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ATLANTA (AP) — Powerful storms that killed three people in Mississippi and ripped roofs from buildings in a small Oklahoma town charged eastward Wednesday, spawning tornado warnings near the East Coast while heavy snow struck the Midwest and dry, windy weather fanned wildfires in Texas.

Meanwhile, forecasters warned that a Pacific storm was expected to bring widespread rain and mountain snow across California and other parts of the West through Friday. California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned on the social platform X that the storm could bring another round of debris flow in the areas left barren by recent wildfires.

Tornado warnings were issued in the Carolinas, Florida and Virginia. Officials in Union County, North Carolina, said in a social media post that the U.S. National Weather Service confirmed an EF1 tornado touched down in the Unionville area. The storm caused structural damage, and power outages after wind speeds of up to 90 mph (145 kph). No injuries were reported, according to the county.

In Texas, high winds and dry vegetation fueled wildfires in several areas of the state. One burned at least 20 homes and structures in coastal San Patricio County near Corpus Christi, County Judge David Krebs said. There were no immediate reports of injuries. The National Weather Service said critical fire weather conditions were still expected across south central Texas.

Severe weather threats persisted a day after stormy winds forced changes to Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, which moved up and shortened its two biggest parades.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency blamed severe weather for three deaths. WAPT-TV reported that in Madison County one person died from a falling power line, and another was killed by a tree falling on his car. A woman in Clarke County died when a tree limb fell on her outside her home, WLBT-TV reported.

At least seven confirmed tornadoes touched down Tuesday in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, according to preliminary information from the weather service. That number could increase, with the potential for severe storms stretching from Florida to New York state, said Bill Bunting, deputy director of the agency’s Storm Prediction Center.

“These storm systems not only have a warm side with severe thunderstorms, but a cold side that can have all forms of winter weather,” Bunting said. “And looking at the forecast maps, this is not the last storm that we’ll see in March.”

Blizzard conditions hit eastern Nebraska overnight into Wednesday, bringing around 4 inches (10.2 centimeters) of snow and winds up to 65 mph (105 kph), limiting visibility and closing numerous snowy roads.

Parts of Minnesota and much of Iowa were on the waning side of a powerful winter storm. The storm brought the heaviest snow of the season to Minneapolis, where the weather service reported 7.4 inches (18.8 centimeters) at the airport. Other nearby communities reported a foot of snow or more.

“I wouldn’t want to say it’s unheard of or unusual. But it’s still pretty remarkable to see the power of nature with these storms,” National Weather Service meteorologist Jacob Beitlich said.

The slippery roads led to at least 70 crashes, the Minnesota State Patrol reported. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz authorized the National Guard to provide support and help rescue stranded drivers.

The Iowa State Patrol blamed whiteout conditions for 68 crashes, including a pileup on Interstate 35 outside Des Moines and numerous wrecks on Interstate 80.

“There’s this series of a whole bunch of small crashes, but it’s closing the interstate,” State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Alex Dinkla said. “Our officers are literally going car to car, and then cars are getting stuck on the roadway. They can’t move.”

In a South Carolina community near Myrtle Beach, where firefighters have been battling wildfires since the weekend, Horry County Fire Rescue said in a social media post that heavy winds would keep firefighters from responding to flare-ups and spot fires by air and from entering woods where damaged trees could fall.

The storms knocked out power to thousands of customers across the central and southeastern United States, including nearly 20,000 homes and businesses in Texas and about 12,000 in Tennessee, according to PowerOutage.us.

More than 900 flights scheduled to fly into or out of U.S. airports were canceled, according to FlightAware.com, which tracks cancellations and delays nationwide.

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Associated Press journalists from across the country contributed.

A yearslong legal battle over the right to an emergency abortion in Idaho has been abruptly upended now that President Donald Trump has moved to drop the high-profile case.

Under the Biden administration, the Justice Department had argued that emergency-room doctors treating pregnant women had to provide terminations if it was needed to save their lives or to avoid serious health consequences.

Yet a little more than a month after taking over the White House, Trump’s decision to abandon the legal fight signals how the Republican administration plans on interpreting federal law designed to protect urgent care when up against states’ abortion bans.

