Today is
Monday July 20, 2026
HENDERSON COUNTY — A Henderson County man who has been accused of killing his 84-year-old father was arrested in the Dallas area on Wednesday by U.S. Marshals. Ronny Medford was extradited to the Henderson County Jail on Thursday, with bond set at $2 million.
According to the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, deputies had been searching for Ronny Medford since May 11 after he was accused of killing his father inside their family home in Payne Springs.
“We have been working closely with the community and law enforcement agencies to locate Medford and it worked,” the sheriff’s office said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans abruptly left Washington on Thursday without voting on a roughly $70 billion bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies, frustrated with the White House and at an impasse over whether to try to block a new $1.776 billion settlement fund to compensate Trump allies who believe they have been politically prosecuted.
Republicans had already abandoned part of the bill that provided $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Donald Trump’s ballroom amid backlash from members of their own party. But the settlement announced by the Justice Department this week prompted even more questions, spurring a push to limit the taxpayer dollars that some feared could go to Trump supporters who harmed law enforcement officers in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
A tense meeting with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday morning to discuss the settlement only heightened the frustration among senators. Soon after it ended, Republican leaders announced that they would not vote on the immigration enforcement measure until they returned from a Memorial Day recess the week of June 1, which was Trump’s self-imposed deadline for them to pass it.
Blanche “had an appreciation for the depth of feeling” among GOP senators, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said afterward as a growing number of them spoke out against the idea.
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former GOP leader, called the settlement “utterly stupid, morally wrong.”
“The nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops?” McConnell said in a statement afterward.
The last-minute scramble on the bill came as Democrats have criticized Republicans for trying to fund Trump’s ballroom when voters are concerned about affordability issues — and as some GOP lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated with Trump.
Several GOP senators have spoken out against the Justice Department settlement announced this week, and many were upset by the president’s Tuesday endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in next week’s primary runoff against Sen. John Cornyn.
Both sides have acknowledged the tensions. Thune said Thursday that the White House should have consulted Congress before it announced the settlement, which he said made “everything way harder than it should be.” Trump’s endorsement of Cornyn’s opponent also complicated matters, he said.
“I think it’s hard to divorce anything that happens here from what’s happening in the political atmosphere around us,” Thune told reporters. “There is a political component to everything we do around here.”
Trump unloaded on senators in a social media post Wednesday, urging Republicans to fire the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, who said over the weekend that parts of the $1 billion White House security proposal did not qualify for the ICE and Border Patrol bill. Trump also renewed his long-standing calls for the Senate to pass the SAVE Act, a Republican bill that would require voters to prove U.S. citizenship, and to end the Senate filibuster.
Republicans need to “get smart and tough,” Trump said, or “you’ll all be looking for a job much sooner than you thought possible!”
While they have been loyal to Trump on most issues, Senate Republicans have resisted his repeated calls over the years to kill the filibuster, which creates a 60-vote threshold for most bills in the Senate.
Asked Thursday at the White House if he was losing control of the Senate, Trump replied: “I really don’t know. I can tell you — I only do what’s right.”
Hanging over the growing GOP rift is Trump’s surprise endorsement of Paxton. That intervention has Republican senators privately fuming that it could cost them their majority in November as they view the incumbent, Cornyn, as the stronger candidate.
The “anti-weaponization” fund, part of a settlement that resolves Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, unexpectedly became one of the main complications in the bill after Democrats announced that they would force votes to block it or place restrictions on it.
Democrats have an opening because Republicans are trying to pass the immigration enforcement bill through a budget process that allows a long series of amendment votes. The Democratic amendments would block the fund outright or ban any payments to Trump supporters who harmed law enforcement officers on Jan. 6, 2021.
“The only way for Republicans to get out of this box is to stop backing the slush fund, stop pushing the ballroom, and as soon as we get back, join Democrats in fighting to lower Americans’ costs on health care, on housing, on power, on so much else,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said after senators left town.
As it became clear that the Democratic amendments could pass, Republicans began discussing their own last-minute additions to head that off — an idea that appeared to have support in the GOP conference but could threaten eventual support of the bill in the House or make a presidential veto more likely.
“I think there’s reasonable limitations that can be put on it,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., one of Trump’s top allies in the Senate.
Under the Secret Service’s request, about $220 million would fund security improvements related to the ballroom. The rest would go for a new screening center for visitors, training and other security measures.
After it became clear that Republicans would abandon that proposal, Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday that “I don’t need money for the ballroom,” which he had originally said would be paid for with private funds. Still, if Congress doesn’t approve the request, he said the White House “won’t be a very secure place.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the effort to add the security package to the bill was a “bad idea.” The bill should not have included the other security improvements, he said, “because it’s just giving everybody the ‘billion-dollar ballroom.’”
Left in the bill is the money for ICE and Border Patrol, which Democrats have blocked for months in protest of the administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown.
Democrats demanded changes for the agencies, but negotiations with the White House yielded little progress. So Republicans are using the complicated budget maneuver called reconciliation — the same process that allowed them to pass Trump’s tax and spending cuts bill last year — to fund the agencies through the end of Trump’s term without any Democratic support.
Still, passage requires sign-off from the parliamentarian and unity from Republicans.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said the Senate’s responsibility should be to focus on funding ICE and Border Patrol.
“When other extraneous things get in the middle of it, it makes it more difficult,” he said.
DRIPPING SPRINGS (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is riding high as he heads into the final days of his Republican primary runoff against Sen. John Cornyn, now with the weight of the president’s backing behind him.
“I don’t know if y’all noticed this, but Donald Trump endorsed me,” Paxton told a small rally in a town outside Austin, inciting whoops and applause from the crowd.
Tuesday’s election has drawn national attention and gobs of money. It’s also become the latest contest in which Trump is encouraging voters to boot a politician who have displeased him — in this case, Cornyn — in favor of a challenger more aligned with the president. That effort has been largely successful for Trump. Earlier this week, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie lost his Kentucky primary against Ed Gallrein, whom Trump had handpicked and backed. He also has defeated incumbents in Louisiana and Indiana.
Paxton has been turning his focus to the Democratic nominee, state Rep. James Talarico. Paxton opened his event Thursday with attacks on Talarico, a sign of his confidence heading into Tuesday.
Paxton then gave a biography of his political life, and tried hammering home the reason he says he should be the Republican nominee: He’s unleashed a barrage of lawsuits defending conservative values for years. It’s the type of resume that endears Paxton to the Make America Great Again faithful, some of his supporters said.
“He’s a fighter, he’s a person of action, he’s proven that as attorney general,” said Jeffrey Sonnier, 72, who attended the rally and echoed what many supporters there voiced.
As for Cornyn, said Sonnier, “he’s inactive for five years and digs out to become a supposed active Republican MAGA person every six years.”
Paxton’s campaign said Thursday that it’s pulling negative ads against Cornyn. Instead, starting after Trump’s Tuesday endorsement, the campaign and a super PAC that supports his candidacy began airing separate ads touting Trump’s favor.
Cornyn’s campaign and groups supporting him, however, were outspending the pro-Paxton groups three-to-one, and had reprised an ad they began airing last year noting Cornyn’s support for Trump’s agenda and featuring video clips of Trump praising Cornyn.
“He’s called me a friend, and that’s no surprise because I’ve supported him and his policies, you may have seen a commercial or two to that effect, 99.3% of the time,” said Cornyn in a video posted to X from a recent event.
Cornyn has also long worked to shift the race to focus not on fidelity to the president but on character.
The campaign has leaned heavily into messaging about Paxton’s past, which includes an alleged affair and an impeachment for corruption in which Paxton was acquitted.
If Paxton is the nominee, that will be litigated in a general election against Talarico, where voters will be less “willing to overlook all the corruption, the self-dealing and the scandals,” Cornyn argued at a recent campaign event. “Ken Paxton would hand it to (Democrats) on a silver platter.”
Paxton supporters at his Thursday rally shrugged off the accusations.
“He’s had his flaws, but so have we; we all make mistakes,” said Daniel Vega, 18, adding, “He’s repented, let’s move on.”
Through this week, Cornyn’s campaign and groups supporting it will have spent roughly $90 million in advertising, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, including more than $20 million since the March 3 primary election.
Paxton’s campaign and the single super PAC have combined to spend roughly $10.5 million on advertising, with roughly $6.1 million since the March 3 primary.
The ads have flooded voters.
“The commercials are leading me against Paxton, that he might be a little crooked,” said Gail Licea, 74, a retired registered nurse, who attended a Cornyn event before Trump’s endorsement. Then again, she said, “I’ve been led to believe that sometimes John Cornyn doesn’t back President Donald Trump, and that concerns me.”
The advertising has been so concentrated, it was unclear how much the late pivot by the groups would affect Tuesday’s outcome, said Wayne Hamilton, former executive director of the Texas Republican Party.
