Today is
Friday November 22, 2024
DALLAS (AP) — More than 60 years after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, conspiracy theories still swirl and any new glimpse into the fateful day of Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas continues to fascinate.
President-elect Donald Trump promised during his reelection campaign that he would declassify all of the remaining government records surrounding the assassination if he returned to office. He made a similar pledge during his first term, but ultimately bended to appeals from the CIA and FBI to keep some documents withheld.
At this point, only a few thousand of the millions of governmental records related to the assassination have yet to be fully released, and those who have studied the records released so far say that even if the remaining files are declassified, the public shouldn’t anticipate any earth-shattering revelations.
“Anybody waiting for a smoking gun that’s going to turn this case upside down will be sorely disappointed,” said Gerald Posner, author of “Case Closed,” which concludes that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
Friday’s 61st anniversary is expected to be marked with a moment of silence at 12:30 p.m. in Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy’s motorcade was passing through when he was fatally shot. And throughout this week there have been events marking the anniversary.
Nov. 22, 1963
When Air Force One carrying Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy touched down in Dallas, they were greeted by a clear sky and enthusiastic crowds. With a reelection campaign on the horizon the next year, they had gone to Texas on political fence-mending trip.
But as the motorcade was finishing its parade route downtown, shots rang out from the Texas School Book Depository building. Police arrested 24-year-old Oswald and, two days later, nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot Oswald during a jail transfer.
A year after the assassination, the Warren Commission, which President Lyndon B. Johnson established to investigate the assassination, concluded that Oswald acted alone and there was no evidence of a conspiracy. But that hasn’t quelled a web of alternative theories over the decades.
The collection
In the early 1990s, the federal government mandated that all assassination-related documents be housed in a single collection in the National Archives and Records Administration. The collection of over 5 million records was required to be opened by 2017, barring any exemptions designated by the president.
Trump, who took office for his first term in 2017, had boasted that he’d allow the release of all of the remaining records but ended up holding some back because of what he called the potential harm to national security. And while files have continued to be released during President Joe Biden’s administration, some still remain unseen.
The documents released over the last few years offer details on the way intelligence services operated at the time, and include CIA cables and memos discussing visits by Oswald to the Soviet and Cuban embassies during a trip to Mexico City just weeks before the assassination. The former Marine had previously defected to the Soviet Union before returning home to Texas.
Mark S. Zaid, a national security attorney in Washington, said what’s been released so far has contributed to the understanding of the time period, giving “a great picture” of what was happening during the Cold War and the activities of the CIA.
Withheld files
Posner estimates that there are still about 3,000 to 4,000 documents in the collection that haven’t yet been fully released. Of those documents, some are still completely redacted while others just have small redactions, like someone’s Social Security number.
There are about 500 documents where all the information is redacted, Posner said, and those include Oswald’s and Ruby’s tax returns.
“If you have been following it, as I have and others have, you sort of are zeroed in on the pages you think might provide some additional information for history,” Posner said.
Trump’s transition team hasn’t responded to questions this week about his plans when he takes office.
A continued fascination
From the start, there were those who believed there had to be more to the story than just Oswald acting alone, said Stephen Fagin, curator of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which tells the story of the assassination from the building where Oswald made his sniper’s perch.
“People want to make sense of this and they want to find the solution that fits the crime,” said Fagin, who said that while there are lingering questions, law enforcement made “a pretty compelling case” against Oswald.
Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said his interest in the assassination dates back to the event itself, when he was a child.
“It just seemed so fantastical that one very disturbed individual could end up pulling off the crime of the century,” Sabato said. “But the more I studied it, the more I realized that is a very possible, maybe even probable in my view, hypothesis.”
AUSTIN (AP) – The University of Texas System is expanding its free tuition program so undergraduate students whose families make $100,000 or less will receive free tuition and fees starting next fall.
A committee of the UT Board of Regents gave preliminary approval to expand the Promise Plus Program on Wednesday. The full board will take a final vote Thursday. Once approved, the system will send $35 million directly to the universities to support the expansion which will apply to eligible students at all nine universities.
“To be in a position to make sure our students can attend a UT institution without accruing more debt is very important to all of us, and as long as we are here, we will continue our work to provide an affordable, accessible education to all who choose to attend a UT institution,” Board Chair Kevin Eltife said in a statement.
Students must be Texas residents enrolled full-time in an undergraduate program and apply for applicable state and financial aid to qualify.
