Today is
Thursday June 04, 2026
AUSTIN (AP) – As states that already ban abortion look to further restrict access this year, much of the focus is on pills sent by out-of-state providers.
A survey released Tuesday helps explain the emphasis. It suggests that more women in states with bans obtained abortions last year using the pills prescribed via telehealth than by traveling to places where it’s legal.
Most of the states with the political will to impose broad bans have already done so in the nearly four years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door to enforcing them. So far this year, just one state has a new one.
Here’s a look at where things stand as many state legislatures are wrapping up or have completed their 2026 sessions.
States are taking steps to make abortion pills harder to get
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, a Republican, signed a bill last week that makes it a felony to advertise, distribute or sell abortion pills.
Similar measures have cleared both legislative chambers in Mississippi this year. There, the House and Senate would need to iron out differences between their versions before it can be sent to the Republican Gov. Tate Reeves.
A survey of state abortion policies from the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, finds that at least three states — Florida, Oklahoma and Texas — already have laws that specifically ban providers from mailing the pills to patients. Louisiana has classified one of the drugs, mifepristone, as a controlled dangerous substance.
Bills intended to keep out the pills have cleared one chamber of the legislature in Arizona, Indiana and South Carolina this year. Republicans control the legislatures in all three states and the governor’s office in two of them. But in Arizona, any restrictions that pass could be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Survey suggests abortion pills are a growing option in states with bans
A Guttmacher survey released Tuesday sheds light on why abortion opponents may be focusing on pills.
The report suggests that in 2025, for the first time, more women in the 13 states that ban abortion at all stages of pregnancy obtained pills through telehealth than traveled to other states for abortion.
The prescriptions come from providers in states with laws adopted since the fall of Roe that are intended to protect those who prescribe abortion pills to patients in states with bans.
The estimated increase in mailing pills comes as Guttmacher’s estimates also suggest fewer women are traveling to states like Colorado, Illinois, Kansas and New Mexico for abortion.
Guttmacher’s estimates are based on data from a monthly survey conducted among a random sample of U.S. abortion providers, combined with historical data from every provider in the U.S.
That follows a trend that’s been documented in other surveys of abortion providers.
Court battles are also centered on pills
Multiple states have court challenges to the federal rules that allow the abortion pill mifepristone to be prescribed via telehealth.
If they could require in-person prescriptions, it would at least dent the ability of out-of-state providers to get pills into places with bans in place.
Louisiana has such a lawsuit in federal court there; the attorneys general of Florida and Texas have one in Texas; those two states, along with Idaho, Kansas and Missouri, are making the same case in a Missouri court.
Meanwhile, Texas has filed civil cases and Louisiana criminal ones against providers accused of sending pills into their states.
The Food and Drug Administration last year approved a generic version of mifepristone, which frustrated abortion opponents.
One state imposed a ban, but its fate is uncertain
Wyoming is the only state this year that has imposed a new abortion ban.
Under a law signed in March by Republican Gov. Mark Gordon, it became the fifth state with a ban on abortion at about six weeks’ gestational age — before many women realize they’re pregnant. Like most of the others, Wyoming’s ban is on abortions once cardiac activity can be detected.
Courts have rejected previous Wyoming efforts to limit abortion.
The Wyoming Supreme Court in January struck down a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy.
The idea of punishing women is not gaining ground
No state has adopted a measure intended to allow criminal prosecutions against women who have abortions.
Proposals to do so keep getting made but sputter early in the legislative process.
The farthest such a bill has made it was a hearing last year before a Senate subcommittee in South Carolina. One was scheduled for a subcommittee hearing in Tennessee this month, but didn’t get one.
Pregnancy Justice, which advocates for the rights of pregnant people, says it’s tracked new “abortion-as-homicide” measures introduced in six states in 2026 — down from 13 states last year.
The major established anti-abortion groups oppose the approach. “Women require compassion and support,” said Ingrid Duran, the state legislative director for National Right to Life. “Not prosecution.”
Melissa Murray, a professor at New York University School of Law, says that introducing bills with penalties against women can break down the idea that such policies are off-limits.
“You keep pushing the boundary, pushing the envelope, eventually you will get what you’re seeking,” Murray said. “It will no longer feel fanciful or shocking.”
