signature legislation would finally pass the chamber where it has died repeatedly. The difference from past sessions — when a coalition of House Democrats and rural Republicans blocked the bill — is the new speaker now leading the House, Dustin Burrows, Abbott said. “We’ve been down this pathway before, but have never been so close to getting this passed,” the governor told a crowd of supporters in Austin. “And the reason is, because we have not had a speaker willing to step up and stand for school choice.”

For the first time in years, Abbott and a Texas House speaker are aligned, at least publicly, on his vision to send public dollars to families for private education. Burrows took over this year for former House Speaker Dade Phelan, who declined in 2023 to publicly back a voucher plan and later dropped his bid for reelection after Abbott helped unseat several of his former supporters. Burrows, a Lubbock Republican and former Phelan ally, appeared alongside Abbott last month in San Antonio, and he joined the governor again on Tuesday to address a crowd of supporters at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank in Austin. “These are your elected representatives who are about to make school choice a reality in Texas, something that’s been fought for for 30, 40, 50 years — and it’s going to happen,” Burrows said. “It’s a big day, a monumental day.”

Satellite appears to show new highway cutting through Brazil’s Amazon rainforest

Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images

(NEW YORK) -- Satellite images appear to show a new highway cutting through the rainforest in the Brazilian state set to host the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

The images, taken in by Copernicus satellites in October 2023 and October 2024, appear to show the construction of the Avenida Liberdade highway near the city of Belem, the capital of Para state, which is hosting COP30. The stretch of cleared path is surrounded by lush foliage on both sides.

The Avenida Liberdade highway is expected to measure at about 8.2 miles in length and offer two lanes of traffic in both directions, according to the Para regional government website. It will connect two existing road systems and function as a new entry and exit route for the Belém Metropolitan Region.

The work was about 20% complete as of November 2024, according to an update on the Brazilian government's website.

Drone footage published by the BBC shows new cleared trees along an 8-mile stretch of what will become the new highway.

Brazil is looking to build highways elsewhere in the country to promote connectivity to rural and remote regions.

In northwest Brazil, officials are aiming to pave a 560-mile road connecting the Amazon-adjacent states of Amazonas and Roraima to the rest of the country. The highway, BR-319, is currently mostly dirt and is difficult for most vehicles to travel on, experts told ABC News last year.

Paving these roadways has social benefits for residents nearby, who have difficulties accessing hospitals, schools and goods, Rachael Garrett, a professor of conservation and development at the University of Cambridge, told ABC News in September.

But the construction of highways in the middle of the rainforest will likely lead to a "fishbone pattern" of deforestation extending from the roadway, Garrett said.

Environmental crimes, such as illegal logging and mining, would likely increase without proper governance in the region, as criminals would have easier access to remote areas, Nauê Azevedo, a litigation specialist for the Climate Observatory in Brazil, a network of 119 environmental, civil society and academic groups, told ABC News last year.

The Amazon rainforest is crucial to mitigating global climate change, as it can store up to 200 billion tons of carbon, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The Amazon is also vital to the global and regional water cycles, as it releases 20 billion tons of water in the atmosphere per day.

The Avenida Liberdade highway incorporates "environmental preservation measures" such as 24 wildlife crossings, cycle lanes and solar panel lights, officials said in the November 2024 update.

The purpose of the highway is to ease the traffic expected from COP30, which will involve about 50,000 delegates traveling to Belem, according to government officials. The city is situated on the Pará River, close to where the Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean, and serves as a key entry point for the Amazon rainforest due to its port facilities.

COP30 will take place from Nov. 10 to Nov. 21.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Trump administration drops lawsuit over abuse at migrant shelters

McALLEN (AP) — The Trump administration is dropping a civil lawsuit against the largest provider of housing for unaccompanied migrant children over allegations of repeated sexual abuse and harassment of minors in its facilities.

The dismissal was filed on Wednesday after the federal government announced they would no longer use services by Southwest Key Programs. The complaint, filed last year during the Biden administration, alleged a litany of offenses between 2015 and 2023 as Southwest Key Programs, which operates migrant shelters in Texas, Arizona and California, amassed nearly $3 billion in contracts from the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Out of continuing concerns relating to these placements, HHS has decided to stop placement of unaccompanied alien children in Southwest Key facilities, and to review its grants with the organization. In view of HHS’ action, the Department of Justice has dismissed its lawsuit against Southwest Key,” the HHS said in a statement.