Here’s what to know:
How did we get here?

In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion. The ruling came down while President Joe Biden, a Democrat, was in office, but many of the justices who helped reverse Roe v. Wade were appointed under Trump.

So in response, Biden warned that his administration considered abortion part of the stabilizing care that federal law requires facilities to provide to patients who show up at an emergency room. A month later, Biden sued Idaho, which had enacted an abortion ban that makes it a crime with a prison term of up to five years for anyone who performs or assists in an abortion.

The Biden administration argued that Idaho’s abortion ban prevented ER doctors from offering an abortion if a woman needs one in a medical emergency. But Idaho’s attorney general has pointed out that federal law also requires hospitals to consider the health of the “unborn child” in its treatment, too.

The lawsuit has twisted and turned in the legal system ever since. Last year, the Supreme Court agreed to step into the Idaho case, but it handed down a narrow ruling: Hospitals were allowed to make determinations about emergency pregnancy terminations, but the key legal question about what care hospitals should legally provide remains unresolved.
Tell me more about this federal law

Known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA, the 1986 law requires emergency rooms to offer a medical exam if you turn up at their facility. The law applies to any ERs that accept Medicare funding — so nearly all of them.

Those ERs are also required to stabilize patients experiencing a medical emergency before discharging or transferring them. Notably, if the ER doesn’t have the resources or staff to treat a patient, medical staffers must arrange a medical transfer to another hospital — they can’t simply direct a patient to go elsewhere.

EMTALA is more scrutinized than ever since Roe was overturned. Multiple doctors and families have told The Associated Press about pregnant women with dangerous medical conditions showing up in hospitals and doctors’ offices only to be denied the abortions that could help treat them. Some women described facing harmful delays.
Has Trump said why he’s dropping the case?

Not yet. And the DOJ’s three-page motion didn’t explain why they wanted to abandon the lawsuit either. However, since having a hand in revoking the constitutional right to abortion, Trump has repeatedly touted his support of leaving abortion regulations up to the states.

Meanwhile, ending the effort to use federal law to protect emergency abortions was a goal of Project 2025, the blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation for a second Trump term, which calls for reversing what it describes as “distorted pro-abortion” interpretations of federal law. Trump insisted during his 2024 presidential campaign that Project 2025 was not part of his agenda.

“Their move to drop this case against Idaho I think really shows what their true priorities are — and it is to push an anti-abortion political agenda rather than support the lives, health and well being of pregnant women and people, not just in Idaho but across the country because this case does have far-reaching impact,” said Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation, an association of abortion providers.
What’s going on elsewhere?

Trump’s decision to drop the Idaho case comes several months after the Supreme Court said the federal government couldn’t require hospitals to provide pregnancy terminations when it would violate Texas’ abortion ban.

Texas had sued over the Biden administration’s enforcement of EMTALA, and a lower federal court eventually sided with the state. But similar to the case in Idaho, the Supreme Court stopped short of deciding whether the federal law can supersede a state’s abortion ban.

Meanwhile, concern has grown over whether Trump’s decision in the Idaho case is a sign that his administration may also reverse course in a longstanding legal battle over telehealth access to mifepristone, the medication used in the nation’s most common abortion method.

The Department of Justice under Biden had sought to dismiss a complaint brought by a handful states seeking to roll back access to mifepristone. It’s currently unclear how Trump plans on proceeding.

TEXAS – Newsweek reports that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has canceled the lease for the U.S. attorney’s office in Corpus Christi, leaving prosecutors racing to find a new workplace. The office handles cases from Border Patrol checkpoints near Falfurrias and Sarita, while its Civil Division oversees land condemnation proceedings for border wall construction. The sudden closure raises concerns about potential disruptions to legal operations tied to border security. Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. It remains unclear at this stage when exactly DOGE staffers scrapped the lease.