“There is so much noise out there right now,” said Hamilton, who is an adviser to Gov. Greg Abbott and is unaffiliated with either of the Senate candidates. “I don’t know how any one message is going to break through.”
RUSK — A former corrections officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is awaiting a sentencing hearing after pleading guilty to conspiracy to assault an inmate in custody.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice and our news partner KETK, in his plea agreement, Samuel Thomas acknowledged that while he was on duty as a correctional officer, he opened the door of an inmate’s cell and allowed others to strike and injure the inmate. The inmate suffered bodily injury as a result of the actions, the DOJ said.
After pleading guilty on Tuesday, Thomas can now face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and could be forced to pay a fine of up to $250,000. Thomas’ sentence will be determined by a federal judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Read the rest of this entry »
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Single Gen Z women are outpacing their male counterparts when it comes to buying a home.
They accounted for 35% of all homebuyers in their generation, while single Gen Z men represented 18%, according to survey data from the National Association of Realtors.
NAR surveyed people who bought a home between July 2024 and June 2025. The survey included homebuyers from several generations, from Gen Z, ages 18-26, to the Silent Generation, ages 80 to 100. No other generation had a bigger share of single women homebuyers than Gen Z.
The survey data are the latest sign that single women overall are becoming homeowners at greater rates than single men. Single women across the generations made up a quarter of all homebuyers in the July 2024-June 2025 period, according to NAR. Single men, meanwhile, accounted for 11% of all home purchases.
This has been a longstanding trend going back at least to 1981. In 2006, at the height of the mid-2000s housing boom, the share of homes bought by single women peaked at 22%, according to NAR. For single men, their share of homeownership peaked at 12% in 2010.
Experts say there is no one-size-fits-all answer to why across the generations single women outnumber single men as homeowners.
Women now are outpacing men in college attendance, which can lead to higher incomes, said Jessica Lautz, NAR’s deputy chief economist.
They tend to have a strong desire for homeownership as a way to secure their independence, something they historically could not easily do alone.
“It wasn’t until the 1970s where women were legally protected to have a mortgage on their own,” Lautz said. “And they have embraced this and been very strongly embracing this.”
Overall Gen Zers, which the survey defines as those born between 1999 and 2011, still only made up 4% of all homebuyers during the survey period. And at the time of the survey, the share of U.S. homes bought by first-time buyers of all ages sank to the lowest level on record going back to 1981.
First-time buyers often don’t have equity from a previous home to put toward a down payment. That was the situation for Bri LaFluer. After years of socking away half her pay, working two jobs and aided by a slowing housing market, she bought her own home in 2023 at the age of 24.
“I’ve always been a really independent person and I just wanted my own place to have peace and quiet by myself,” said LaFluer, now 27.
Her home search began in 2021, but historically low mortgage rates made the market ultra competitive, which turbocharged prices. Two years later she finally landed a house in Baldwinsville, N.Y., about 15 miles from Syracuse, that was built in 1900 and has three bedrooms and 1.5-baths and a big yard. She got it for $175,000.
“I feel like it was meant to be and this just ended up being the perfect house for me and my dogs,” she said.
A content creator for a video game company, LaFluer lived with her mom and paid a modest rent, which helped her save up faster for the $20,000 down payment.
Aspiring Gen Z homeowners face a number of challenges to affording a home: They’re typically just getting started in their careers, with their best income-earning years ahead. They are unlikely to be married and may have student loans to pay off.
Their median annual income of $76,000, as of 2024, also was the lowest compared to homebuyers from all other generations, according to NAR.
Years of soaring home prices have further stretched the limits of affordability. While home price growth has slowed and prices have fallen in many metro areas, prices are mostly still rising. The median U.S. home sales price stood at $417,700 last month, up 0.9% from a year earlier, according to NAR.
Still, Gen Z homebuyers are also more likely to receive financial help from family, and many are savvy about looking into community grants or other payment assistance programs for first-time homebuyers. And 1 in 10 tapped their 401(k) retirement savings plan to put toward their down payment, according to NAR.
Other home shoppers have no recourse but to save up on their own.
TYLER — The Tyler Fire Department is in mourning this week after one of their own died from cancer. According to the Tyler Professional Fire Fighters Association, Local 883 driver engineer Scott Starkey has died after fighting cancer. Starkey was honored by the City of Tyler last year for having served as a firefighter for over 25 years.
“Scott was one of a kind. Crafty, hardheaded, and the kind of firefighter who always found a way to get the job done. He was the brother who could make you laugh, frustrate you, and teach you something all in the same conversation. His grit, determination, and stubborn refusal to back down were part of what made him who he was, both on and off the fireground. More than anything, Scott loved this job and the people beside him. His impact on this department and the firefighters who served with him will not be forgotten.” – Tyler Professional Fire Fighters Association
The firefighter’s association asked for the community to keep Starkey’s friends and family in their thoughts while they grieve.
GALVESTON (AP) – Recent outbreaks of hantavirus and norovirus on cruise ships are making headlines, but they’re unlikely to dim the growing popularity of vacation cruises, according to industry representatives and travel experts.
In fact, many within the industry still expect a record number of people worldwide to take cruises this year despite three passengers aboard the MV Hondius dying from hantavirus after the ship stopped in Argentina and a recent norovirus outbreak aboard a British ship docked in Bordeaux, France.
“The cruise consumer seems to be somewhat Teflon when it comes to stories like this,” said Rob Kwortnik, an associate professor at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration who closely watches the cruise industry.
In mid-April, an annual forecast by the Cruise Lines International Association, an industry trade group, estimated that 38.3 million people would travel on ocean-going ships this year, 4% more from a record 37.2 million passengers last year.
Industrywide sales figures are closely held. Asked about potential impacts from what happened aboard the MV Hondius, the trade association said it doesn’t comment or speculate on bookings. Several big cruise companies didn’t respond to questions from The Associated Press about customer demand, including Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Carnival.
Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch company that owns the MV Hondius, said it doesn’t foresee any changes to its operations. It has a cruise setting sail from Keflavik, Iceland, on May 29.
Veteran cruisegoers said the outbreak would not affect their plans.
“I have eight cruises booked, and I’ll absolutely be booking another,” said Jenni Fielding, who blogs and posts social media videos about cruise trips under the moniker Cruise Mummy. “Cruising is as safe as any other type of holiday, provided travelers follow sensible health advice and stay aware of official guidance.”
Scott Eddy, a hospitality influencer, is currently on a cruise and docked in Monaco. Fellow passengers have not mentioned the hantavirus outbreak, he said.
“The average traveler understands that this is an isolated health situation and not something unique to cruise travel itself,” Eddy said.
CruiseCompete.com, an online marketplace where consumers making vacation plans can compare offers from travel agents, booked 31.7% more cabins in the first half of May compared to the same period last year, CEO Bob Levinstein said.
“I can categorically say that we have not seen any drop in demand,” Levinstein said.
Levinstein said that norovirus — an extremely contagious stomach bug that thrives in crowded environments — is conflated with cruises in the minds of many Americans because the U.S. Centers for Disease Control requires ships to disclose when 3% or more passengers report symptoms.
On a ship with 5,000 passengers, an illness impacting 3% of them “goes completely unnoticed by the vast majority of vacationers, and experienced cruisers know this,” he said.
Current news cycles rarely impact passengers’ decisions to join a cruise because the trips generally are booked at least 6 months — and often as much as a year – in advance, Kwortnik said.
“People who are booking cruises tomorrow are thinking about the holidays,” he said.
During a conference call Thursday with investors, Switzerland-based cruise line Viking said demand for its river cruises softened briefly during the first three months of this year after the Iran war began but then quickly rebounded.
Viking said 92% of its 2026 cruises and 38% of its 2027 cruises were booked. The company didn’t mention hantavirus or norovirus.
Andrew Coggins, a cruise industry analyst and professor in Pace University’s Lubin School of Business, said even if travelers set to embark on a cruise soon are unnerved by the latest news, they’re unlikely to get a refund.
“I think if there’s any impact on demand, it would be in the long term. If you’re cruising in the next few months, you’re past the point at which you can get your money back,” he said.
Coggins said he thinks the hantavirus story got a lot of attention because it reminded people of the Diamond Princess, which was quarantined off Japan for two weeks in early 2020 after the coronavirus that grew into a global pandemic was detected on board.
The COVID-19 pandemic devastated the cruise industry, shutting down many smaller operators. Cruises didn’t see an upswing in passengers again until 2022, Coggins said.
There are still fewer cruise passengers from China and Japan than there were before COVID, according to CLIA. But Coggins said demand elsewhere is booming.
“There are new ships on order out to 2037. The cruise lines are bullish. They see demand growing and they want to offer new bells and whistles, new ports, new destinations,” he said.