She also noted that women are already sometimes charged with crimes related to their pregnancies. This month, police in Georgia charged a woman with murder after allegedly using an abortion pill and the opioid painkiller oxycodone.
Abortion will be on ballots in November
Abortion questions will be before voters in at least three states in November.
Missouri lawmakers are asking voters to repeal the right to reproductive freedom that they put into the state constitution in 2024.
Elsewhere, voters are being asked to add constitutional amendments that largely mirror current state abortion laws.
In Nevada, a state constitutional amendment to allow abortion until fetal viability — generally considered to be sometime after 21 weeks of pregnancy — passed in 2024. But it needs voter approval a second time to take effect.
A Virginia measure on the ballot would guarantee the right to reproductive freedom, including access to contraception and making decisions on abortion care during the first two trimesters of pregnancy.
A large explosion at an oil refinery near the Texas coast on Monday shot plumes of smoke into the air and forced nearby residents to shelter in place, officials said.
No one was injured in the explosion at the Valero refinery in Port Arthur, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Houston, Mayor Charlotte M. Moses said. She urged residents in parts of the west side of the city to stay put, saying firefighters had arrived.
“There’s been an explosion, yes, but we’re OK; everybody’s OK,” she said. “They’re trying to put the fire out as quickly as possible.”
The explosion comes amid a spike in gas prices driven by uncertainty over the global oil supply because of the Iran war.
The refinery has about 770 employees and can process about 435,000 barrels of oil per day, according to Valero’s website. The plant refines heavy sour crude oil into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Images and video posted online show a large plume of smoke and flames billowing out from the refinery. Some residents reported hearing a loud boom and seeing their windows shake.
“For your safety please remain in place until the ‘All Clear’ is given by emergency personnel,” the City of Port Arthur said in a post on its Facebook page.
Valero did not respond to an email or call from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Texas state Rep. Christian Manuel said in a post on social media that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had arrived at the refinery with air monitoring equipment and was working with local and state partners.
He told nearby residents to stay inside.
“Please limit outdoor activity, keep windows and doors closed, and follow guidance from local officials,” he said.
HOPKINS COUNTY, Texas (KETK) — Months after a video surfaced of an East Texas breeder shooting a dog, a federal investigation revealed deplorable conditions at her unlicensed facility — charges that could send her to prison for up to 20 years.
An indictment delivered from a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Texas on Monday names Kristine Michelle Hicks, 51, of Cumby and charged her with acting as an unlicensed animal dealer and four counts of wire fraud.
Hicks’ appearance in federal court comes after being arrested on Dec. 21, 2025, for a social media video depicting her allegedly shooting at a dog three times and leaving it for dead, spurring an investigation into her breeding facilities.
Following Hicks’ arrest, search warrants executed in Jan. 10 at her dog breeding and sale business, Giant German Shepherds, found 88 German shepherds held in devastating conditions.
“The dogs had lacked adequate shelter from environmental exposure in their pens,” the indictment said. “Their pens, dirt and mud filled, had rusty buckets clipped to fences in a crowded row that were supposed to be the dogs’ source of food. A few had some kibble in the bottom, but many were empty, and water containers had mostly dirty water in them.”
Dogs were found starving, sick and neglected — many had bite wounds, scars or feces caked on their coats and feet.
An approximate total of 131 dogs were held at the property in December 2025, but Hicks had moved some to another location. Various animal care agencies assisted the remaining 88 dogs, 56 of which were surrendered to the SPCA of Texas for emergency intervention.
Additionally, the investigation into Giant German Shepherds found that Hicks has been running the business fraudulently. She advertised dogs as healthy, met certified parentage and were American Kennel Club (AKC) registered though the indictment found that they were not.
Many of the dogs sold were mixed breeds — not the “purebred” promised on Hicks’ website — and had diseases, the indictment said. Hicks also bought litters through Facebook and allegedly created false AKC documents to defraud buyers.
Four people identified as victims of Hicks’ alleged wire fraud were named in the indictment, including a disabled veteran who received an aggressive dog with false paperwork. The dog, which had medical issues, reportedly drew blood from the buyer several times.
The indictment also states that Hicks knowingly violated the Animal Welfare Act by not obtaining a license from the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture before selling or transporting dogs from June 2024 to December 2025.