Prosecutors only learned of the decision on Wednesday. The Corpus Christi division operates out of One Shoreline Plaza, a twin-skyscraper office complex overlooking Corpus Christi Bay, just a few blocks south of the federal courthouse. According to The Hill, the U.S. Attorney’s Office remained in the building as of Tuesday morning. DOGE reported that it had terminated a 17,039-square-foot lease for the “Office of U.S. Attorneys” in Corpus Christi. The department listed the “Annual Lease Cost” at $409,689 and the “Total Savings” at $307,267. However, DOGE did not provide any explanation for the decision to terminate the lease. DOGE also reported terminating leases for approximately 2,600 square feet in McAllen and nearly 750 square feet in Brownsville. However, it did not specify which federal agencies would be impacted. Meanwhile, a former federal immigration judge who was recently laid off said that the DOGE has significantly worsened the immigration backlog by dismissing dozens of judges.

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that Texas gunmaker Watchtower Firearms filed for bankruptcy last week amid lower consumer demand for guns. Watchtower boasts a range of military, civilian, and precision firearms, suppressors, and accessories. The manufacturer is based in Frisco, Texas, with a corporate office in Spring, according to PitchBook. After acquiring another manufacturer known as F-1 Firearms in 2023, Watchtower shared its aim to focus on three primary markets: everyday consumers, domestic and foreign military, and law enforcement markets. However, its appeals to those customers have seemingly failed to be enough to steer the company clear of financial problems.

Watchtower filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Northern District of Texas on Thursday, which is a type of case often referred to as a “reorganization.” In these scenarios, a debtor can use the time from their bankruptcy filing to the confirmation of their debt repayment plan to reorganize their finances, the Internal Revenue Service says. But failing to reorganize and get a debt repayment plan approved may result in the case being converted to a liquidating Chapter 7. Watchtower bills itself as a veteran-owned manufacturer and lists leadership that formerly worked at defense company Raytheon. And though Watchtower was founded recently, in 2022, it’s still considered a notable brand; Watchtower was nominated for “most innovative brand of the year” at the most recent “Gundies” awards, a voter choice awards in the firearm industry. Its recent acquisition F-1 Firearms also had a high profile, with Donald Trump Jr. saying in 2022 that he took his son to the manufacturing facility to make his own AR-15.

AUSTIN – The Houston Chronicle reports that in recent weeks, state lawmakers have expressed growing anger at the Texas Lottery Commission for its supporting role in a 2023 Lotto Texas draw, in which one player purchased enough tickets to guarantee the winning number combination for what became a $95 million jackpot. In response, executives at the agency have insisted that they could not have prevented the operation because they didn’t know what was happening until it was already well underway. Yet a growing body of evidence strongly suggests lottery officials were well aware of the plan almost from the beginning. And they still chose to ignore basic fair play — helping a single player win a guaranteed jackpot meant ordinary lottery players were unknowingly competing for only half the advertised prize — in favor of selling more tickets. In legislative hearings, lottery executives and other witnesses have confirmed the Houston Chronicle’s reporting over the past year. In April 2023, an entity called Rook TX effectively purchased the jackpot, collecting a one-time payment of $57.8 million, by acquiring virtually all of the 25.8 million possible number combinations.

The operation was planned in Malta and funded by a London betting company. It was carried out by four Texas retailers, all connected to online sales companies called couriers. The Texas Lottery Commission helped in several ways behind the scenes. Prior to the draw, it filled rush orders from the retailers requesting dozens of extra terminals — even though three had sold few, if any tickets in the previous months. The agency also did not challenge organizers’ method of rapidly entering millions of ticket orders into state terminals. Their use of personal iPads and preprogrammed QR codes appeared to skirt lottery regulations. Executive Director Ryan Mindell has said repeatedly that the agency could not have interrupted the big buy because lottery officials were unaware of organizers’ intentions until the operation was well underway. “We certainly had no direct interaction with this bulk purchasing group,” he said during an August 2024 meeting of the Sunset Advisory Committee, which is conducting a once-a-decade audit of the agency’s operations. “We really were not aware of their activity until we saw the increased level of sales that were happening.”

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that state and local leaders are preparing for “severe weather threats,” including wildfires, across Texas after a state disaster proclamation. Harris County was among 33 counties added to the disaster proclamation issued by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Tuesday amid “elevated fire weather conditions” throughout the state. Abbott also instructed the Texas State Emergency Operations Center to elevate its readiness level and prepare to respond to damage caused by wildfires, tornadoes, hail and heavy rainfall, according to a Tuesday news release.