One reason for cruising’s growth is broad appeal across generations and income levels. In a recent U.S. survey, Bank of America found that Generation Z respondents and millennials were the most likely to say they planned to cruise over the next 12 months.
The survey also found that cruise spending rose for lower-income households even as those households spent less on airfare and lodging. Cruise lines have been wooing those passengers in recent years with shorter, more affordable itineraries.
Kwortnik said cruising also offers travelers value for their vacation dollars.
“On average, it costs more just to stay at a hotel in Miami than it does to sail on a cruise out of Miami – and the cruise includes lodging, multiple destinations, food, entertainment, and transportation all in the fare,” he said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — China has agreed to ramp up trade for U.S. agricultural products such as beef and poultry, buying at an annualized rate of $17 billion per year for 2026 and at that level for 2027 and 2028, the White House announced Sunday, two days after President Donald Trump returned from a high-stakes summit in Beijing where he sought to ease the impact on American farmers from the trade war he launched last year.
China would restore market access for U.S. beef and resume imports of poultry from U.S. states determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be free of the bird flu, the White House said. The deals are on top of China’s soybean purchase commitments last year.
The agreements offer some hope to American farmers harmed by the trade war as they saw a major export market for soybeans and other products dry up. Farmers also are feeling new pressure from Trump administration policies — the war that the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran has curtailed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade corridor that has restricted global fertilizer supplies and sent those prices soaring.
There was no immediate confirmation of the terms from Beijing.
China’s Ministry of Commerce on Saturday said the two sides would “resolve or make substantial progress toward resolving certain non-tariff barriers and market access issues” regarding agricultural goods.
The U.S. would “actively work” to address China’s concerns regarding detention of its dairy products, seafood, the export of potted bonsai, and the recognition of Shandong province as a bird-flu-free zone, while the Chinese side will “likewise actively work” to address U.S. concerns regarding the registration of beef processing facilities and the export of poultry meat from certain states to China, a ministry spokesperson said.
The two sides also agreed to expand trade, including that of farm goods, through measures such as reciprocal tariff reductions on “a specific range of products,” though the spokesperson did not specify the products.
China, recognizing the link between food security and national security, has diversified its sources of imported soybeans, beef and other farm goods, turning increasingly to Brazil, Argentina and other countries over the U.S.
Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show China’s imports of U.S. agricultural goods peaked in 2022 with $38 billion but fell to $8 billion in 2025. These figures include nearly $18 billion in soybean purchases in 2022 and $3 billion in 2025.
It’s not immediately clear how much more China would buy from American soybean farmers, who were hit especially hard in the trade war. China, traditionally the largest foreign buyer of American soybeans, stopped purchasing them altogether last year after Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese goods.
The latest agreement builds on a trade truce Trump reached with Chinese President Xi Jinping in October in which China agreed to resume buying U.S. soybeans. The White House said then that China committed to buying 12 million metric tons in the current marketing year and 25 million metric tons for each of the next three years.
According to the White House, hundreds of U.S. beef plants, including those run by Tyson and Cargill, also will be able to export again to China, though it’s not immediately clear how much beef American businesses will be selling to China.
China let licenses for hundreds of U.S. beef plants expire last year, and the import value for 2025 fell to less than $500 million, according to USDA figures. China’s purchases of U.S. beef had peaked at $2.14 billion in 2022, the government data shows.
The U.S. export of poultry meats and products to China was $286 million in 2025, down from more than $1 billion in 2022.
During the summit last week, Trump and Xi discussed ways to enhance economic cooperation, including expanding market access for American businesses in China and increasing Chinese investment into U.S. industries, the White House had said. The two leaders agreed to set up separate boards of trade and investment — though offered few details on the proposals or how they would differ from existing trade dialogues.
The Board of Trade will allow the two governments to manage trade of “non-sensitive goods,” and the Board of Investments would provide a venue for the two sides to discuss investment-related issues, according to the White House.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said the two bodies would address respective concerns regarding trade and investment. The Board of Trade, the ministry spokesperson said, would allow the two sides to discuss issues such as tariff reductions on specific products. “In principle, the two sides agreed to reduce tariff on products of respective concern at equivalent scale,” the spokesperson said.
Xi said last week that China’s door of opportunity will open wider when he met with U.S. business leaders joining Trump on the trip. Among those who traveled to Beijing was Brian Sikes, CEO of the agricultural giant Cargill.
Soybeans, which are used for livestock feed and biofuels in China, are among the top U.S. agricultural exports. Soybean exports to China in the past had accounted for about half of U.S. exports of agricultural goods to the Asian nation.
USDA data shows the U.S. exported 10.9 million metric tons of soybeans to China as of May 7, putting China on track to fulfill its previous commitment by the end of the marketing year on Aug. 31. This is well below the 25 million to 30 million metric tons that China purchased in past years.
Before Trump’s initial planned trip to Beijing in late March — which was postponed by the Iran war — the American Soybean Association urged him to prioritize soybeans in the trade talks with Xi.
Scott Metzger, president of the association, said Thursday the group would like to see “additional soybean purchases this marketing year, as well as continued progress toward fulfilling future purchase commitments.”
“Greater certainty and consistency in the marketplace help provide farmers with the confidence they need as they make decisions for the year ahead,” he said.
NEW YORK (AP) — More than 20 years after it redefined fast shipping, Amazon is preparing to raise the bar on consumer expectations again by offering to fulfill customers’ most urgent product needs in a half-hour or less for an extra fee.
The company, which revolutionized online shopping in 2005 with two-day deliveries for Prime members, is rapidly opening small order-processing hubs in dozens of U.S. and foreign cities to cater to shoppers who can’t or don’t want to wait for cough medicine to relieve flu symptoms or tomatoes for tonight’s dinner salad.
The ultrafast service, called Amazon Now, first launched in India last June. Amazon says 30-minute deliveries now are also available in urban areas of Brazil, Mexico, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The mini-warehouses devoted to Amazon Now are about the size of a CVS drugstore. They stock about 3,500 products for expedited delivery, including beer, diapers, pet food, meat, nonprescription medications, playing cards and cellphone charging cables.
“We know that customers love speed and always have,” Beryl Tomay, Amazon’s head of transportation, told The Associated Press on Monday. “What we see customers doing, when we offer faster speeds, are they purchase more from Amazon. And Amazon becomes more top of mind for that or other types of items as well.”
In the U.S., the company first tested Amazon Now in Seattle, the home of its headquarters, and in Philadelphia. Most residents of Atlanta and the Dallas-Fort Worth area now have access as well. The service also is live or expected to land by year-end in Houston, Denver, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Florida, and dozens of other cities, Amazon said.
The service charges for Amazon Now start at $3.99 for Prime members, who pay an annual fee of $139, and $13.99 for non-members. A $1.99 small basket fee applies to orders under $15, Amazon said.
The company’s bet on a need for speed also comes as some consumers are rebelling against rushed deliveries as they weigh the potential impact on the environment and the workers tasked with preparing orders at a rapid rate.
A relentless focus on speed helped Amazon build a logistics and e-commerce empire. After it made two days the new delivery time normal, Amazon moved into one-day and same-day deliveries for its Prime members. This spring, the company began making 90,000 products available in one hour or three hours at an extra cost.
The scaled down and sped up microhubs that are designed to handle 30-minute orders represent another step in Amazon’s pursuit.
Only a handful of people prepare orders from aisles of shelves in the 5,000- to 10,000-square-foot facilities, unlike the sprawling fulfillment centers storing millions of items where Amazon employs a mix of human workers and robotics to pick and pack orders.
Amazon tailors the product inventory to each location and uses artificial intelligence and other technology to analyze what customers buy, as well as when and how often. The most popular U.S. purchases so far include soap, toothpaste, mouthwash, toilet plungers, bananas, limes and wireless earbuds, Amazon said.
Amazon’s attempt to up the instant gratification ante provides direct competition to on-demand food delivery platforms like Instacart, Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub, which don’t have the scale of the e-commerce titan, according to independent retail analyst Bruce Winder.
“What Amazon brings is their prowess in supply chain,” Winder said.
These smaller companies said they don’t see Amazon as a threat, though, citing the hundreds of thousands of items they are able to deliver to users’ doorsteps by partnering with various merchants and restaurants.
“DoorDash has a mission to empower grocers and retailers and augment their existing footprint, not to replace them,” DoorDash spokesperson Ali Musa said in an emailed statement. “We win only when they win, which is how we can offer over half a million grocery and retail items in under an hour across the country.”
Amazon also is in a race with Walmart to become the retailer that reliably gets orders to online shoppers in under an hour.
For an additional $10 on top of standard delivery charges, shoppers can place Walmart Express Delivery orders from among more than 100,000 products that are guaranteed to arrive in an hour. Many customers, however, are receiving the items under 30 minutes, Walmart CEO John Furner told analysts in February.