Children who were still in shelters operated by the provider were moved to other housing.

Southwest Key Programs furloughed employees across the country. “Due to the unforeseen federal funding freeze and the stop placement order on our unaccompanied minor shelters and Home Study Post Release programs by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, we have made the difficult decision to furlough approximately 5,000 Southwest Key Programs’ employees,” the company said in a statement shared Tuesday.

According to allegations in the 2024 lawsuit, Southwest Key employees, including supervisors, raped, inappropriately touched or solicited sex and nude images of children beginning in 2015 and possibly earlier.

Among the accusations: One employee “repeatedly sexually abused” three girls ages 5, 8 and 11 at the Casa Franklin shelter in El Paso, Texas, with the 8-year-old telling investigators the worker “entered their bedrooms in the middle of the night to touch their ‘private area.’”

The lawsuit also alleged that another employee, at a shelter in Mesa, Arizona, took a 15-year-old boy to a hotel and paid him to perform sexual acts for several days in 2020.

Children were warned not to report the alleged abuse and threatened with violence against themselves or their families if they did, according to the lawsuit. Victims testified that in some instances, other workers knew about the abuse but failed to report or concealed it, the complaint said.

“DOJ’s lawsuit revealed horrific sexual abuse and inhumane treatment of children detained in Southwest Key shelters,” said Leecia Welch, an attorney who represents unaccompanied children in a separate case. “It’s shocking to me that the government now turns a blind eye to their own contractor’s actions. I hope the impacted children will have other legal recourse and support in healing from their abuse.”

At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges related to the allegations since 2020.

The civil lawsuit had sought a jury trial and monetary damages for the victims.

Jacksonville PD promotes Steven Markasky to chief of police

Jacksonville PD promotes Steven Markasky to chief of policeJACKSONVILLE – Our news partner, KETK, reports that the City of Jacksonville has a new chief of police, however, he is no stranger to the department. Steven Markasky is a 12-year veteran of the Jacksonville Police Department and has been the assistant police chief since April of 2024.

Markasky was required to complete the multiple-step interview process, including written and oral portions, which involved the input of dozens of professionals. Every member of the police department was invited to help select the best candidate. Once the city narrowed the candidate selection, Markasky was among the finalists and moved on to the next portion of the interview process—an assessment conducted by the city manager and police chief from separate outside organizations. Continue reading Jacksonville PD promotes Steven Markasky to chief of police

Casinos and sports betting won’t win in Texas House, GOP members say

AUSTIN – A dozen Texas House Republicans who replaced pro-gambling lawmakers said this week they would oppose “any attempt to expand gambling” this session — a setback for efforts to legalize casinos and sports betting in the state.

The 12 GOP freshmen were joined by three returning lawmakers who voted in 2023 to allow online sports betting, but now say they will reject any such proposal. That measure passed the 150-member House with 101 votes two years ago, narrowly clearing the two-thirds threshold needed to amend the Texas Constitution.

The net loss of more than a dozen votes jeopardizes the chances of recreating that tenuous coalition, unless supporters can find votes elsewhere to make up the difference.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Rep. Ken King, chair of the House State Affairs Committee, the lawmakers sought to deal a death blow to the latest proposals to legalize casinos and sports betting, both of which were filed in the House last month. Neither has been referred to a committee this session, though both went through State Affairs in 2023.

“We are confident this legislation does not have the votes necessary to pass the Texas House this session,” the letter reads. “Given the certainty of its failure, I urge you not to waste valuable committee time on an issue that is dead on arrival.”

A spokesperson for King, R-Canadian, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The effort to legalize casinos in Texas has even less wiggle room than the sports betting contingent. Two years ago, a constitutional amendment to authorize “destination resort” casinos received 92 votes in the House, eight shy of the two-thirds mark.

Of the 15 signatories on the letter to King, nine are GOP freshmen whose predecessors voted for the casino measure. A returning member who signed the letter, Rep. J.M. Lozano, R-Kingsville, also supported casino legalization — along with sports betting — and is now vowing to oppose both.

That represents a net loss of 10 votes from the 92 who backed the casino proposal in 2023.