“Texas continues to monitor the heightened wildfire and severe weather threats that are expected to impact large portions of the state,” Abbott said in the release. “High winds, low humidity and dry vegetation increase the potential for wildfires to start in west, central and south Texas, and severe storms in north and east Texas will create hazardous conditions. Texans are urged to limit any activities that may cause sparks or flames, follow the guidance of state and local officials and have an emergency plan to keep yourself and your family safe.” A total of 236, or 92%, of Texas’ counties were under a disaster proclamation Tuesday, according to the release. Abbott instructed a host of state agencies, including the National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety, to prepare disaster response resources ahead of the severe weather. Although the areas most at risk for wildfires are concentrated in the western two-thirds of the state, the Houston Fire Department said in a Tuesday news release that, despite recent rainfall, Houston is still under a red flag warning. Red flag warnings are issued by the National Weather Service when conditions in a region are conducive to wildfires. Houston Fire Chief Thomas Muñoz asked residents take steps to reduce potential fire sources near their properties.

Students who created pro-Palestinian artwork now on display at the University of North Texas said they removed a piece of their exhibit two days early. State Republican lawmakers had complained about it and an upcoming lecture, calling them antisemitic.

The action comes as conservatives who have historically championed free speech are now showing interest in policing it in the wake of student protests of the Israel-Hamas war.

It also happened during a session of the Texas Legislature in which university officials across the state are under pressure to eliminate any offerings that could be seen as divisive or lose critical funding.

State Rep. Mitch Littl e, R-Lewisville, sent a letter to UNT officials on Sunday, requesting the exhibit entitled “Perceptions: Observations & Reflections of the Western Muslim” be removed within 48 hours. He pointed out that one piece in the exhibit featured Hebrew writing that reads, “The murder of people = genocide.”

The letter was signed by four other Republican state representatives: Richard Hayes of Hickory Creek; Ben Bumgarner of Flower Mound; Jared Patterson of Frisco; and Andy Hopper of Decatur.

“While we understand it is the mission of the University of North Texas to keep its students informed of geopolitical issues and create an environment where free speech can thrive, you surely appreciate that this framing is not only inflammatory, but factually false with regard to the allegation of ‘genocide,’” wrote Little, who publicized his letter on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday afternoon.

Little questioned the university’s compliance with a federal antidiscrimination law and Gov. Greg Abbott ’s May 27 executive order requiring all higher education institutions in Texas to review their free speech policies to establish and enforce “appropriate” punishments for antisemitic rhetoric.

On Tuesday afternoon, Steve Moore, chief marketing and communications officer for the UNT System, said the students chose to take their artwork down early. Those students, Dania Bayan and Fatima Kubra, later clarified they took down one piece of their exhibit, but the rest of it remains until their show ends on Thursday as the space hosts exhibits from students throughout the semester who apply for the opportunity. They declined to provide any additional comment.

Students apply to show their work in the student union. The application asks about the topic they will explore, how it represents or challenges that topic and for scholarly research to support their representation. It is reviewed by a committee of faculty, staff and students at the College of Visual Arts and Design and other colleges within the university.

In his letter, Little also called for the cancellation of a lecture entitled “Palestinian Children and the Politics of Genocide.” Nancy Stockdale, the associate dean for academic affairs at the university’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, is scheduled to give that lecture on April 3 at the student union.

He pointed out that Stockdale, who is also an associate professor of history, has described Israel as “oppressive” and its response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel as “disproportionate” in a story about the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on UNT’s main campus in Denton last year.

In a statement to The Texas Tribune on Tuesday, Little said he isn’t concerned the lecture exists or that UNT employs Stockdale, but that higher education in Texas and elsewhere elevate her view that Israel is engaged in genocide “without ever meaningfully presenting a countervailing view.”

“Her ideas are treated with respect and prominence; opposing views are omitted in academia,” he said.