Companies have promised deliveries in 30 minutes or less before, but the landscape also is littered with failed attempts to break the speed barrier.
The COVID-19 pandemic produced a flurry of companies that promised 10- to 15-minute grocery deliveries from microwarehouses in dense neighborhoods, according to Sucharita Kodali, an analyst at market research firm Forrester Research.
But soaring operating costs, low customer loyalty and the drying up of investor money ultimately caused most to fail before the pandemic was over, analysts said.
Domino’s in 1984 pushed a guarantee that customers would receive their pizzas for free if they weren’t delivered in under a half-hour. The company amended the “30 minutes or it’s free” policy after two years, providing only a $3 discount for late deliveries.
The promotion helped Domino’s win market share, but it ended up tarnishing the company’s reputation. It dropped the guarantee in December 1993 after a string of crashes and lawsuits involving drivers racing to meet the deadline.
Brad Jashinsky, a retail analyst at information technology research and consulting firm Gartner, said he thinks Amazon should take the pizza chain’s experience as a cautionary tale.
“You get in trouble when you start overpromising something like that,” he said.
Amazon won’t be making any time guarantees and instead plans to keep customers who chose the 30-minute delivery option updated on the progress of their orders, Tomay said.
“There’s no rushing either in our building workers or the gig workers,” she said.
Kodali thinks Amazon will need a lot of people placing orders around the same time from the same or adjacent apartment buildings for the 30-minute service to be cost-effective.
Consumers may appreciate rapid receipt of products like toilet paper and batteries, but retailers and logistics experts said they also see some online shoppers, especially members of Generation Z, choosing no-rush shipping for products they don’t need in a hurry.
Amazon for several years has invited customers to skip one- or two-day delivery and to receive their orders on the same day in as few parcels as possible. Consolidating orders into fewer packages by electing to have them delivered at the same time cuts down on boxes, shipping envelopes and fuel use, analysts said.
“The millennials who came to age in an era that was on fast delivery came to expect it de facto, whereas … Gen Z is more accepting of a slower speed than previous generations before them,” said Darby Meegan, a general manager at Flexport, a supply chain and logistics company that fulfills orders for thousands of online merchants.
Still, Amazon executives have cited positive early results for Amazon Now in India, where they said Prime members tripled their requests for 30-minute deliveries once they started using the service.
Amazon Now also is attracting more repeat American customers, Tomay said.
“It’s in early days and time will tell,” she said. “I think that it will be interesting to see how it evolves.”
GRAPEVINE (AP) – Online seller eBay is rejecting an unsolicited $56 billion takeover offer from GameStop, calling the proposal “neither credible or attractive.”
Ryan Cohen’s GameStop disclosed earlier this month that it was pursuing a takeover of eBay, seeing it as a vehicle to compete with online retail giant Amazon.
The national gaming retailer said at the time that its approximately 1,600 U.S. stores could become drop-off and shipping locations. One proposal included live sales broadcasts from GameStop locations featuring eBay products.
GameStop’s bid is worth $125 per share in cash and stock. The equity value of the proposed deal is $55 billion on paper. The company previously said that it started accumulating shares in eBay beginning in February and currently has a 5% stake.
In a letter from eBay Chairman Paul Pressler sent to Cohen, eBay’s board said that it had completed its review of GameStop’s offer and believes that eBay is a “strong, resilient business.”
“With its differentiated global marketplace and a clear strategy, eBay’s board is confident that the company, under its current management team, is well-positioned to continue to drive sustainable growth, execute with discipline, and deliver long-term value for our shareholders,” the letter said.
GameStop did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company’s stock fell 4% before the market open on Tuesday.
TYLER — Tyler Police have identified two suspects in a 2017 homicide. According to Tyler PD’s Public Information Officer Andy Erbaugh, detectives recently received information regarding two potential suspects, Jakysia Rodgers (pictured), 33, of Tyler and Quadaverine Allison, 32, of Longview.
On August 11, 2017, officers were called to Christus Mother Frances Hospital ER by staff regarding a victim with a gunshot wound brought in by private vehicle. Officers determined that the shooting occurred on Lawrence Street around 7:30 a.m. that day. After being, shot the victim asked for a neighbor’s help who drove him to the hospital in the victim’s car.
The victim, identified as Joshua Alon McGee, 22, died at the hospital from a single gunshot wound. Investigators believe that narcotics were related to the shooting.
DALLAS (AP) — A former FedEx driver was sentenced to death on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to killing a 7-year-old girl he took from her Texas home while delivering a Christmas gift.
Jurors in a Fort Worth courtroom decided on Tanner Horner’s punishment after hearing about a month of testimony and evidence that included audio of Athena Strand’s last moments from inside his delivery van. Horner, 34, pleaded guilty to capital murder last month in the 2022 killing just as his trial began. Athena’s body was found two days after she was reported missing from her home in the rural town of Paradise, near Fort Worth.
Horner didn’t visibly react when the judge read the sentence, according to a livestream of the court proceedings.
Jurors found there was a probability Horner would commit criminal violence and be a continuing threat to society. They said there was nothing in the commission of the crime or in Horner’s background to warrant life without parole instead of death.
Prosecutor James Stainton told jurors in opening statements that Horner had told, “lie upon lie upon lie upon lie” in the case, including telling authorities that he accidentally struck Athena with his van while making the delivery and then killed her in a fit of panic.
Several jurors cried as they were shown video and heard audio from inside the van after Athena was taken. He could be seen lifting her into the van, and then driving away, telling her not to scream or he’d hurt her.
Horner then covered the camera, but the audio continued recording. Horner asks Athena questions, including how old she is and where she goes to school, before stopping the van and telling her they are going to “hang out.” Horner tells her to take off her shirt and she begins crying, and asks whether he’s a kidnapper.
She asks him: “Why are you doing this?” He replies, “Because you are pretty.”
“My mom says I can’t do that to somebody,” she tells him. “And you can’t do that to me either.”
As the recording, which lasts over an hour, continues, Athena’s screams can be heard. At one point he tells her: “If you don’t shut up, I will hurt you worse.”
A medical examiner testified that Athena died of blunt force injuries with smothering and strangulation.
While acknowledging during opening statements that the evidence against Horner was “overwhelming” and “terrible,” Horner’s attorney, Steven Goble, told jurors that Horner’s mother drank while she was pregnant, that he has autism and suffered from “various mental illnesses throughout his life” in addition to being exposed to a “massive amount of lead.”
Goble had asked jurors to sentence Horner to life in prison.
Athena’s family has said that the package Horner had dropped off was a Christmas present for her — a box of “You Can Be Anything” Barbies.
The trial was moved from rural Wise County to Fort Worth after Horner’s attorneys argued that he would not have received a fair trial.
EL PASO (AP) – A group of civil rights organizations on Monday filed a new lawsuit seeking to stop parts of the law that would let Texas police arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
The law can go into effect next week after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court ruling that had kept it paused for years.
Senate Bill 4, as the law is known, created a state-level crime for entering the country without authorization and created pathways for state authorities to remove such people from the country if convicted.
Courts have long held that immigration enforcement is the sole responsibility of the federal government, but with the state law, Texas Republicans sought to challenge that precedent.
The Texas Civil Rights Project, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, and ACLU argue in Monday’s lawsuit the law is unconstitutional because immigration law is exclusively the federal government’s domain and should preempt the state law.
They are trying to stop four provisions of SB 4: the creation of a crime for re-entering the country without authorization, even if a person has since obtained legal status; granting state magistrates authority to order a person’s deportation; the creation of a crime for failing to comply with a magistrate’s order; and requiring that magistrates continue a prosecution even if a person has a pending immigration case such as an asylum claim.
“Our fight against SB 4 isn’t over until justice wins,” Kate Gibson Kumar, of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said in a statement. “SB 4 is not only unconstitutional, but a vile law that uses our Texas resources to harm communities across our state.”
Attorney General Ken Paxton ’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit is the latest effort to stop the 2023 law, passed by the Legislature in response to record border crossings that GOP state leaders argued amounted to an invasion.
The Biden administration was among the plaintiffs to initially challenge the law in 2024, but the Trump administration last year terminated the Department of Justice’s participation in the lawsuit amid his immigration crackdown.
That lawsuit continued until two weeks ago, when a federal appeals court lifted an injunction that had stopped the law when it ruled that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue.
The law can go into effect May 15 unless it’s halted by another court.
EAST TEXAS — Nearly one-third of students who applied for Texas’ new school choice program have been approved so far, according to updated data from the Texas Comptroller’s Office and our news partner KETK.
Of the 8,855 East Texas students who submitted applications, 2,744 have been accepted to receive a Texas Education Freedom Account (TEFA). The update comes after Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock announced Monday that more than 53,000 additional students statewide are expected to be awarded TEFA funding for the 2026–27 school year in Tier 2. Those awards follow the 42,600 students approved late last month in Tier 1.