If convicted, Hicks could face up to 20 years in federal prison for her count of acting as an animal dealer without a license and four counts of wire fraud.
WHITEHOUSE — The City of Whitehouse is set to discuss joining ICE’s 287(g) program during Tuesday’s city council meeting. Council members will consider and potentially take action on entering the agreement after the Department of Homeland Security invited the city to participate in the task force.
According to our news partner KETK, joining the program would give local officers the authority, under ICE supervision, to arrest individuals who are in violation of federal immigration laws. Officials emphasized that this would not change their current arrest procedures or alter day?to?day operations. If approved, the city estimates it could receive up to $1.1 million within the first 12 months.
Under the task force model, participating officers can exercise limited immigration authority while performing routine duties, such as determining a person’s immigration status during a traffic stop or DUI checkpoint and sharing that information with ICE. Officers may also assist directly in ICE?led operations.
SMITH COUNTY – Two men have died after a shooting happened at a club in Smith County on Sunday morning. Smith County Justice of the Peace for Precinct 1 Derrick Choice told our news partner KETK that he was called out to the Exotic Social Club on State Highway 64 at around 8 a.m. on Sunday to assist at the scene of a fatal shooting. Read the rest of this entry »
PALESTINE – The Anderson County Tax Office will be closed on Monday after a vehicle crashed into the office on Sunday. According to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety is currently investigating how the vehicle crashed into the tax office, which is located at the Anderson County Courthouse Annex.
According to our news partner KETK, no injuries have been reported at this time. A specific time and date for when the office will reopen has not been announced.
Parts of California and Arizona were under extreme heat warnings again Saturday while sweltering summerlike weather even stretched as far north as Nebraska just a day into spring.
Temperatures at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 C) were forecast in the Southwest, closing a remarkable week of record-breaking heat. Experts say April, May and June are likely to be hotter than normal almost everywhere in the U.S.
Win Marsh said the heat was a reason to return home early to Utah after she and her husband, Stephen, hiked 170 miles (273 kilometers) over two weeks in Arizona, starting at the Mexico border. Their goal was to complete more than 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) on the Arizona Trail.
“We know our limits,” Marsh, 63, said Saturday. “We can’t hike when our bodies can’t cool down. There’s no shade out there, and water sources are drying up. … We promised our kids we wouldn’t do sketchy stuff. We’re not out there for a search-and-rescue event.”
The National Weather Service predicted 100 degrees (37.7 C) in Tucson, Arizona. The Yuma Desert, a desert community in southwestern Arizona, was headed toward 105 degrees (40.5 C), a day after reaching 112 (43.3 C) — a record for the highest March temperature in the United States.
Two places in Southern California also hit that temperature Friday. Experts say triple-digit days typically arrive by May, not March.
In the Midwest, temperatures exceeding 90 (32.2 C) were predicted across Nebraska, followed by a big drop to the 50s and 60s Sunday. A red flag warning was posted, which means a higher risk for wildfires. Parts of Texas were also at 90 or higher Saturday.
“This heat is likely to break many long-standing records from over a century ago across the area,” the National Weather Service in Omaha, Nebraska, said.
All evacuation orders were lifted in areas affected by Nebraska’s Cottonwood and Morrill fires, which have burned more than 1,200 square miles (3,118 square kilometers) for days but are largely contained, the state Emergency Management Agency said. The areas are dominated by range and grassland.
March’s heat would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change, according to a report Friday by World Weather Attribution, an international group of scientists who study the causes of extreme weather events.
DILLEY (AP) – Nearly 600 immigrant children were held in a Texas family detention center in recent months without enough food, medical care or mental health services, as their time inside stretched beyond court-mandated limits, according to court documents filed Friday.
Children and families held in the Dilley detention facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father were sent earlier this year also faced virus outbreaks and lasting lockdowns in December and January, although the total number of children held at Dilley has fallen in recent weeks, according to the attorney’s reports and site visits.
The case of Ramos, a preschooler who was wearing a blue bunny hat when he was picked up in Minnesota by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, stirred protest over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, including among detainees who gathered and held up signs in the yard inside Dilley’s chain-link fences.