The expansion is the latest move by the regents to make college more affordable for students. In 2019, the regents created a $167 million endowment at the University of Texas at Austin to provide free tuition and fees for in-state undergraduate students whose families make less than $65,000; it also provided tuition support to students from families who made under $125,000. Three years later, regents established the Promise Plus Program with a $300 million endowment fund to help other UT system universities expand their existing financial aid programs.
According to the UT system, the University of Texas at El Paso expanded the income threshold for free tuition from $60,000 to $75,000, reaching 75% of households in the region.
In recent years, many universities and community colleges in Texas and across the country have launched similar tuition programs to increase college access for low-income students and to encourage enrollment for those who might be hesitant to take on student debt. Many universities structure these programs so they pay what’s left on a student’s tuition bill after federal or state grants have been applied.
The $35 million will come from endowment distributions, the Available University Fund — investment returns from a state fund that provides money from the UT system — and other resources, the system said in a press release.
The money will immediately expand the number of UT system students who will receive free tuition and fees next year, and also ensure the Promise Plus program is supported in perpetuity.
“Across UT institutions, enrollment is growing, and student debt is declining, indicating success in both access and affordability,” said Chancellor James Milliken in a statement. “That’s a rare trend in American higher education, and I’m proud the UT System is in a position to be a leader.”
Since launching the original free tuition program, the percentage of UT system graduates with debt has declined from 54% in 2019 to 48% in 2023, according to the UT system.
PANOLA COUNTY – 
Our news partners at KETK report that a multi-county box truck pursuit ended Thursday morning when a deputy hit the truck, preventing it from entering a school zone. The Panola County Sheriff’s Office said the driver has been arrested with additional charges expected.
According to authorities, at around 7:19 a.m. the Rusk County Sheriff’s Office notified Panola County Dispatch that a Tatum officer was pursuing a box truck on Highway 149 and was headed toward Panola County.
Teen leads Longview police on pursuit, crashes stolen vehicle into building
“The Tatum officer was monitoring traffic on Hwy 149 on the north side of Tatum, when the truck passed him in the oncoming traffic lanes,” the Panola County Sheriff’s Office said.
The sheriff’s office said deputies, constables and Department of Public Safety troopers responded and some joined the pursuit as the truck continued to travel into the oncoming lanes.
A constable used his patrol vehicle to hit and disable the truck at around 7:25 a.m. before it entered a nearby Beckville school zone, PCSO said.
Authorities said the driver was taken into custody and will be charged with evading arrest and aggravated assault on a peace officer with more charges expected to be filed by the Tatum Police Department.
“We are thankful that this pursuit was brought to a safe conclusion with no injuries to the public, officers, or suspect,” the sheriff’s office said.
HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that Ivette Palomeque has endured plenty of threats as a registered nurse in Houston, but she’s still shaken by the memory of a family threatening to shoot her and her colleagues at a local hospital. The incident happened years ago at a hospital where Palomeque no longer works. A patient died, and the grieving family was so upset and angry that they threatened to come back to the hospital with guns, Palomeque said. Fortunately, they never did. “It was scary because they had to actually put the unit on lockdown,” said Palomeque, a critical care nurse. “Staff were scared. Some were nowhere to be found, and later on we found out it was because they were hiding.”
The incident was a particularly egregious example of the threats, abuse and violence that Palomeque has seen during her 13 years as a nurse in the Houston area. She’s seen a pregnant colleague being kicked in the stomach. She’s also been hit and kicked by a woman who refused to leave the room so staff could perform CPR on her husband. Palomeque now works at Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center, which she credited for making her feel much safer than other places she’s worked. Experiences like Palomeque’s are all too common for nurses who have seen a steady increase in violence and abuse toward health care workers. The possibility of being exposed to workplace violence has long been a lamentable part of the job, but such incidents became more common during the COVID-19 pandemic and have not subsided since then, according to a 2024 survey by the nurses’ union and professional organization National Nurses United. The prevalence of violence and abuse has been harmful to nurses, who continue to experience high levels of burnout in the wake of the pandemic. That stress is causing many to reevaluate their careers; the National Nurses United survey found that more than six in 10 nurses were considering quitting their job or leaving the profession entirely due to workplace violence. “It takes its toll on the workforce,” said Serena Bumpus, the CEO of the Texas Nurses Association. “And that is a huge factor in whether or not nurses decide to stay where they are, or just in the profession as a whole.”
AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman says that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has asked a bankruptcy court judge to stop the sale of his Infowars platform, accusing satirical news company The Onion and Connecticut families of using a “flagrantly non-compliant Frankenstein bid” to win the auction for his media empire last week. Attorneys for Jones filed for a restraining order and temporary injunction on the sale of his company Free Speech Systems and Infowars on Monday evening. This comes after the backup bidder, First United American Companies LLC — a business associated with the ShopAlexJones.com website — filed a motion to disqualify The Onion’s winning bid on Monday morning.
The company behind The Onion, Global Tetrahedron LLC, with the backing of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims’ families in Connecticut, bought Free Speech Systems and Infowars in an auction last week. According to court filings, First United American Companies believed the cash value of its bid to be higher than the cash value of Global Tetrahedron’s bid. Walter Cicack, the attorney representing First United American Companies, claimed bankruptcy Trustee Christopher Murray colluded with The Onion and the families and violated the terms of the auction set by the judge. The auction attracted only two bids, according to court records and stated by Murray in a status conference held Thursday. Each bid, Murray said in the conference, had different finances and plans, and so Murray made his decision based on which offer would best benefit Jones’ unsecured creditors. First United American Companies’ final bid was $3.5 million for the rights to Infowars and Free Speech Systems, according to evidence submitted in the Monday filing by First United American Companies. The Onion’s final bid was $1.75 million in cash assets with a distributable proceeds waiver — meaning the Connecticut families would forgo up to 100% of their entitlement of the funds to better serve the unsecured creditors depending on the amount of other bids — and the sharing of future revenue that Infowars and Free Speech Systems generates to the families.
SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Express-News reports that two conservative judges from Texas are being floated as possible U.S. Supreme Court nominees amid speculation that a justice may retire during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. Judges Andrew Oldham and James Ho, both on the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, are viewed as likely members of Trump’s shortlist in the event of a vacancy on the high court, according to several legal experts. Both came up through Texas legal circles and were among the Trump appointees named to the 5th Circuit who have shifted the court further right. “The Trump administration will look for someone who’s got perfect ideological purity, and I think either of those two 5th Circuit judges would fit that mold,” said Lucas Powe, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
Conservative and legal activists are speculating that some of the U.S. Supreme Court’s oldest justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, may retire in the next two years, when Republicans will have a majority in the U.S. Senate and could confirm a nominee without the need for any Democratic support. Conservative justices currently hold a 6-3 majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, including three Trump appointees. If Trump can successfully replace sitting members with younger justices, he will not only have nominated a majority of the court but also solidified a conservative majority for generations. Federal judges are appointed to life terms. Legal experts said the 5th Circuit, which covers Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana, is a natural place to look for appointees. It is widely known as one of the most conservative benches in the country that has upheld Texas’ abortion restrictions, struck down gun prohibitions for domestic abusers and greenlit Texas’ border security measures.
SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Report says CPS Energy is actively working to plan for extreme growth in electricity demand over the next decade as new data centers come online in the state, executives told the utility’s board of trustees on Monday. Because San Antonio is located in the geographic center of Texas, CPS Energy will have to play a large part in upping the transmission capacity of electricity within the state as data centers continue to pop up across the state, said Elaina Ball, the utility’s chief strategy officer. CPS Energy expects to spend about $1.3 billion on transmission projects over the next five years to add a load-serving capacity of 1 gigawatt — enough electricity to power about 750,000 homes — to help Texas carry the demand load that new data centers will be generating, Chief Energy Delivery Officer Richard Medina said.
Data centers are specialized facilities designed to store, manage and process large volumes of digital data. They consume roughly 10 to 50 times the energy that a typical office building does. While data centers accounted for about 4% of the total U.S. electricity consumption load in 2023, it is projected to consume up to 9.1% of that load by 2030, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. Texas ranks second in the amount of electricity consumed by data centers within the United States. “We have never seen an industry demand an increase for power like we’re seeing right now,” Ball said. “Probably the closest was when there was adoption of HVAC technology, but it truly is a stunning amount of growth that everyone in our industry is grappling with … and we are no different here in Central Texas.” CPS Energy is planning to build three new substations and 15 new or upgraded transmission lines over the next three to five years, Medina said. In total, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has approved nine “San Antonio South Reliability Projects” to increase statewide system capacity, support growth and increase renewable generation in south and central Texas over the next decade. CPS Energy’s board of trustees approved the route and construction of two of these projects on Monday.