“Texas families have waited a long time for school choice, and the response to TEFA shows just how much this opportunity means to parents across our state,” Hancock said. “This first year is groundbreaking for Texas. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER — Hundreds of miles off the East Coast and unconnected from the internet, Tylerite Sorayda Rivera was enjoying what was supposed to be a relaxing cruise, but quickly became a search for a way back home after Spirit Airlines canceled her flight in its spontaneous shut down.
On Saturday, Spirit Airlines said that it has officially gone out of business after 34 years. According to our news partner KETK, Rivera, who had flown to Miami from the DFW Airport, found out this morning immediately after reaching cell service at the end of her cruise.
“As soon as we got to Florida this morning,” Rivera said, “I turned on my phone, got my airplane mode off and I went to my Spirit app. It turned out that Spirit canceled all their flights because they’re no longer in business.”
As she opened the Spirit Airlines app, she received a pop-up saying all flights were canceled, effective immediately. Read the rest of this entry »
ARLINGTON (AP) – Just months into the pandemic, Matthew Haines, like landlords across the country, learned he was barred from evicting tenants who didn’t pay their rent under a federal eviction moratorium that lasted almost a year — costing him and his investors over $1 million.
Now, the 57-year-old Texan is hoping to get some relief.
Haines is among more than 1,500 property owners who filed a federal lawsuit arguing the moratorium enacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention violated the Fifth Amendment by unlawfully denying them compensation. Plaintiffs range from those who lost thousands of dollars to one who lost over $14.5 million.
After initially losing in the Court of Federal Claims in 2022, the plaintiffs won on appeal and are now in settlement discussions with the Justice Department. Landlords are hoping to recoup as much as $1.5 billion — a fraction of what the industry lost.
“It’s important for us to stand up when a group like the CDC unilaterally, functionally, decides that they have a right to oversee our business,” said Haines, who owns three rental communities with 240 units in Arlington and Irving, Texas.
“What I hope that we will accomplish and, to some extent, we already have, is vindication for ourselves,” he said. “But what’s more important to me is that hopefully my investors will recover some of that money that they should have had coming in over the last six years.”
The federal eviction moratorium lasted from September 2020 through July 2021, and was among the pandemic’s most divisive policies. It ended after the Supreme Court ruled the CDC lacked authority to impose the ban without congressional authorization.
The Justice Department, responding to Associated Press questions about the landlords’ case, said it does not comment on ongoing litigation.
Moratoriums were also imposed in 43 states and scores of cities, which lasted longer than the federal ban because states and cities have broader regulatory powers than federal agencies like the CDC.
Landlords say the bans devastated their businesses. Unable to collect rent, many were forced to take on debt, lay off staff, delay repairs and, in some cases, sell their property. They say the impact lingers, with longer delays for evictions, tighter screening for riskier tenants and growing numbers of owners getting out of the rental business altogether.
Tenant advocates counter that eviction bans were a lifesaver. They credit them with keeping millions of tenants housed during the pandemic and slowing the spread of the coronavirus. They also argue landlords were already paid — in the form of tens of billions of dollars in rental assistance.
From the moment the pandemic hit, Haines said he knew he was in trouble: Many tenants lost their jobs, so he didn’t require new leases and tried to be flexible with those who couldn’t pay.
But when the moratorium took hold, it was the biggest threat he’d faced in 30 years in real estate.
“It was terrifying,” Haines said. “We knew almost immediately that we were going to a massive deficit in cash flow that we probably weren’t going to be able to cover.”
A survey by the National Rental Home Council, a trade association, published weeks after the federal moratorium ended, found that half of small landlords had tenants who missed rent and a third sold or planned to sell properties. The moratorium and backlog of eviction cases cost owners $57 billion, according to the lawsuit, with more than 10 million delinquent renters in just the ban’s first four months.
“Public health measures like this, they may be well intentioned,” said Creighton Magid, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “But when the government imposes this type of moratorium, the financial burden should be borne by the government, not individual property owners.”
Liz Leone, who has 52 apartments in Las Vegas and is part of the lawsuit, said the moratorium almost forced her out of business. She lost over $250,000, she said, and borrowed $60,000 from the federal Small Business Administration “just to keep my nose above water.” She’s still paying it off.
“I was definitely questioning whether I would survive,” said Leone, who’s been in the business for 35 years. “You delay all the expenses you can, but we still had to pay our property taxes. We still have to pay our utilities. … So that’s what you did: I borrowed.”
Housing advocates maintain the policy kept families housed, noting a significant spike in evictions after the moratorium ended.
Eviction bans “were a powerful intervention to keep people in their homes,” said Kathryn Leifheit, assistant professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and lead author of a study published in April in the medical journal JAMA Network Open that found homelessness rose 11% in a typical state in 2022, and would have increased 20% without state eviction moratoriums.
That was the case for Dulcee Barnes. The 28-year-old and her two roommates lost their restaurant jobs in Miami during the pandemic. Two months behind on rent, they would have been evicted if not for the moratorium.
“It gave us breathing room. It took away the fear of having to possibly pack up within 24 hours and live in somebody’s car or couch surfing,” she said.
Eric Dunn, director of litigation at the National Housing Law Project, a tenants’ rights nonprofit, disputed that landlords suffered significant losses, saying they were able to collect rent and sell their properties during the moratorium.
They also benefited from $46.5 billion in federal emergency rental assistance, which the Eviction Lab at Princeton University found in April was largely targeted to areas where landlords filed the most evictions before the pandemic.
Landlords said rental assistance never fully compensated them for their losses, contending programs were often mired in red tape and poorly run. States were slow to spend the money, struggled to set up programs and, in the case of Arkansas and Nebraska, didn’t accept all federal funding.
Landlords also complained some tenants took advantage of the moratorium to live rent free. “They were doing things like buying cars,” Leone said. “They didn’t have to pay rent, and here I was driving a car that was 18 years old.”
Despite the moratorium ending five years ago, landlords say fallout from the policy remains. They are taking fewer risks and being more cautious about renting to tenants with checkered rental histories.
Rick Jones, vice chairman of Management Services Corporation, which owns 4,000 apartment units in Virginia and is party to the lawsuit, said that’s partly due to increasing fraud. Applicants fake employment records and payroll checks, he said, adding: “There are companies that just advertise really creating a whole new identity for you.”
“Most property owners and managers realize that it’s more important to keep that unit vacant than to put a bad resident in. That’s probably what the eviction moratorium reinforced,” said Jones, whose company lost more than $230,000 in unpaid rent during the pandemic.
“When you have somebody that’s bad and you can’t get them out, you’re helpless.”
Haines said he’s increased tenant screenings and turns away some low-income applicants he might have accepted before the pandemic. That’s partly because evicting a tenant takes months longer than before the pandemic, he said.
“It’s done more harm,” he said, to low-income people “that we might have considered leasing an apartment to that now we simply can’t take the risk.”
AMARILLO (AP) — Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying suspects in a shooting at a party in Amarillo, Texas, that killed two teenagers and wounded 10 other people.
City authorities say they are looking for two people who opened fire at an apartment complex at about 2 a.m. Saturday and are asking local residents to check their doorbell and surveillance cameras for any unusual activity around that time. Details on a motive were not released.
Surveillance video released by police shows two suspects opening fire at the outside of an apartment. Yelling and screaming follow, then more gunshots ring out.
“When I looked outside and came outside it was complete chaos,” neighbor Phillip Thrasher told KTVT-TV. “I mean there was kids running everywhere, just screaming and running. They didn’t even know where they were running to, you know. And then moms and dads showed up and came to their kids’ rescues. The ones that could, the ones that couldn’t were so upset. I mean there was nothing you could do.”
Amarillo police said two teens, ages 16 and 17, were killed and 10 others injured. The conditions of the wounded were not released.
“The investigation into this morning’s events have identified that the suspects have an affiliation with the targeted location and were known to one of the occupants at the party,” Police Chief Thomas Hover said in a statement on Saturday.
Police said the people involved had been at a party at a different location and were asked to leave, then went to the complex where the shooting occurred.
Phone messages were left Sunday for police officials and management of the apartment complex, located close to Interstate 40 about 6 miles (10 kilometers) west of downtown Amarillo.
Hover said police had increased patrol staffing after separate shootings killed six people in Amarillo on March 22.
UPSHUR COUNTY — The Upshur County Sheriff’s Office said that local residents have been scammed out of over $1 million dollars by fake Apple Pay representatives.
“Over the past several months, our county has experienced a significant increase in fraud cases. One scam in particular involves individuals posing as Apple Pay representatives, and it has already resulted in over ONE MILLION dollars stolen from victims in our county alone,” the sheriff’s office said on Sunday.