Supporters have tried to sway skeptical lawmakers by arguing that a vote for the constitutional amendment would merely put the issue before voters on the statewide ballot and let them decide whether to allow gambling, taking the final call out of lawmakers’ hands. In contrast, regular bills become law without that extra hurdle, as long as they avoid a veto from the governor.

A statewide poll conducted in January by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs found that 60% of Texans support legalized sports betting and 73% support authorizing “destination resort casinos.”

Matt Hirsch, a spokesperson for the Texas Destination Resort Alliance — an initiative of the Las Vegas Sands casino empire — said it is “essential for elected officials to listen to their constituents and respect their right to vote.”

“Denying Texans the chance to vote on this matter not only undermines the democratic process, but also disregards the voices of the very people they represent,” Hirsch said in a statement. “The voters of Texas know that destination resorts have the potential to bring significant economic benefits, job creation, and increased tourism to Texas while eliminating the scourge of illegal gaming in Texas.”

Sands has deployed an army of lobbyists to push for casino legalization in Austin, and its owner, Miriam Adelson, has spent millions on statehouse elections in a bid to grow the ranks of gambling supporters in Texas’ lower chamber. Eight signatories of the anti-gambling letter accepted contributions last year from Adelson via the Texas Sands PAC — though Adelson-aligned PACs donated far more, collectively, to several of the signatories’ opponents.

In an apparent reference to the 2026 elections, Hirsch said his group “will make it perfectly clear to the voters in each of these districts where their representative stands.”

Karina Kling, a spokesperson for the Texas Sports Betting Alliance, said, “Poll after poll shows Texans overwhelmingly want the chance to vote on legalizing sports betting and we hope the Texas Legislature will give them that chance.” The group is a collection of the state’s pro sports teams, racetracks and betting platforms, such as FanDuel and DraftKings.

Efforts to loosen Texas’ gambling restrictions have repeatedly failed since they were first enacted in 1856 and further tightened in 1973. The House’s approval of the sports betting measure in 2023 was the furthest either chamber has gone toward expanding gambling, though the move was largely symbolic, because Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — a Republican who runs the Texas Senate — immediately quashed the measure in the upper chamber. Patrick has repeatedly claimed there is minimal support among the Senate’s GOP majority to expand gambling.

With the 74-year-old Patrick in office until January 2027 and vowing to seek another four-year term, the legislative battle over gambling has been centered almost entirely in the House. Supporters are aiming for incremental wins in the lower chamber that would, they hope, lay the groundwork for when the Senate is run by a more sympathetic lieutenant governor.

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

UT Tyler holds Vietnam veterans 50th year commemoration

TYLER – UT Tyler holds Vietnam veterans 50th year commemorationThe University of Texas at Tyler Military and Veterans Success Center will hold multiple events on campus for the community to recognize Vietnam War veterans and the 50th anniversary since the war ended. These events are hosted in partnership with the UT Tyler history department, VFW Carl Webb Post 1799, Vietnam Veterans of America Rose Capital Chapter 932, American Legion Post 12 and other local veteran serving organizations. “We proudly present these excellent events as a way to honor our Vietnam War veterans here in East Texas and across the country,” said Coby Dillard, UT Tyler director of military and veterans affairs. “The men and women who served during Vietnam faced unspeakable challenges both in country and at home. As a community, it is important that we continue to celebrate the service of those who returned, while honoring the sacrifices of those who were lost during this conflict.” Continue reading UT Tyler holds Vietnam veterans 50th year commemoration

Texas Senate panel asks Trump: Get our water from Mexico

McALLEN — Texas senators advanced a resolution Monday that calls on the U.S. State Department to ensure Mexico meets its obligations to deliver water to the U.S. under a 1944 water treaty.

The Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee voted in favor of the resolution after hearing testimony from state and Rio Grande Valley officials on how Mexico’s failure to deliver water has impacted the local farmers and stalled growth.

“It’s really causing a lot of severe issues not only for the Valley but along the river from El Paso down to Brownsville,” state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said at the start of the hearing.

“The reality is that even commercially, the growth of the Valley is being stunned because we cannot issue any more builder’s permits because there’s no water” Hinojosa said. “Hopefully, the present Trump administration will be a lot more aggressive in trying to address the issue.”

Under the 1944 treaty, Mexico is required to deliver a total of 1.75 million-acre feet over a five-year cycle. The current cycle ends in October, yet Mexico is behind on its water deliveries by more than a million acre-feet.