AUSTIN – Weeks after ProPublica reported on the deaths of two pregnant women whose miscarriages went untreated in Texas, state lawmakers have filed bills that would create new exceptions to the state’s strict abortion laws, broadening doctors’ ability to intervene when their patients face health risks. The legislation comes after the lawmaker who wrote one of Texas’ recent abortion bans wrote an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle defending the current exceptions as “plenty clear.” But more than 100 Texas OB-GYNs disagree with his position. In a public letter, written in response to ProPublica’s reporting, they urged changes. “As OB-GYNs in Texas, we know firsthand how much these laws restrict our ability to provide our patients with quality, evidence-based care,” they said.
Texas’ abortion ban threatens up to 99 years in prison, $100,000 in fines and loss of medical license for doctors who provide abortions. The state’s health and safety code currently includes exceptions if a pregnant woman “has a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that places the female at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced.” A separate exception exists that provides doctors with some legal protections if they perform an abortion for an ectopic pregnancy or in cases when a patient’s water breaks. The bills, filed in the state House and Senate last week, create new health exceptions. They would allow doctors to induce or perform abortions necessary to preserve the mental or physical health of a patient, including preserving the patient’s fertility. Doctors could also provide abortions in cases where the fetus had an anomaly that would make it unable to survive outside the womb or able to survive only with “extraordinary medical interventions.” State Rep. Donna Howard, who filed the bill in the Texas House, said ProPublica’s recent reporting adds to evidence that the current legislation is a threat to the safety of pregnant women in Texas and increases the urgency to make changes. “This is my reaction,” she said. “It’s one of extreme sadness and disbelief that we are at a point where we are allowing women to die because we haven’t been able to clarify the law,” she said.
HOUSTON – The publication Smart Cities says Amtrak is inching closer to developing true high-speed rail, not in the heavily-traveled Northeast Corridor, but in Texas. Andy Byford, Amtrak’s senior vice president of high-speed rail development, said on a Friday webinar that Amtrak sees Texas as being in need of better passenger rail service, especially among Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio: the region known as the Texas triangle. “The state of Texas is growing exponentially, so we have big plans for all three sides of that triangle,” he said. Of all the potential high-speed rail routes in the U.S., he believes that Dallas to Houston “represents the one that is probably the most compelling.”
Byford joined Amtrak in April 2023; he previously ran the Toronto Transit Commission, the New York City Transit Authority and Transport for London. In August 2023, Amtrak announced that it was exploring a partnership with Texas Central Partners, which had been working for over 10 years on a high-speed rail line connecting Dallas and Houston. Earlier this year, Amtrak announced it was taking the lead on the Texas Central project. “We inherited this from Texas Central, which was a private entity that had made progress on this and gained some key decisions,” Byford said on the webinar. An Amtrak spokesperson in an email described the relationship between the two entities as a collaboration. More than four years have elapsed since the Federal Railroad Administration signed off on the environmental review for the project, which means the environmental impact statement needs to be reviewed to make sure nothing significant has changed, Byford explained on the webinar. Amtrak advanced the project to the third phase of the FRA’s Corridor Identification Program on Sept. 11, which enables Amtrak to coordinate with the FRA on preliminary engineering and environmental review.
AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports Gov. Greg Abbott signaled strong support for a reemerging nuclear power industry Monday, publishing a report that proposes creating a state-backed loan program to develop nuclear power plants. A report commissioned by Abbott’s office proposed a Texas Nuclear Power Fund. The task force report calls on the Texas Legislature to pass a slate of bills supporting nuclear power, including creating a university research network, providing government grants to build a technology supply chain and bolstering the nuclear power supply chain. “Texas is the energy capital of the world, and we are ready to be No. 1 in advanced nuclear power,” Abbott said in a news release. “By utilizing advanced nuclear energy, Texas will enhance the reliability of the state grid and provide affordable, dispatchable power to Texans across the state.”