Last week about 85 children remained detained at Dilley, but concerning conditions continued, said Mishan Wroe, directing attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, who visited in mid-March. In early February, a legal advocate for the children observed about 280 children.
The filings cited numerous poignant cases, including that of a 13-year-old girl held at Dilley who tried to take her own life after staff withheld prescribed antidepressants and denied her request to join her mother, as reported by The Associated Press. The government reported there had been “no placements on suicide watch,” according to the filing. The AP obtained Dilley discharge documents that described a “suicide attempt by cutting of wrist” and “self-harm.”
The filings were submitted in a lawsuit launched in 1985 that led to the creation in 1997 of court-ordered supervision of standards and eventually established a 20-day limit in custody. The Trump administration seeks to end the Flores settlement.
“For years, the Flores consent decree has been a tool of the left that is antithetical to the law and wastes valuable U.S. taxpayer funded resources,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. “Being in detention is a choice.”
Attorneys for detainees highlighted the government’s data showing longer custody times for immigrant children, and also cited worms in food, and poor access to medical care or sufficient legal counsel as reported by families and monitors at federal facilities.
“Dilley remains a hellhole,” said Leecia Welch, the chief legal director at Children’s Rights, who visits Dilley regularly to ensure compliance. “Although the number of children has decreased, the suffering remains the same.”
Dilley is retrofitted for families, who receive basic necessities including adequate food and water while in detention, and the Trump administration is working to quickly deport detainees, the DHS spokesperson added.
A report from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed that about 595 immigrant children were held in custody for more than the 20-day limit in December and January, with some stretching into months, per the filing.
“Approximately 265 of these children were detained for more than 50 days and a shocking 55 children were detained more than 100 days,” the filing stated.
That is up from a previous government disclosure late last year that showed from August to September, 400 children had been held at Dilley beyond the 20-day limit. DHS did not respond to questions seeking comment on the data.
Chief U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee of the Central District of California is scheduled to have a hearing on the case later this month.
MARSHALL, Texas (KTAL/KMSS) — The city of Marshall has restored full water capacity following a water main break. Restoring full water capacity is the process that allows the resin beads in a water tank to remove hard water minerals. While the city has made progress, permanent repairs to the damaged pipe are still needed, and crews are working to stabilize the system.
Residents are still encouraged to limit water use until the repairs are completed. The boil water advisory for Marshall was lifted by the city at around 5 p.m. on Sunday.
An Emergency Burn Ban remains in effect. Residents are reminded that all outdoor burning is prohibited until further notice.
WASKOM – Waskom ISD is in mourning after superintendent Christopher Guastella died in a single-vehicle crash in Shreveport. The incident occurred on Saturday, March 21, around 1:25 p.m. at the intersection of Interstate 20 West and Bert Kouns Industrial Loop. According to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office and our news partner KETK, Guastella, 51, of Waskom, was traveling westbound near Exit 8 of Bert Kouns when his vehicle left the road.
Guastella was taken to Ochsner LSU Health, where he was later pronounced dead. According to SPD, preliminary findings suggest that Guastella may have experienced a medical emergency prior to leaving the roadway.
Guastella leaves behind his wife, Jen Guastella, who serves as the Director of State and Federal Programs at Waskom ISD, and their two children. He had more than 17 years of experience in education, including more than a decade in leadership roles. Read the rest of this entry »
LIVINGSTON, Texas (KETK) — An investigation into the sale of illegal drugs near a Livingston elementary school came to an end on Wednesday with the arrest of a man following the discovery of drugs in his residence. According to the Livingston Police Department, officers were looking into the sale of illegal drugs near Pine Ridge Primary School in a “lengthy” investigation.
Officers executed a search warrant at a home connected to the investigation, finding the following:
Methamphetamine
Crack cocaine
MDMA
Synthetic marijuana
Illegally possessed prescription medications
Items commonly used to sell and distribute drugs
A firearm
The suspect, Alvin Taylor II was later arrested and charged with six counts of manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
Taylor is currently being held at the Polk County Jail under a $330,000 bond.
Since his residence was in a drug-free zone, some charges were increased and additional charges may be filed.
The Texas comptroller has accepted several Islamic private schools into the state’s voucher program after the institutions sued to gain admittance.