According to the sheriff’s office and our news partner KETK, the scammers contact the victims, claiming that a bank employee is stealing money from their accounts. They then insist that the victim should transfer their money into different accounts in order to help with the scammers fake non-existent investigation. Read the rest of this entry »
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin was questioned by senators during his confirmation hearing about his vision for implementing President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda, he said his goal was to keep his department off the front pages of the news.
To some degree, he has. Gone are the social media video clips of now-retired Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino clashing with protesters. Mullin’s predecessor, Kristi Noem, made her first trip as secretary to New York City to make arrests with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In contrast, Mullin went to North Carolina to review hurricane recovery efforts.
The Republican administration appears to be recalibrating its approach to a centerpiece policy that helped bring Trump back to the White House, moving in many ways away from aggressive, public-facing tactics toward a quieter approach to enforcement. Despite that shift, the administration insists it is not backing down from its lofty deportation goals.
“Clearly they’ve stepped back from the, for want of a better word, the Bovinoist tactics of before,” said Mark Krikorian, the president of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for immigration restrictions. “But it’s not clear this means they’re actually stepping back from immigration.”
The Trump administration launched a series of immigration enforcement operations last year in mostly Democratic-led cities, which drove up arrests in large-scale sweeps. The crackdown sparked clashes between protesters and enforcement officers and led to the shooting deaths in Minneapolis of two U.S. citizens.
Since then, the president’s hard-line anti-immigration agenda has lost popularity with voters and there have been no new high-profile city-based operations launched, raising questions about the administration’s strategy.
“We’re still enforcing immigration laws. We’re still deporting illegals that shouldn’t be here. We’re still going after the worst of the worst — but we’re doing it in a more quiet way,” Mullin said in an interview April 16 with CNBC.
ICE arrests have fallen in recent months, and the number of people in immigration detention has dropped from a high of roughly 72,000 in January to 58,000 this week, according to data obtained by The Associated Press.
But in a sign of its continued determination, ICE in budget documents says it plans to remove 1 million people this fiscal year and the next compared with roughly 442,000 people last year. The agency also has plenty of money to carry out its mission, with Congress granting the Department of Homeland Security more than $170 billion for Trump’s immigration agenda last year.
The administration aims to have enough space to detain roughly 100,000 people this fiscal year, which would more than double the average daily number held in ICE detention last year. The administration has already expanded its detention capacity with the purchase of 11 warehouses across the country.
“They are working really on building a juggernaut of a system,” said Doris Meissner, who headed the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, a predecessor to ICE, during President Bill Clinton’s Democratic administration and is now a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said there had been no change to Trump’s strategy.
“President Trump’s highest priority has always been the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities,” Jackson said.
ICE did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Advocates for immigrants are bracing for the Trump administration to turn its attention more intently to stripping away protections for migrants with temporary legal status to remain in the U.S. while their cases are being adjudicated.
In one example of this, the number of green cards approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services dropped by half over the course of a year under the Trump administration, according to an analysis by the Cato Institute, which supports immigration into the U.S. Humanitarian visas for refugees or people who qualified for asylum saw the biggest declines.
USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said the drop was due to increased vetting of applicants by the administration.
The Trump administration has also pushed to strip Temporary Protected Status from hundreds of thousands of people, with a key case weighing whether it’s overstepped its power to do so being heard at the Supreme Court this week.
Advocates see it as a way to send a chilling message to immigrant communities and make more people vulnerable to deportation. It also enables the department to operate without the public spectacle of workplace raids or home arrests.
ICE has also focused over the past year on creating agreements with jurisdictions around the country that allow local and state law enforcement to carry out an expanding array of immigration enforcement tasks, ranging from checking the immigration status of people in their jails to incorporating immigration checks during routine traffic stops.
These agreements, known as 287g, have grown from 135 in 20 states before Trump took office to more than 1,400 in 41 states and territories now.
Some states, most noticeably Florida and Texas, have mandated various forms of cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE.
Meissner, from MPI, said Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, is likely to prioritize further discussions about how cities and states can cooperate with ICE.
“At the end of the day, some of this may very well succeed in increasing the numbers,” Meissner said.
Conservatives who want more deportations say the only way to truly crack down on illegal immigration is to make it so difficult for the migrants to work that they’ll leave on their own.
The Trump administration has already taken steps to make life harder for people in the country illegally including limiting who can live in public housing by immigration status, sharing Medicaid information with ICE and requiring people in the country illegally to register with the federal government.
Krikorian, of the Center for Immigration Studies, said the Social Security Administration could send out letters alerting employers when an employee’s name doesn’t match their Social Security number. Authorities could repeatedly and consistently carry out audits of I-9 forms, which companies are supposed to fill out and submit to the federal government showing that new hires are legally able to work. And they could require banks to collect citizenship information on customers.
Whatever the strategy going forward, the administration is facing heavy pressure not to back away from its goals.
“The numbers are too low,” said Mike Howell, part of the Mass Deportation Coalition, which launched a playbook for how the administration can actually get to a million deportations a year by using tactics such as worksite enforcement.
“The deportation numbers are just too low,” Howell said, “and they need to be much higher, and they can be much higher.”
HOUSTON (AP) – Profit for the two largest oil companies in the U.S. tumbled during the first quarter, a three-month period in which the price of crude and gasoline rocketed higher. It’s a setback on paper only, however, the result of financial hedges that backfired after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February.
Exxon Mobil and Chevron reported quarterly results on Friday, with adjusted profits for both companies topping Wall Street expectations. The shares of both companies, up sharply this week, ticked higher before the opening bell.
With energy prices depressed at the start of the year, Exxon Mobil and Chevron had arranged hedges to offset volatility, a standard practice in the industry.
In the aftermath of an attack by the U.S. and Israel on Iran, however, the physical delivery of oil became impossible with the Strait of Hormuz essentially closed. Exxon and Chevron cannot book gains on those hedges until the crude is physically delivered.
The near closure of the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran is a flashpoint in the war and the source of much of the economic pain being felt globally. About 20% of the world’s oil passes through the strait on a typical day, but the passage has been choked off since the war began in late February.
Exxon earned $4.18 billion, or $1 per share, for the period ended March 31. A year earlier it earned $7.7 billion, or $1.76 per share. The company lost almost $4 billion in the quarter on what it called “unfavorable estimated timing effects” of its hedges.
Removing such one-time impacts, Exxon earned $1.16 per share, easily topping the $1.07 per share analyst surveyed by Zacks Investment Research predicted. Exxon does not adjust its reported results based on one-time events such as asset sales.
Revenue totaled $85.14 billion, breezing past Wall Street’s expectation of $81.49 billion.
First-quarter net production was 4.6 million oil-equivalent barrels per day. That’s down from 5 million oil-equivalent barrels per day in the previous quarter.
Chevron reported a first-quarter profit of $2.21 billion, or $1.11 per share. It earned $3.5 billion, or $2 per share, a year earlier.
The company said that its quarter included a $360 million net loss related to a legal reserve and that foreign currency effects lowered earnings by $223 million.
Chevron’s adjusted profit was $1.41 per share, easily beating the 92 cents per share Wall Street was calling for. Like Exxon, Chevron does not adjust its reported results based on one-time events such as asset sales.
The company’s revenue totaled $48.61 billion, also better than expected.
Exxon and Chevron are among the big drillers reporting earnings this week. On Tuesday BP said that its first-quarter profit more than doubled.
The oil companies’ results come at a time when gasoline prices in the U.S. hit new multiyear highs, a point of increasing agitation for travelers, households and also businesses that are particularly sensitive to higher energy prices.
The average price of gasoline in the U.S. hit $4.39 on Friday, according to motor club AAA. up more than 8% this week.
Inflation in the U.S. rose sharply last month during largest monthly jump in gas prices in six decades, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor. The surge in gas prices has squeezed the budgets of lower- and middle-income families, making it more difficult to pay for necessities.
But it’s disrupting businesses as well, particularly those sensitive to higher fuel costs. Airlines worldwide have begun canceling flights as the war in the Middle East strains jet fuel supplies and pushes up ticket prices.
WASHINGTON (AP) – A back-and-forth volley of congressional redistricting in states has changed the electoral battlefield ahead of the November midterm elections, as Republicans and Democrats each seek an edge in their push for control of the closely divided U.S. House.
Florida’s Republican-led Legislature is latest to act, approving new House districts on Wednesday that could help the GOP win several additional seats in this year’s elections. That could offset Democratic gains in Virginia, where voters recently approved a new U.S. House map designed to flip several seats to Democrats.
Voting districts typically are redrawn once a decade, after each census. But President Donald Trump last year urged Texas Republicans to redraw House districts to give the GOP an edge in the midterms. California Democrats reciprocated, and redistricting efforts soon cascaded across states.