Public Utility Commissioner Jimmy Glotfelty, an Abbott appointee to the state’s energy regulatory board and head of the governor’s Texas Advanced Nuclear Reactor Working Group, said the proposed Texas Nuclear Energy Fund would be similar to a $5 billion loan program lawmakers created in 2023 that offers taxpayer-backed, 3% interest loans to companies that build natural gas power plants. “We hope that the Legislature will agree that [the fund] mitigates risk,” Glotfelty said Monday at a nuclear power conference in Austin, adding that loans would fund roughly 60% of development costs and would be repaid over 20 to 25 years. “We’re helping reduce the front-end cost by putting state dollars to work.” The Public Utility Commission advanced several applications for proposed natural gas power plants for loans earlier this year, although the program has faced lawmaker scrutiny after one of the proposals was headed by a woman convicted of a federal crime. The commission has since removed that application from contention. The fund’s administrator, Deloitte, refunded $7.3 million of its contract over failing to question that proposal. The accounting firm is conducting a due diligence review of loan applications that is expected to take up to eight months, according to PUC spokeswoman Ellie Breed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump headed to Brownsville, Texas, on Tuesday to watch one of Elon Musk ’s companies test its Starship rocket, the latest sign of a deepening bond between the president-elect and the world’s richest man.
Ever since Musk began camping out at Mar-a-Lago after the election, there’s been speculation over when Trump would grow tired of having him hanging around and giving him advice on running the country.
But Tuesday’s outing was a remarkable display of intimacy between the two, one with implications for American politics, the U.S. government, foreign policy and even the possibility of humans reaching Mars.
Musk spent around $200 million to help Trump beat Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential race, and he’s been given unparalleled access. He’s counseled Trump on nominees for the new administration, joined the president-elect’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and been tapped to co-chair an advisory panel on cutting the size of the federal bureaucracy.
Musk could benefit personally as well. SpaceX, his rocket company, has billions of dollars in government contracts and the goal of eventually starting a colony on Mars. He’s also CEO of Tesla, which manufactures electric vehicles, and has battled with regulators over safety concerns involving autonomous driving.
“Trump has the biggest possible regard for people who break the rules and get away with it,” said William Galston, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank. “Musk has demonstrated extraordinary accomplishment in doing that.”
To top if off, Musk owns the social media company X, formally known as Twitter, which he has harnessed as an influential perch to promote Trump and his agenda.
“Stop the Swamp!” he wrote on Tuesday as he shared a warning that entrenched Washington interests are trying to undermine Trump before his inauguration.
Before the election, Musk rejected the idea that he was expecting any favors in return for supporting Trump in the presidential race.
“There is no quid pro quo,” he posted on X in September. “With a Trump administration, we can execute major government reform, remove bureaucratic paperwork that is smothering the country and unlock a new age of prosperity.”
However, Trump has not gone anywhere without Musk in the two weeks since beating Harris. Musk joined Trump at a meeting with House Republicans in Washington and sat next to him at an Ultimate Fighting Championship match in New York. The trip to Texas for the rocket launch will be Trump’s third time outside Florida since the election.
Much of Trump’s activity is happening with little public access for the press. Unlike his predecessors, he has opted against regularly making his travel plans or events open to journalists.
The relationship between Trump and Musk was not always so close.
Two years ago, Trump was mocking Musk in stump speeches and Musk was saying it was time for Trump to “hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.”
“Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America,” Musk wrote on social media.
But Musk swiftly endorsed Trump after the former president survived an assassination attempt in July. He quickly became a central figure in Trump’s orbit, appearing at times more like his running mate than Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
Trump started boasting about Musk’s accomplishments at campaign rallies, such as when Starship’s reusable rocket booster returned to the launch tower and was caught by mechanical arms.
“Those arms grab it like you grab your baby, just like you grab your little baby. And it hugged it and just put it down, and there it was,” Trump said.
Musk was with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort on election night and has spent much of the two weeks since there. Trump’s granddaughter Kai Trump posted a photo of her with Musk at one of Trump’s golf resorts, writing that Musk was “achieving uncle status.”
Last week, Musk appeared in a golden ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, seated in the center of the room as a guest of honor at an event. Trump, in his remarks at the black tie event, said Musk’s IQ is “about as high as they can get” and praised him as “a really good guy.”
“He launched a rocket three weeks ago and then he went to Pennsylvania to campaign because he considered this more important than launching rockets that cost billions of dollars,” Trump said.
He joked about Musk’s constant presence at Mar-a-Lago, saying, “He likes this place. I can’t get him out of here.”
He added, “And you know what, I like having him here.”