Four Muslim parents and three Islamic private school providers that operate four campuses had sued Texas leaders for excluding the schools while accepting hundreds of other non-Islamic schools.
The two federal lawsuits asked the court to block the private school voucher program from discriminating on the basis of religion. As part of the dispute, U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett has extended the voucher application deadline to March 31 and ordered the state to consider the schools’ request to join the voucher program. The next hearing is set for April 24.
The first lawsuit, filed March 1 by a parent acting on behalf of two children who attend a Houston private school, names Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock and Education Commissioner Mike Morath as defendants. A second suit filed March 11 by three parents and three schools names Hancock and Mary Katherine Stout, the voucher program director, as defendants. The two cases are now consolidated into one.
Here’s what to know.
Background:
Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 2 into law in 2025, which authorized the creation of a statewide program that allows families to use public funds to pay for their children’s private school or home-school education.
Between Feb. 4 and March 31, virtually any family with school-age children in Texas can apply to participate. A lottery will determine who can receive the funds, pending their acceptance to a private school. Private schools interested in joining the program can apply on a rolling basis, as long as they have existed for at least two years and received accreditation.
More than 200,000 students have applied, while more than 2,200 private schools have been accepted.
Hancock — Texas’ chief financial officer whose office oversees the voucher program — in late 2025 requested an opinion from Paxton, asking if he could exclude schools from the voucher program based on their connections to groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations or foreign adversaries.
Hancock said schools associated with the accreditation company Cognia had hosted events organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group that Gov. Greg Abbott recently designated a terrorist organization. CAIR has sued Abbott over the label, calling it defamatory and false. The U.S. State Department has not designated the organization a terrorist group.
Texas Republicans have made anti-Muslim rhetoric a focal point during primary election season. Hancock, appointed by the governor on an interim basis, ran to serve a full term as comptroller before losing his race.
Hancock shut hundreds of Cognia-accredited schools out of the voucher program, including those that primarily serve Muslim students, Christian students and children with disabilities, which the Houston Chronicle first reported.
Paxton released an opinion in January stating his belief that Hancock has the authority to block certain schools from participating in the program if they are “illegally tied to terrorists or foreign adversaries.” Before the lawsuit, no Islamic schools were known to have been accepted into the state voucher program.
The comptroller’s office said it began inviting groups of Cognia schools that it considers in compliance with the law to participate, though it is unclear what that review entails. The Cognia schools accepted into the program did not include any Islamic institutions until after the federal court intervened.
In mid-February, Texas Senate Democrats called on Hancock to administer the program in a manner “neutral, transparent and consistent with the law and to immediately cease discriminatory and exclusionary practices that single out certain communities without lawful justification.”
Why the parents sued:
Mehdi Cherkaoui, a Muslim father of two children and lawyer representing himself in the March 1 lawsuit, argued that state leaders “have systematically targeted Islamic schools for exclusion.”
The Islamic schools blocked from joining the program meet the voucher program’s eligibility requirements and “have no actual connection to terrorism or unlawful activity,” the lawsuit states. That includes Houston Qur’an Academy Spring, a private school attended by Cherkaoui’s two children.
Cherkaoui pays almost $18,000 per year in tuition for his children at the Houston private school and wants to apply for the nearly $10,500 per child in voucher funding to offset those costs, according to the lawsuit. But with Islamic schools blocked from participating in the program, the suit says, Cherkaoui cannot complete the application.
“The exclusion is not based on individualized findings of unlawful conduct by any specific school, but rather on categorical presumptions that Islamic schools are suspect and potentially linked to terrorism by virtue of their religious identity and community associations,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit names Hancock, the comptroller, because of his role overseeing the program; Paxton, the attorney general, because of his legal opinion backing Hancock; and Morath, the education commissioner, because his agency works with the comptroller’s office on certain program conditions.
Morath does not oversee private schools in Texas, but schools in the voucher program must receive accreditation from organizations recognized by his agency or the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission.
Before the voucher program’s original March 17 deadline for family applications, the lawsuit asked that the court require the state to accept all Islamic schools that meet program requirements and prevent the state from delaying or denying approval based on schools’ religious identity, alleged “Islamic ties,” or “generalized associations with Islamic civil-rights or community organizations absent individualized, adjudicated findings of unlawful conduct.”