A top United Nations Court found last year that it is “plausible” that Israel has committed acts that violate the Genocide Convention, but hasn’t made a final determination as to whether it is guilty of genocide.

Moore, with UNT, did not have an update on the status of the lecture and declined to respond to the accusations Little makes in the letter that UNT is tolerant and even indulgent of antisemitic rhetoric.

Stockdale did not respond to a request for comment.

Many Texas college students, including those at UNT, walked out of their classes, set up encampments and protested for their institutions to divest from manufacturers supplying Israel with weapons in its strikes on Gaza last spring.

Republicans cheered when those students were arrested and also pushed for their expulsion.

There are at least two bills, one in the Senate and one in the House, that would require universities to use the state’s definition of antisemitism when considering disciplinary action against students. The state uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which free speech advocates say is problematic because it includes criticisms of Israel’s government. They believe that is political speech protected by the First Amendment.

The measures stand in stark contrast to a law passed in 2019, which allows anyone to express themselves in the common outdoors areas of a college campus so long as they do so in a way that is lawful and does not disrupt the institution’s function.

Little did not respond when asked how the lecture Stockdale plans to give would not be considered expressive speech protected under that law.

Alex Morey, vice president of campus advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, suggested the Legislature look to a 1999 Supreme Court decision if it is interested in protecting Jewish students from discriminatory harassment.

The court found then that discriminatory harassment can include speech, but it needs to be so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive that it denies a student an education, she said.

She encouraged UNT not to cow to this political pressure.

“All that’s going to do is send out a bat signal to others who might want to impose their own brand of censorship,” she said.

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

U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, state legislator and institution in Houston Democratic politics, died Tuesday evening. He was 70.

Turner’s death comes two months into his first term representing Texas’ 18th Congressional District, the seat long occupied by his political ally, former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who also died in office last year amid a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Turner said in 2022 that he had secretly been recovering from bone cancer. Last summer, as he was seeking the nomination for Jackson Lee’s seat, Turner said he was cancer-free.

Before joining Congress, Turner served as Houston mayor from 2016 to 2024. He served for nearly 27 years in the Texas House.

Gov. Greg Abbott can call a special election to fill Turner’s congressional seat for the rest of his term. State law does not specify a deadline to call a special election, but if it is called the election is required to happen within two months of the announcement.

Turner’s death comes at a critical time in Congress. House Republicans have few votes to spare as they look to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda, including extending his 2017 tax cuts. With Turner’s safely Democratic seat vacant, Republicans now control 218 seats to Democrats’ 214 — an extra vote of breathing room in the narrowly divided chamber.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire, Turner’s successor, confirmed the news at Wednesday’s Houston City Council meeting. Turner was working in Washington, D.C., and was taken to a hospital, where he died, Whitmire said.

“This comes as a shock to everyone,” Whitmire said. “I would ask Houstonians to come together, pray for his family, join us in celebrating this remarkable public servant. Celebrate his life, which we will be doing.”

Whitmire, who has recently clashed with Turner over several political and policy issues, said he and Turner were very close and had “been together in good times and bad times.” The two overlapped in the Texas Legislature — Whitmire in the Senate, Turner in the House — for Turner’s entire legislative career.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said House Democrats were “shocked and saddened” by Turner’s sudden death.

“Though he was newly elected to the Congress, Rep. Turner had a long and distinguished career in public service and spent decades fighting for the people of Houston,” Jeffries said in a statement. He noted that Turner was at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday evening for Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress, calling him a “fighter until the end.”

To highlight his opposition to proposed Medicaid cuts, Turner invited a constituent to the speech, Angela Hernandez, whose daughter has a rare genetic disorder. In a video posted to social media Tuesday evening alongside Hernandez, Turner finished by saying, “Don’t mess with Medicaid.” Jeffries invoked that as Turner’s “final message to his beloved constituents.”

During his time in Austin, Turner wielded outsized power for a Democrat serving in a Republican-controlled Legislature. He spent nearly 20 years on the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee and at the time of his exit was the only Democrat to chair a budget subcommittee, overseeing funding for the judiciary, criminal justice and public safety.