Musk was so heralded by Trump’s crowd that he was invited to speak on stage at the event after Trump, in which he spoke of the president-elect’s victory like he was his running mate.
“The public has given us a mandate that could not be more clear,” Musk said of the election results.
TYLER – 
The Tyler ISD Board of Trustees held a first reading of the proposed 2025-2026 school calendar during its November regular meeting. Community members can view the proposed calendar and provide input by completing the calendar survey by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, December 2, 2024. Tyler ISD’s calendar development process emphasizes collaboration and inclusivity. According to Chief Communications Officer Jennifer Hines, community feedback plays a pivotal role in shaping a calendar that aligns with the needs and priorities of students, staff, and parents. Read the rest of this entry »
AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman reports that Texas Democrats were already 1 million voters behind Republicans before the first ballot was cast in the 2024 election cycle, and for all the high hopes of finally catching lightning in a bottle Nov. 5, after a three-decade drought in statewide elections, those dreams had probably been dashed eight months earlier. That’s the analysis of political consultant and data diver Derek Ryan, who plowed through demographics and past voting habits of 99.8% of the 11,340,202 Texans who cast a ballot for president. “The November election was probably decided back in March,” Ryan said in an email blast to people who sign up for his data and insight. “In March, 2.3 million people voted in the Republican Primary while only 1 million people voted in the Democratic Primary.” Because just about everyone who votes in the primaries comes back to the polls in the fall, Texas Republicans began the race with one heck of a head start.
“That means Democrats had to contact 1 million voters (AND convince them to vote for Democrats up and down the ballot) simply to catch up to where the Republicans already were,” Ryan said. The analysis came after everyone knew that Texas Democrats had yet another lousy election cycle with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump smothering Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris by 14 percentage points and incumbent GOP U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz dusting Democratic U.S. Rep Colin Allred by nearly 9 points. But the numbers behind the numbers help fill in the gaps of why and how. The big picture first: In pure raw numbers, more Texans voted in the 2024 general election than in any election that came before. But because the state is growing so fast, turnout as a percentage of the universe of potential Texas voters nose-dived. Four years ago, Ryan found, turnout was 66.4% and Democrats had a pretty decent year, at least by Texas standards, with Trump beating Joe Biden by just 5.5 percentage points in the state. The 2020 turnout buried that of 2016, when just under 59% of registered voters cast ballots and Trump’s victory margin was 9 points. The 60.6% turnout this cycle was just a tad better than 2016 but well short of what it was four years ago, suggesting that Republican voters were simply more motivated than their Democratic rivals.
DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports a top credit rating firm dimmed its outlook on Dallas’ financial future after voters approved changing the charter to require at least half of annual city revenue increases to boost police pensions, staffing, starting pay and benefits. Moody’s Ratings downgraded the city’s debt outlook from “stable” to “negative” Thursday, citing the expected impact on Dallas’ credit due to the passage of Proposition U, a charter amendment backed by nonprofit group Dallas Hero. The credit ratings agency said the move will limit how the city spends its money amid growing operating expenses. The Dallas Police and Fire Pension System has a funding gap north of $3 billion, and the credit agency said the new mandates to hire 900 more officers, maintain a police force of at least 4,000 and increase starting salaries will increase the pension’s shortfall and require the city to put in more money than planned.
“Although the additional revenue going to DPFP is positive, the reduced financial flexibility and the expected negative impact to the pension liability is likely to weigh on the credit profile,” Moody’s opinion said. “The city’s plan to incorporate the mandates from Proposition U will be a key focus in future reviews.” The update comes two months after the City Council approved a 9% increase of the police department budget to $719 million and greenlit a plan for Dallas to contribute $11 billion over 30 years to the police and fire pension, with increased annual contributions, to address the funding gap. Voters on Nov. 5 approved more than a dozen propositions, including one to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana and another requiring Dallas to remove legal barriers to allow residents and businesses to sue the city if it takes any action that violates the charter, local ordinances or state law. The 16 voter-approved charter propositions won’t go into effect until the City Council certifies the election results on Tuesday.
RUSK – 
Out news partners at KETK report the Rusk Rural Water Supply Corporation has issued a boil water notice for customers on 43 roads throughout Cherokee County after a “problem at the plant.” Customers in the following listed areas are required to bring any water for cleaning or consumption to a vigorous rolling boil for at least two minutes before use: Read the rest of this entry »