The largely symbolic resolution is the latest push from Texas officials to push the federal government to pressure Mexico. Last year, Texas’ congressional delegation secured $280 million in disaster assistance for Valley farmers.

State Sen. Charles Perry, the Lubbock Republican who chairs the committee, praised the efforts of Maria-Elena Giner, the commissioner of the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, a division of the U.S. State Department that oversees the water treaty.

Under Giner’s leadership, the IBWC secured an amendment to the treaty that provided Mexico more opportunities to deliver water.

However, Perry pointed out that the IBWC has no enforcement power and would like the Trump administration to include the water treaty in their tariff negotiations.

“It would be nice to include water release under the 1944 treaty in those tariff negotiations so that we could get some relief in the Valley,” Perry said.

The lack of water for farmers and ranchers has already had harmful effects on the industry. For example, the last sugar mill in Texas closed in 2024.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension estimated that the total economic value lost to South Texas because of the lack of irrigation water is about $993 million per year.

Brian Jones, who sits on the board of the Texas Farm Bureau, testified before the committee about his struggles as a farmer in the Valley.

Jones said he is in “survival mode,” planting only half of his crop for the last three years.

“What is crystal clear is that Mexico has no intention of sharing any amount of water they can capture for their own use,” Jones said.

In 2022, a tropical storm filled their reservoirs, but Mexico didn’t deliver any of that water to the U.S. despite already owing 350,000 acre-feet of water at the time.

However, the lack of water is not just because of Mexico’s noncompliance.

In the past, local farmers were able to rely on seasonal tropical storms to fill up the water reservoirs, but the rain missed those watersheds last year. Future rains would fail to make up the debt.

“It’s almost mathematically impossible for them to meet their obligations on this cycle,” Jones said.

The treaty allows Mexico to pay their outstanding water debt during the next five-year cycle but because there is no timeline, Mexico could theoretically wait until the end of the next five-year cycle to deliver the water it owes for this cycle.

David Dunmoyer with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, said that while the resolution is a critical starting point, the state can’t rely on Mexico alone for water.

“We need an ‘all of the above’ approach that’s desal-produced water and looking to the future of water infrastructure,” he said.

Cities and water districts across the Valley have been seeking different sources of water. But city and county leaders told the committee more money is needed to build the infrastructure to obtain and properly treat that water for public use.

While the major impacts have been limited to the agriculture industry, Mark Dombroski, assistant general manager and chief operating officer for the Brownsville Public Utilities, warned that drinking water for cities like Brownsville and McAllen will be at risk if water remains scarce.

“Invest in South Texas and help us secure alternative water solutions now,” Dombroski said. “Delaying action only makes the crisis worse and solutions more expensive.”

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

How state lawmakers are cracking down on illegal immigration

For four years while President Joe Biden was in office, Texas lawmakers passed a variety of state laws aimed at curbing illegal immigration into the state and approved spending billions of Texans’ taxpayer dollars in an effort to secure the border.

The Legislature created a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison for people convicted of human smuggling. Lawmakers passed a law that gave state and local police the authority to arrest people suspected of being undocumented — it has not gone into effect while its constitutionality is litigated. And legislators have plowed $11 billion into Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott’s ongoing border crackdown that deployed state police and Texas National Guard along the state’s nearly 1,300 miles of border with Mexico.

Now with President Donald Trump back in office, lawmakers are not relenting. They have filed dozens of bills that could further cement the state’s role in immigration enforcement — long the sole responsibility of the federal government — should they become law.

The proposals range from trying to force cooperation with federal immigration authorities to giving property tax breaks to border landowners who allow the state to build border barriers on their property.

Lawmakers have filed at least nine similar bills that would require local law enforcement agencies enter into agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Under a 1996 federal immigration law, ICE can delegate local authorities to carry out certain types of immigration enforcement in local jails — where officers can be deputized to question inmates about their immigration status and to serve administrative warrants — and in the field, where officers can be permitted to question people about their immigration status through a model the Trump administration has revived after it fell into disuse following allegations it led to racial profiling.

Such programs serve as “force multipliers” for ICE, an agency of about 6,000 officers with limited resources, according to the federal agency, immigration lawyers and policing experts.

Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have called for Texas authorities to be required to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

While specifics vary, most of the proposed state laws share the same idea: Require local law enforcement to request entering into partnership agreements with ICE known as 287(g) agreements — a reference to the legal statute from which they originate.

Senate Bill 8, filed by Republican state Sen. Joan Huffman of Houston and Georgetown Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner, would require sheriffs in counties with more than 100,000 residents to request a 287(g) agreement with ICE.

Among the criticisms of 287(g) agreements is the potential extra costs for counties that devote resources to processing and jailing immigrants and face potential legal liabilities if an officer is accused of wrongdoing, such as violating a person’s civil rights. The bill would establish grants for sheriffs in counties with fewer than 1 million residents, but not for sheriffs of large Texas counties.

Patrick designated the bill a top priority of his for the legislative session even before it was filed.

As of early March, 43 Texas law enforcement agencies already had 287(g) agreements in place, the majority of which are for the jail programs. Only the attorney general’s office, Nixon Police Department and sheriffs in Goliad and Smith counties had signed 287(g) agreements for the “task force model” that grants police limited immigration enforcement authority while conducting their routine duties.

Lawmakers are also looking at ways to study the costs of illegal immigration.

State Sen. Mayes Middleton’s Senate Bill 825 would task the Texas Department of Public Safety with conducting a study on the economic, environmental and financial impact of illegal immigration. The state last performed such a study in 2006, when then-state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn found that undocumented immigrants contributed more to Texas than they cost the state.

Meanwhile, House Bill 2587 by state Rep. Mike Olcott, R-Fort Worth, seeks to study the cost of providing hospital services to undocumented immigrants. Last summer, Abbott ordered hospitals to start asking patients for their citizenship status. Hospitals can’t refuse to provide medical treatment based on a patient’s answer.

Rep. Ryan Guillen, a Republican from Rio Grande City, has proposed expanding a fund the state established in 2023 to reimburse homeowners in border counties whose property has been damaged by border crime — which can include everything from migrants cutting fences while passing through their land to damage from high-speed police pursuits of suspected migrants and smugglers that end in a crash.

House Bill 246 would expand the potential sources of revenue for the fund so the attorney general’s office, which administers it, could accept donations, gifts and other revenue designated by the Legislature, which appropriated $18 million in state money for the fund over the 2023-24 biennium.

Lawmakers also have introduced bills that would require companies to use E-Verify — a federal government website that helps businesses determine whether an immigrant is legally allowed to work in the U.S. — if they want to bid for state contracts.

House Bill 1308 would require state agencies to only award contracts to businesses that participate in E-Verify. The proposal would also apply to subcontractors hired by a company with a state contract.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Carl Tepper, R-Lubbock, would also suspend the business license of any business that contracts with the state if they stopped using E-Verify during their state contract.

As part of Tepper’s bill, people who suspect a state agency has hired an undocumented person can send information to the Texas Attorney General’s office for possible investigation.

Like Tepper’s proposal, House Bill 2744, sponsored by state Rep. Cody Vasut, R-Angleton, would require all state contractors to use E-Verify, and would also impose a $10,000 fine for each undocumented worker a state contractor is caught employing.

For the past four years, the state has approached border landowners seeking permission to build barriers along the 1,200-mile-long Texas-Mexico border. But the state has faced a challenge in finding enough willing landowners to lease part of their land to the state.

House Bill 247, introduced by state Rep. Ryan Guillen, R-Rio Grande City, would give a property tax break to landowners who have allowed state or federal border barriers to be built on their property.

The proposal says the state tax break would be available to any landowners who allow the state or the federal government to install “a wall, barrier, fence, wire, road trench, technology” or any type of infrastructure “to surveil or impede the movement of persons or objects crossing the Texas-Mexico border.”

Another proposal, Senate Bill 316 by state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, would allow the state to use eminent domain to take private property for border wall construction. The proposal does not say how much money a private landowner would get if the government seizes their property. But under Texas law, the owner would “receive adequate compensation.”

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

Stock market teeters amid trade war, recession fears

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) -- U.S. stocks teetered in early trading on Wednesday, posting shaky performance amid an escalating global trade war and concerns about a possible recession.

After some initial modest gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 330 points, or 0.8%, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.25%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq ticked up 0.25%.

Trading opened minutes after a fresh inflation report showed price increases had eased more than expected in February, the first full month under President Donald Trump.