The second lawsuit, filed March 11, makes similar requests. The suit was filed by Bayaan Academy, the Islamic Services Foundation (Little Horizons Academy and Brighter Horizons Academy), and The Eagle Institute (Excellence Academy), which operate private schools in Galveston, Dallas and Collin counties, respectively. Three parents also listed as plaintiffs — Layla Daoudi, Muna Hamadah and Farhana Querishi — have children currently enrolled in private schools that are part of the lawsuit.
Hancock, Paxton and Morath did not respond to requests for comment.
How the state responded:
In court filings, Paxton’s office argued that because families who apply for the voucher program do not have to select a school until July 15, they are not harmed by the exclusion of Islamic schools.
Paxton’s office also said the comptroller’s office has not “denied” any private schools from participating until the July 15 deadline passes. Cognia-accredited schools require independent review, the state argued, due to the company “erroneously” listing schools as accredited without completing final steps. The Islamic schools suing the state are accredited by Cognia, the lawyers noted.
The schools’ “injuries will only manifest if the Comptroller denies their respective applications or otherwise fails to determine eligibility by July 15,” Paxton’s legal filing said.
The state also argued “it would be fundamentally unfair” to extend the application deadline and “disrupt” the educational plans of hundreds of thousands of parents.
“It is noteworthy that, as the day turns over to 12:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 18, neither Parent Plaintiffs nor School Plaintiffs will suddenly begin to experience harm,” the lawyers wrote. “The Parent Plaintiffs will all still be eligible for the lottery and be able to direct funds to an approved school of their choice at a later date if they are selected in the lottery. School Plaintiffs will still presumably be under review by the Comptroller.”
The court ruling and its aftermath:
A March 17 order from U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett prevents the state from considering which families will receive school voucher funding until after the order expires March 31, though Bennett could extend it.
It also requires the state to update its voucher application website to reflect the new deadline and provide the schools that filed the lawsuit an opportunity to register for the program. It does not require the state to add them to the list of approved schools.
The comptroller’s office said March 19 that it accepted into the program schools that sued and that of a parent named in the lawsuit.
“The ongoing process to review and add more schools is also continuing,” comptroller spokesperson Travis Pillow said.
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This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Eviction notices. Vehicle repossessions. Empty refrigerators and overdrawn bank accounts.
Union leaders and federal officials say these are just some of the financial pressures Transportation Security Administration agents are facing during an ongoing government funding lapse — the third shutdown in less than six months that has forced the officers who screen airport passengers and luggage to keep working without pay.
The public is experiencing the consequences in long wait times at some airports as more TSA officers take time off to earn money on the side or cut back on expenses. At least 376 have quit their jobs altogether since the shutdown began on Valentine’s Day, according to the Department of Homeland Security, exacerbating staff turnover at an agency that historically has had some of the U.S. government’s highest attrition and lowest employee morale.
“It’s just exhausting. Every day it just feels like this weight gets heavier and heavier on us,” Cameron Cochems, a local TSA union leader in Boise, Idaho, told The Associated Press.
Airport screeners have spent nearly half of the past 170 days with their paychecks held up by politics — 43 days last fall during the longest government shutdown in history, four days earlier this year during a brief funding lapse, and now 35 days and counting during the current shutdown, which affects only the Department of Homeland Security. They are considered essential so have to keep showing up for work whether they get paid or not.
Cochems, who has worked as a TSA agent for more than four years and is vice president of his regional American Federation of Government Employees chapter, said the number of resignations likely doesn’t fully capture the extent of the agency’s personnel challenges. He thinks many more officers would already have walked away in a stronger job market.
“I think more people are staying with the TSA that don’t want to be here,” Cochems said.
The House Committee on Homeland Security has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to review the partial shutdown’s impact on the TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies within DHS.
A 2024 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that TSA’s workforce has long struggled with some of the lowest morale in the federal government, driven in part by years of comparatively low pay and persistent workplace frustrations. While recent raises have helped, the report said dissatisfaction remained widespread, with officers citing inconsistent management, limited recognition and poor work-life balance.
The starting pay for TSA agents is about $34,500, and the average salary is $46,000 to $55,000, according to the agency’s careers website.
The GAO warned that unless those underlying issues were addressed, the risk of officers leaving the workforce was likely to persist.