Republicans believe they could win up to 13 additional seats from new congressional districts in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Florida. Democrats, meanwhile, think they could gain up to 10 seats from new districts in California, Utah and Virginia. But that presumes past voting patterns hold in November. And that’s uncertain, especially since the party in power typically loses seats in the midterms and Trump faces negative approval ratings in polls.
Democrats need to gain just a few seats in November to wrest control of the House from Republicans, potentially allowing them to obstruct Trump’s agenda.
New U.S. House districts have passed in eight states since last summer. Six took up redistricting voluntarily, one was required to by its state constitution and another did so under court order.
Current map: 13 Democrats, 25 Republicans
New map: Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a revised House map into law last August that could help Republicans win five additional seats.
Challenges: The U.S. Supreme Court in December cleared the way for the new districts to be used in this year’s elections. It has since overturned a lower-court ruling that blocked the new map because it was “racially gerrymandered.”
Current map: 43 Democrats, nine Republicans
New map: Voters in November approved revised House districts drawn by the Democratic-led Legislature that could help Democrats win five additional seats.
Challenges: The U.S. Supreme Court in February allowed the new districts to be used in this year’s elections. It denied an appeal from Republicans and the Department of Justice, which claimed the districts impermissibly favor Hispanic voters.
Current map: two Democrats, six Republicans
New map: Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a revised House map into law last September that could help Republicans win an additional seat.
Challenges: A Cole County judge ruled the new map is in effect as election officials work to determine whether a referendum petition seeking a statewide vote complies with constitutional criteria and contains enough valid petition signatures. The Missouri Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit claiming mid-decade redistricting is illegal. It’s scheduled to hear arguments in May on claims the new districts violate compactness requirements and should be placed on hold pending the potential referendum.
Current map: four Democrats, 10 Republicans
New map: The Republican-led General Assembly gave final approval in October to revised districts that could help Republicans win an additional seat.
Challenges: A federal court panel in November denied a request to block the revised districts from being used in the midterm elections.
Current map: five Democrats, 10 Republicans
New map: A bipartisan panel composed primarily of Republicans voted in October to approve revised House districts that improve Republicans’ chances of winning two additional seats.
Challenges: None. The state constitution required new districts before the 2026 election, because Republicans had approved the prior map without sufficient Democratic support after the last census.
Current map: no Democrats, four Republicans
New map: A judge in November imposed revised House districts that could help Democrats win a seat. The court ruled that lawmakers had circumvented anti-gerrymandering standards passed by voters when adopting the prior map.
Challenges: A federal court panel and the state Supreme Court, in February, each rejected Republican challenges to the judicial map selection.
Current map: six Democrats, five Republicans
New map: Voters in April approved a constitutional amendment authorizing new U.S. House districts backed by Democrats that could help the party win up to four additional seats.
Challenges: The state Supreme Court allowed the referendum to proceed, but it has yet to rule whether the effort is legal. The court is considering an appeal of a Tazewell County judge’s ruling that the amendment is invalid because lawmakers violated procedural requirements.
Current map: eight Democrats, 20 Republicans
New map: The Republican-led Legislature in April passed revised House districts that could improve the GOP’s chances of winning four additional seats.
Challenges: The state constitution says districts cannot be drawn with intent to favor or disfavor a political party or incumbent.
Governors, lawmakers or partisan officials pushed for congressional redistricting in numerous states. In at least five states, those efforts gained some initial traction but ultimately fell short in either the legislature or court.
Current map: seven Democrats, one Republican
Proposed map: The Democratic-led House in February passed a redistricting plan backed by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore that could help Democrats win an additional seat.
Challenges: The legislative session ended in April without the Democratic-led Senate voting on the redistricting plan. The state Senate president said there were concerns it could backfire on Democrats.
Current map: 19 Democrats, seven Republicans
Proposed map: A judge in January ordered a state commission to draw new boundaries for the only congressional district in New York City represented by a Republican, ruling it unconstitutionally dilutes the votes of Black and Hispanic residents.
Challenges: The U.S. Supreme Court in March granted Republicans’ request to halt the judge’s order, leaving the existing district lines in place for the 2026 election.
Current map: two Democrats, seven Republicans
Proposed map: The Republican-led House passed a redistricting plan in December that would have improved Republicans’ chances of winning two additional seats.
Challenges: Despite pressure from Trump to adopt the new map, the Republican-led Senate rejected it in a bipartisan vote on Dec. 11.
Current map: one Democrat, three Republicans
Proposed map: Some Republican lawmakers mounted an attempt to take up congressional redistricting.
Challenges: Lawmakers dropped a petition drive for a special session on congressional redistricting in November, after failing to gain enough support.
Current map: 14 Democrats, three Republicans
Proposed map: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in October proposed a new U.S. House map that would improve Democrats’ chances of winning an additional seat.
Challenges: The Democratic-led General Assembly declined to take up redistricting, citing concerns about the effect on representation for Black residents.
HOUSTON (AP) — People who are wrongfully incarcerated then exonerated, sometimes after spending decades behind bars, face yet more challenges finding jobs and rebuilding their lives after their release. Advocates say exonerees lack work history, viable skills, training and references when seeking work. Advocates and exonerees say they also face bias and stigma, even though they have been found innocent. National nonprofits and local groups are working to provide employment opportunities and other assistance for exonerees. The National Registry of Exonerations reports that more than 3,800 people have been exonerated in the U.S. since 1989.
Richard Miles set out to find a job after his release from a Texas prison in 2009 with a collection of newspaper clippings about his wrongful murder conviction as his resume. No one would hire him, including warehouses and fast-food restaurants.
It was a period of painful rejection that is familiar to exonerees. Some see their own struggles reflected in Calvin Duncan, who won elected office in New Orleans after clearing his name but likely won’t serve. Louisiana lawmakers sent a bill to the governor’s desk Wednesday abolishing his job.
“We’re still kind of like looked at as an inmate that did a particular crime. It further deteriorates our ability to believe that the system can heal itself,” said Miles, who eventually found a job through a minister at his church. “When cases like in Louisiana occur, it just shows us that the system is not healing itself.”
The fight in Louisiana has touched a nerve among exonerees in the U.S. who see Duncan’s plight as reflective of the biases and stigmas they have to confront as they try to rebuild their lives.
Duncan served nearly 30 years in prison before his murder conviction was vacated in 2021 after evidence emerged that police officers had lied in court. He was elected to become the Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court in November, vowing to fix the system that failed him. He had been set to take office May 4.
Louisiana Republicans who want to dissolve the office say it isn’t about Duncan’s past but a necessary step toward government efficiency.
“Even if they are seen as somebody who is exonerated, there is still a stigma as somebody who has been in prison,” said Jon Eldan, the founder and executive director of After Innocence, a California-based nonprofit.
MINERAL WELLS (AP) — Thunderstorms tore through parts of Texas on Tuesday, sending at least two people to the hospital as powerful winds ripped roofs off homes, flattened buildings and tossed debris through the air.
Multiple homes and businesses were damaged and families were displaced in Mineral Wells, a small city about 45 miles west of Fort Worth. Two people were taken to the hospital and others with minor injuries were treated at the scene, according to Ryan Dunn, the city’s fire chief. There were no immediate reports of fatalities or people missing.
Dunn warned people to stay out of an industrial area where there’s “major damage and major hazards that are all across the roads.”
The wild weather came just days after a tornado-producing thunderstorm left at least two people dead in northern Texas and displaced at least 20 families.
Tuesday’s thunderstorms, including at least one unconfirmed tornado, were caused by large storm cells that were drifting southeast from north-central Texas, said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with National Weather Service.
The storms continued Tuesday night as they moved across Texas and into Arkansas and Mississippi, according to the National Weather Service. The storms could produce hail larger than 2 inches, damaging winds and some tornadoes, according to the agency.
In Mineral Wells, where the streets were left littered with fallen trees and other debris, the mayor declared a local state of disaster. The city also instituted a 10 p.m. curfew that will be lifted around daylight as authorities continue to assess the damage, said Tim Denison, the city’s police chief.
He said the curfew was to “make sure that we keep people out of the areas and also try to help these victims out, and keep their personal belongings safe.”
Officials directed anyone who needed help to the local high school, where the Red Cross was setting up.
Ventamatic, a fans and ventilation manufacturer in Mineral Wells, said its facilities would be closed Wednesday “due to severe damage and ongoing safety hazards — including downed power lines.” The company announced on its website that all of its employees had been evacuated before the storms and everyone was safe.
WOOD COUNTY — A grand jury indicted a Sulphur Springs teenager in March for allegedly shooting into a crowd at a Wood County property in November 2025. According to an arrest affidavit from the Wood County Sheriff’s Office and our news partner KETK, 19-year-old Drake White was arrested following an investigation of a mass shooting on Nov. 25, 2025.
Sheriff’s office deputies arrived at a residence off of N. State Highway 37 in Wood County following reports of a shooting. Witnesses told deputies that a fight over money and a gun began between the shooter, who they identified as White, and another individual.