Tit-for-tat tariffs continued to rattle global trade early Wednesday, however.

Trump’s 25% tariffs on all imported steel and aluminum products went into effect overnight. In response, Canada and the European Union slapped retaliatory duties on U.S. goods.

Tesla, the electric carmaker run by Elon Musk, soared about 6% in early trading on Wednesday. The gains came a day after Trump touted the company alongside Musk in an event at the White House.

Some economists say that while the U.S. tariffs could boost the local steel industry in the United States, they could also lead to higher prices for industries that purchase steel. Those higher prices may eventually reach consumers.

The U.S. relies heavily on imported aluminum and those costs are expected go up as well.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Inflation cools in first full month of Trump term but egg prices soar

Noel Hendrickson/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) -- Consumer prices rose 2.8% in February compared to a year ago, easing slightly over the first full month under President Donald Trump and offering welcome news for markets roiled by a global trade war. Inflation cooled more than economists expected.

The S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq closed higher on Wednesday, preserving early gains in the immediate aftermath of the release of the inflation report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed slightly lower.

Speaking at the White House later in the morning, Trump touted the inflation report as "very good news."

Price increases slowed from a 3% inflation rate recorded in January, though inflation remain nearly a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve's target of 2%.

Egg prices, however, a closely watched symbol of price increases, soared 58.8% in February compared to a year ago, accelerating from the previous month. Bird flu has decimated the egg supply, lifting prices higher.

The Justice Department opened an investigation into egg producers to learn if market practices have contributed to the price hikes, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Prices dropped for tomatoes, cereal, cupcakes and cookies over the past year. Some grocery prices increased faster than the pace of overall inflation, however, including beef, biscuits and apples.

A rise in housing costs accounted for nearly half of the price increases last month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said. A decline in the price of airline tickets and gasoline helped offset some of the increased costs, the agency said.

The inflation report arrived hours after the U.S. imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, prompting near-immediate retaliatory duties from the European Union and marking the latest escalation of trade tensions.

Tariffs are widely expected to raise prices for consumers, since importers typically pass along a share of the added cost to shoppers.

The stock market has plunged since Trump imposed tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China last week, giving rise to warnings on Wall Street about a potential economic downturn. Within days, Trump delayed some of the tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

The report on Wednesday may soften pressure on the Federal Reserve, which bears responsibility for keeping inflation under control.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell last week said the administration's tariff plan would likely raise prices for U.S. shoppers and retailers.

The scale and duration of the tariffs remain unclear, but a portion of the taxes on imports will probably reach consumers, Powell told an economic forum in New York City last week.

"We're at a stage where we're still very uncertain about what will be tariffed, for how long, at what level," Powell said. "But the likelihood is some of that will find its way. It will hit the exporters, the importers, the retailers and to some extent consumers."

On multiple occasions in recent days, the White House declined to rule out a possible recession, saying the tariffs would require a "period of transition."

A solid, albeit disappointing jobs report on Friday exacerbated concerns among some observers.

Employers hired 151,000 workers last month, falling short of expectations of 170,000 jobs added. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1%, which remains a historically low figure.

The Trump administration slapped 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, as well as 10% tariffs on imports from China. The fresh round of duties on Chinese goods doubled an initial set of tariffs placed on China last month.

A day later, Trump issued a one-month delay for tariffs on auto-related goods from Mexico and Canada. The carve-out expanded soon afterward with an additional one-month pause for goods from Mexico and Canada compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, a free trade agreement.

On Tuesday, Trump announced plans to add another 25% tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum, bringing the total to 50%. The move came in response to threats made by Ontario to cut off electricity to parts of the U.S., Trump said.

Hours later, Ontario Premier Doug Ford issued a joint statement with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on X announcing the suspension of the 25% surcharge on electricity sent to the U.S.

The tariffs slapped on Canada, Mexico and China are widely expected to increase prices paid by U.S. shoppers, since importers typically pass along a share of the cost of those higher taxes to consumers.

A key gauge of consumer confidence registered its largest monthly drop since August 2021, the nonpartisan Conference Board said in February.

The share of consumers who expect a recession within the next year surged to a nine-month high, the data showed. A growing portion of consumers believe the job market will worsen, the stock market will fall and interest rates will rise, the report added.

ABC News' Katherine Faulders and Soo Youn contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.