Turner also served for more than 15 years on two of the state House’s most powerful committees: State Affairs, which oversees a sweeping range of key legislation, and Calendars, which sets the agenda for bills heard on the House floor.

During budget debates on the House floor, Turner was known for using an abacus as a prop to underscore his opposition to GOP tax cuts.

“When the abacus came out, I knew I was done,” State Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, wrote on social media. “You will be missed, my friend.”

State Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat and the House Democratic Caucus leader, said Wednesday on the Texas House floor that he was “devastated” by Turner’s death.

“Sylvester was more than just a colleague for me. He was my adviser. He was my mentor. He was my personal hero,” Wu said, getting choked up.

When Wu began working as a legislative staffer in 2005, he recalled, “there were only two names that I knew before coming to work here, and that was [longtime Rep.] Senfronia Thompson and Sylvester Turner. Because they were people who were outspoken for fighting for their communities and defending the poor and the working class and anybody who got stepped on.”

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

EAGLE PASS (AP) — Vice President JD Vance is visiting the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday to highlight the tougher immigration policies that the White House says has led to dramatically fewer arrests for illegal crossings since Donald Trump began his second term.

Vance will be joined in Eagle Pass, Texas, by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard as the highest-ranking members of Trump’s Republican administration to visit the southern border.

The White House says Vance is set to tour the border, hold a roundtable with local, state, and federal officials and visit a detention facility. State authorities and local activists say Vance’s itinerary also likely includes a visit to Shelby Park, a municipal greenspace along the Rio Grande that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott seized from federal authorities last year in a feud with the Biden administration. Abbott accused that administration of not doing enough to curb illegal crossings.

“Border security is national security,” Hegseth told Fox News before the trip. He added, “We’re sending those folks home, and we’re not letting more in. And you’re seeing that right now.”

Trump made a crackdown on immigration a centerpiece of his reelection campaign, pledging to halt the tide of migrants entering the U.S. and stop the flow of fentanyl crossing the border. As part of that effort, he imposed 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, saying neither is doing enough to address drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

“They are now strongly embedded in our country. But we are getting them out and getting them out fast,” Trump said of migrants living in the U.S. illegally as he delivered an address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

Although Trump has not made a trip to the border since Inauguration Day, the visit of three of his top officials is evidence of the scope of his administration’s focus on the issue. He has tasked agencies across the federal government with working to overhaul border and immigration policy, moving well beyond the Department of Homeland Security, the traditional home of most such functions.

Arrests for illegal border crossings from Mexico plummeted 39% in January from a month earlier, though they’ve been falling sharply since well before Trump took office on Jan. 20 from an all-time high of 250,000 in December 2023. Since then, Mexican authorities increased enforcement within their own borders and President Joe Biden, a Democrat, introduced severe asylum restrictions early last summer.

The Trump administration has showcased its new initiatives, including putting shackled immigrants on U.S. military planes for deportation fights and sending some to the U.S. lockup at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. It has also expanded federal agents’ arrests of people in the U.S. illegally and abandoned programs that gave some permission to stay.

Trump border czar Tom Homan said migrants with criminal records have been prioritized in early efforts to round up and deport people in the U.S. illegally, but he added of other migrants, “If you’re in the county illegally, you’re not off the table.”

“When we find the bad guy, many times they’re with others, others who aren’t a criminal priority, but were in the country illegally,” Homan told reporters outside the White House on Tuesday. “They’re coming, too.”

Since Trump’s second term began, about 6,500 new active duty forces have been ordered to deploy to the southern border. Before that, there were about 2,500 troops already there, largely National Guard troops on active duty orders, along with a couple of hundred active duty aviation forces.

Of those being mobilized, many are still only preparing to go. Last weekend, Hegseth approved orders to send a large portion of an Army Stryker brigade and a general support aviation battalion to the border. Totaling about 3,000 troops, they are expected to deploy in the coming weeks.

Troops are responsible for detection and monitoring along the border but don’t interact with migrants attempting to illegally cross. Instead, they alert border agents, who then take the migrants into custody.

Biden tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with tackling the root causes of immigration during his administration, seeking to zero in on why so many migrants, particularly from Central America, were leaving their homelands and coming to the U.S. seeking asylum or trying to make it into the county illegally.