The affidavit alleges that one victim tried to stop the fight by telling everyone on the property to leave, specifically White. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER — Businesses and community members in the Downtown Tyler area are speaking out on how the city’s improvement project is affecting day-to-day operations. A project aimed at revitalizing downtown is now creating real challenges for some business owners in the heart of Tyler, according to our news partner KETK.
J. Witcher, general manager at Rick’s on the Square, says it’s been a months-long uphill battle getting customers through the door. “I would say the main complaint is parking; they just don’t know where to go,” Witcher said. “People just are faced with a variety of choices in Tyler; coming downtown right now poses different challenges.”
Witcher supports a better downtown, but right now, the cost is hitting hard as the restaurants and bars that have been open for more than 30 years are feeling the strain. Read the rest of this entry »
UPDATE: A 16-year-old was taken into custody and charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon and manslaughter in connection with the deadly shooting. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says he may face additional charges and will remain in custody at the juvenile detention center.
POLK COUNTY — Three people were arrested on Sunday after a 20-year-old was fatally shot at an after-prom party in Polk County. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and our news partner KETK, dispatchers received calls that 20-year-old Jeremy Lamar Bennett was shot at a location off of US Highway 146 in Polk County at around 1:07 a.m. on Sunday.
Deputies arrived at the scene and started to try and save Bennett’s life when a fight broke out in the crowd at the scene. This diverted efforts to try and save Bennett’s life as deputies tried to stop the fighting in the crowd.
EMS then arrived to take Bennett to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead from his wounds. The sheriff’s office said investigators believe that Bennett was shot when an after-prom party grew into a larger party where alcohol, marijuana and firearms were involved.
According to a press release, the party eventually led to a fight in which gunfire hit Bennett, fatally injuring him. The following three men were arrested in connection to the party:
The sheriff’s office said that, Osvaldo Daniel Alvarez, 19, was arrested for deadly conduct after he told deputies that he invited the crowd to his home to continue the party. Gabriel Ramirez Jr., 21, was charged with deadly conduct for allegedly discharging a firearm and Jon R. Villarreal, 19, was arrested for unlawfully carrying a weapon.
“Sheriff Lyons and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office expressed their condolences to Jeremy’s family, stating that the loss of such a young life is heartbreaking and could have been prevented,” the sheriff’s office said. “He also urged the youth of Polk County to avoid situations involving large crowds, alcohol, drugs and weapons, emphasizing the importance of making safe choices and leaving potentially dangerous environments to return home safely.”
A search warrant was executed at the US Highway 146 property as part of an ongoing homicide investigation with the sheriff’s office and the Texas Rangers. During the search, officials recovered six firearms and undisclosed amounts of alcohol and drugs.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s government said Saturday that two U.S. federal agents recently killed in a car crash in the country’s northern region were not authorized to participate in operations in Mexico.
The role of the two CIA agents who were returning from destroying a clandestine drug lab in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua remains unclear.
Local government officials have said they were part of a convoy when their car drove off a ravine last weekend and the vehicle exploded. Two Mexican officers also were killed.
The Americans killed were from the CIA, The Associated Press confirmed earlier this week with a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.
The CIA has declined to comment.
A statement from Mexico’s Ministry of Security said one U.S. agent entered Mexico as a visitor while the other entered with a diplomatic passport.
It also asserted that Mexico’s government was not aware of foreign agents operating or planning to participate in an operation on its soil.
The ministry said it is reviewing the case with local authorities and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.
“Mexican law is clear: it does not permit the participation of foreign agents in operations within the national territory,” the ministry said in a statement.
It added: “The Government of Mexico reiterates its willingness to maintain a close, serious, and respectful relationship with the Government of the United States for the benefit of the security of both countries.”
Officials from both countries have offered contradictory accounts on the issue, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum admitting on Wednesday that federal forces were involved after Mexico’s government said it had no knowledge of any operation or U.S. involvement.
DILLEY (THE TEXAS TRIBUNE) – A flight carrying an Egyptian family to Michigan late Saturday abruptly turned around after a Texas judge ruled that the six should remain in the U.S. pending further litigation.
The last-minute reversal was the most recent development in a dizzying series of events this week that attorneys said added to ongoing questions over the executive’s power compared to the judiciary when it comes to President Donald Trump’s purview of immigration and his administration’s push for expanded deportations.
A Texas federal judge Saturday ruled that the family, believed to be the longest held at the controversial South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, should not immediately be deported after immigration agents suddenly re-arrested the mother and her children hours earlier. A second order by a federal judge in Colorado was issued Saturday evening, reiterating that the family should not be deported.
The rulings came as the family was on a plane to Michigan, from where the government ostensibly planned to quickly deport them to Egypt, where their attorneys said the mother and her children fear persecution.
The plane, the attorney, Michigan-based Eric Lee, posted on X, “constitutionally cannot be allowed to take off.”
It would not have been the first time that Trump’s administration deported immigrants after federal judges ordered against their removal. Among the most well-known cases is that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of El Salvador, who was living in Maryland before he was mistakenly sent to a notorious mega-prison in that Central American country last year despite an earlier U.S. court order barring Abrego Garcia’s deportation. His case spurred global criticism, although he has since returned to the U.S., as litigation in his case is ongoing.
“Stop this travesty of justice from taking place,” Lee, the Gamal family attorney, posted on X earlier Saturday, referring to the El Gamal family.
Lee added that the “attempt to remove the El Gamal family is in violation of a federal court order and must be halted immediately. The rights of the entire population and the most basic principles of separation of powers are at stake.”
U.S. District Court Judge Fred Biery in San Antonio ruled hours after the family’s re-detention Saturday that given the emergency appeal by lawyers, the family’s deportation to Egypt should be paused. Biery agreed with his own previous ruling as well as one by U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Chestney this week that the family, which includes 5-year-old twins who have been held at Dilley for more than 10 months, should be freed while they await an immigration judge’s decision on their asylum case.
The family received widespread attention after the mother and her children earlier this year began publicly raising alarms about the treatment at the facility, including medical neglect, rotting food, impotable water, and disrespect for their Muslim faith. Last week, lawyers said that the mother was rushed to the emergency room after months of suffering from an unidentified bump, which she feared may be cancerous due to her family history and possibly heightened by the lack of medical care at the detention center.
AUSTIN (THE TEXAS TRIBUNE) – The City of Austin on Friday announced it is updating Austin Police orders to clarify when officers should contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents about people they detain. It is the third city in Texas to revise its policy on local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities this week, amid massive funding threats from Gov. Greg Abbott.
On April 16, the governor’s office warned Austin and Dallas that millions in grants — including more than $55 million in World Cup public safety funding for Dallas — could be at risk if city police failed to change their general orders limiting officers’ coordination with ICE. Austin risked $2.5 million in grants for sexual assault evidence testing, victims assistance programming and other public safety initiatives.
A press release about the new orders states that officers should contact ICE “when operationally feasible” if a person detained by an officer is found to have an administrative warrant issued by ICE. The orders also direct Austin police to “not take an unreasonable amount of time assisting” with the warrants.
The new orders come a day after Austin received a deadline extension to update their rules, which placed restrictions on when and how an officer could contact ICE. It is unclear what exact language was changed, as Austin officials did not immediately provide the text of the new general orders for city police, but said they would be available online next week.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said in a statement that the updated general orders allow the city to properly allocate resources to maintain public safety.
“My focus — and the focus of every Austin Police officer — remains on public safety and community policing,” Davis said.
Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s spokesperson, said in a statement that the governor’s office had lifted the funding hold and “expects full contract compliance moving forward.”
“Governor Abbott has been clear: cities in Texas must fully comply with state law and cooperate with federal immigration authorities to keep dangerous criminals off our streets,” Mahaleris said.
Dallas on Thursday removed its ban on police officers prolonging a person’s detention during encounters like traffic stops to hold them for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents. Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux announced that the department had updated its general order to affirm that local officers will “cooperate with federal authorities when required” while still protecting the safety of all residents.
TYLER — Governor Greg Abbott helped dedicate a new Safe Haven Baby Box on Saturday at the CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler. State Sen. Bryan Hughes and State Rep. Daniel Alders will also speak at the event as the new box becomes officially operational. According to our news partner KETK, Safe Haven Baby Boxes allow mothers in crisis to legally and anonymously drop off their baby in a safe and secure location. Thanks to Hughes’ Senate Bill 780, these boxes can now be installed at infant care hospitals like CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital.
“That is Texas, where we build an infrastructure of hope before you even know who will need it and then you pray, you pray that somebody will find it,” Abbott said.
The first Safe Haven Baby Box in East Texas was installed in 2024 at a fire station in Palestine. The dedication ceremony for the new Baby Box started at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Read the rest of this entry »