For Cochems, the recent shutdowns have upended the sense of stability that drew him to federal service in the first place. He said he already works a seasonal side job screening college sports teams at airports to supplement his income. Now, with his TSA paychecks halted, even that isn’t enough to keep up with basic expenses.
The financial pressure on his family intensified after his wife was unexpectedly laid off from her job two weeks ago.
“Every day I come to the airport and I look at the food drive, see what things I can get for my family,” he said, referring to the donations that his airport, like many others, are soliciting to help TSA workers.
It’s unclear how long airport screeners will have to keep working unpaid. Both chambers of Congress are scheduled to be out of Washington the first two weeks of April. And Democrats have said the department won’t get funded until new restrictions are placed on federal immigration operations following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.
For travelers, the strain in TSA staffing has made airport conditions increasingly unpredictable. Wait times have stretched into multiple hours at some airports, with passengers in cities like Houston, Atlanta and New Orleans reporting delays long enough to miss flights.
TSA officers missed their first full paycheck last weekend, and absences are climbing nationwide, according to Homeland Security. More than half of scheduled staff were absent Sunday at an airport in Houston. At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, 38% of officers missed work on Wednesday and 32% on Thursday.
“I’ve heard from officers who cannot afford copayments for cancer treatments or office visits for their sick children,” Aaron Barker, a local TSA union leader in Atlanta, said at a news conference outside the airport this week.
Homeland Security has said roughly 50,000 TSA employees would work during the shutdown. Nationwide on Thursday, about 10% of TSA agents missed work, the department reported. The absentee rate was two or three times higher in some places: 33% at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, 29% at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, 27% at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, and 23% at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
The staffing shortages have also forced some airports to close checkpoints, with wait times swinging dramatically throughout the day in some cases. Early Friday, Hartsfield-Jackson had two-hour waits before easing to less than five minutes by early afternoon, and then jumping back up to 90 minutes.
Security line wait times at Houston’s main airport exceeded two hours on Friday afternoon. Videos posted to social media showed lines snaking around the airport and down an escalator, spilling into the baggage claim area.
In a Fox News interview this week, Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl warned that the latest shutdown could have lasting consequences for staffing, saying attrition and recruitment would likely suffer. Staff depatures increased after the record one last fall, Stahl said.
“We saw an uptick of 25% attrition after the last shutdown, and so this is going to continue and worsen — not get better, get worse — if we don’t get a resumption of normal operations, DHS funded and money back into our TSA officers’ pockets,” he said, adding that the agency has exhausted its options, including deploying emergency manpower, to keep airport security checkpoints adequately staffed.
Former TSA Administrator John Pistole has said that about 1,100 officers quit during last year’s shutdown that ended in November.
EAST TEXAS — Due to high winds and dry conditions, the National Weather Service (NWS) in Shreveport is warning of an elevated fire threat across East Texas into the weekend. The NWS is reporting high winds near 10 to 20 miles per hour with relative humidity values as low as 35-45% on Friday that will last until Saturday. The conditions maintain ongoing and dry fuels outdoors are favorable for wildfire growth.
Residents are urged to avoid outdoor burning and any activities that involve open sparks or flames. All wildfires should be reported to local law enforcement as soon as possible, the NWS said.
The advisory was issued for NWS Shreveport’s entire four state region, which includes East Texas, Southeast Oklahoma, Southwest and South-central Arkansas and Northern and Central Louisiana.
KILGORE – The Kilgore Police Department is increasing officer presence on Stone Road after two vehicles crashed on Wednesday, leaving two people injured. The crash in east Kilgore happened in front of the Dollar General near the intersection of Highway 259. Law enforcement said the collision was caused by dangerous speeds, when a vehicle towing a trailer rear-ended another vehicle as it was attempting to turn into the store and pushed it into oncoming traffic.
Kilgore Police Chief Todd Hunter told KETK News that in the month of February there were 15 speeding stops on Stone Road, and more than 200 in all of 2025. The speed limit on Stone Road drops from 50 to 45, but many residents feel like drivers go much faster.
The hope is that the additional police presence can slow drivers down, but that the changes shouldn’t stop there. Kilgore PD confirmed that both drivers involved in Wednesday’s crash are recovering.