Harris made her first visit to the border in June 2021, about 3 1/2 months deeper into Biden’s term than Vance’s trip in the opening weeks of Trump’s second term. Trump has routinely joked that Harris was in charge of immigration policy but didn’t visit the border or even maintain close phone contact with federal officials.

Vance’s trip also comes as the Trump administration is considering the use of the Alien Enemy Act of 1798 to detain and deport Venezuelans based on a proclamation labeling the gang Tren de Aragua an invasion force that could be acting at the behest of that country’s government. That’s according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations.

It is unclear how close the decisions are to being finalized. Some officials have questioned whether the gang is acting as a tool for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the U.S. has not recognized as that country’s legitimate leader. There are some concerns that invoking the law would require the U.S. to more formally recognize Maduro.

Still, the 1798 law allows the president to deport any noncitizen from a country with which the U.S. is at war, and it has been mentioned by Trump as a possible tool to speed up his mass deportations.

Six years after Texas lawmakers inadvertently triggered the state’s booming consumable hemp market, one chamber of the Legislature is pushing to shut down the industry by barring products that contain tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

Yet even with the backing of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the powerful Texas Senate leader, the proposal to ban THC faces uncertain prospects in the House, where the hemp industry is bullish about getting lawmakers to tighten regulations rather than quashing most of their products altogether.

In the lower chamber, efforts to ban THC products have failed to gain traction, and this session no House lawmaker has filed anything akin to Senate Bill 3, which would outlaw products containing any amount of THC. House leadership has avoided weighing in on the matter, including Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, who did not respond to a request for comment.

Mark Bordas, executive director of the Texas Hemp Business Council, said his group is “cautiously optimistic” that House lawmakers will forgo a ban and accept “thoughtful regulations” such as restricting THC products to Texans 21 and older, requiring tamper-proof packaging, and barring sales within a certain distance of schools. Some have also proposed tighter and more consistent testing requirements to ensure hemp products do not contain excessive levels of THC.

“We think at the end of the day, cooler heads will prevail,” Bordas said. “We hope the Legislature will recognize that there are more than 50,000 jobs and lots of small businesses at stake, people’s livelihoods as well as lives. People that have problems with alcohol or opioid addiction have turned to hemp so that they can be functional members of society again.”

Thousands of cannabis dispensaries have popped up across Texas since 2019, when the GOP-controlled Legislature authorized the sale of consumable hemp. That law, passed one year after hemp was legalized nationwide, was intended to boost Texas agriculture by allowing the commercialization of hemp containing trace amounts of non-intoxicating delta-9 THC, the psychoactive element in marijuana.

What ensued was a proliferation of hemp products, ranging from gummies and beverages to vapes and flower buds, that can now be bought at more than 8,300 locations around the state, from dispensaries to convenience stores. The products are not allowed to contain more than a 0.3% concentration of THC; anything higher is classified as marijuana, which remains illegal in Texas aside from limited medical use. Still, the hemp-derived products look, taste and sometimes have intoxicating effects similar to their more potent sibling. (Hemp and marijuana plants are both cannabis plants; the difference lies in their THC levels.)

Sen. Charles Perry, a Lubbock Republican who carried the 2019 hemp legalization bill, says lawmakers did not intend to allow for such an explosion of consumable products. His latest proposal, SB 3, would make it illegal to possess or manufacture products containing THC outside the state’s medical marijuana program. Violators would face up to a year in jail for possessing such products and 2 to 10 years in prison for manufacturing them under Perry’s bill, which is among Patrick’s top priorities this session.

At a hearing on SB 3 this week, Perry blasted the hemp industry, saying that they had “exploited” the 2019 law he helped pass “to the point that it has endangered public health” with dangerously high THC concentrations.

“From a credibility perspective, the current industry providers — and there are several that are controllers of this industry — have shown not to be trustworthy,” Perry said. “And now what they’re all screaming about is, we want regulation, but we want it the way we want it.”

It is now time, Perry said, to “get the genie back in the bottle.”

Not everyone is on board with the idea. Critics say the ban would effectively eliminate Texas’ hemp industry and its roughly 50,000 jobs, along with tax revenue from the $8 billion it generates annually, by one estimate. And instead of solving public health concerns, critics argue, a ban would make things worse by forcing consumers into an unregulated black market, promoting easier access to even more potent products.

“You don’t cure alcoholism by banning light beer,” Bordas said. “Hemp is the light beer of cannabis offerings. If Texas has a THC problem, doesn’t it stand to reason that the source of that THC problem is the high-potency marijuana with higher concentrations of THC?”

Supporters of Perry’s bill say those high THC levels are already found in retail products that purport to be under the legal limit. Steve Dye, chief of the Allen Police Department in north Texas, said recent undercover operations in his city found THC concentrations “that tested up to 78%” in some products — well above the 0.3% threshold. (The manager of one shop raided by Allen authorities has filed a lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of the search warrants and lab tests.)

“Labels on many products do not reflect the actual level of THC inside the packaging, which is leading to accidental intoxications, overdoses and increased addiction for these psychoactive products, particularly to our youth,” Dye told Senate lawmakers at Monday’s hearing on SB 3.

For now, state and federal law places no age limits and loose and inconsistent testing requirements on Texas’ hemp industry. While SB 3 would ban THC products, it would continue to allow the non-intoxicating, non-psychoactive cannabidiol known as CBD. And it would place firmer restrictions on those products — along the lines of what hemp industry leaders propose for THC consumables, including barring sales or marketing to minors under 21 and requiring “tamper-evident, child-resistant, and resealable” product packaging.

Throughout the several-hour hearing, scores of people urged senators to impose tighter regulations to rein in high THC levels, rather than banning the products. Law enforcement cleared the Senate gallery after multiple outbursts from attendees cheering on witnesses who criticized the bill.

Kevin Hale, legislative coordinator for the Texas Libertarian Party, said Perry’s bill amounts to “blatant government overreach” and “pulls the rug out from under” hemp business owners who spent the last six years “investing in storefronts, payrolls, marketing and supply chains.”

“These products are in demand by your constituents. They are not dangerous,” Hale said. “Libertarians believe in a free and open, transparent market. This bill does the opposite, pushing consumers and suppliers back into the black market, where the labels and ethics are unchecked.”

Some patients and doctors say the THC in cannabis can be used effectively to combat pain, depression, anxiety, appetite problems and nausea. Under the state’s Compassionate Use Program, lawmakers have allowed some Texans to use medical marijuana to treat conditions that include epilepsy, seizures, autism, cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Though some veterans use the medical marijuana program for PTSD and other conditions, a number of veterans groups oppose Perry’s bill, with some telling the Senate committee Monday that they prefer to use the more affordable and accessible THC products found at everyday retailers.

But David Bass, an Army veteran who founded a group called Texas Veterans for Medical Marijuana, said it would be expensive to properly regulate the hemp industry. He urged lawmakers to support SB 3 and focus on expanding the state’s Compassionate Use Program.

“I do not want our veterans using these hemp derivatives,” Bass said. “The reason is, they have no idea what they are taking and they are not using these products under the care of a physician.”

Under Texas’ Compassionate Use Program, Bass said, “we know exactly the origin and formulation of our meds. DPS inspects and certifies CUP meds, and we use CUP meds under the care of our doctors.”

As things stand, however, the hemp industry has “overwhelming advantages” over the state program, said Jervonne Singletary, senior director of government relations at Goodblend, one of three medical marijuana providers in Texas. For one, she said, patients have to jump through so many hoops to place and receive orders that some may opt to simply pick up THC products from the gas station around the corner.

“Right now, hemp businesses can really locate anywhere throughout the state that they want. They can be next door to your child’s school,” Singletary said. “Most liquor stores can’t do that, we certainly can’t do that, and we think it only makes sense to bring them in line.”

Another Perry bill, SB 1505, would take aim at the issue by allowing medical marijuana providers to operate satellite storage facilities designed to make it easier for patients to access their prescriptions. The bill would also double the cap on licensed medical marijuana dispensers, to six from three.

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