Today is
Thursday June 04, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — The cherry blossoms draw more than a million visitors to Washington’s Tidal Basin annually. This year was no different, except some strolling the area between the Lincoln Memorial and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial were dressed in camouflage — and armed.
Eight months after President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency in the nation’s capital and called up the National Guard, more than 2,500 troops remain, in a deployment that has grown increasingly routine, with no clear end in sight.
Deployments to other cities have ended or been paused by courts in California and Illinois, while more limited operations are ongoing in cities including New Orleans. But in Washington, guard members still walk city streets and patrol metro stations, tourist attractions, neighborhoods and parks.
Even with pivotal elections looming this year, that lingering presence is barely mentioned in city council meetings or by candidates running for mayor and Congress — perhaps reflecting both competing priorities and a sense that local officials have little power to stop it. Unless the courts step in, the guard will remain at least through the end of the year, if not longer.
“Taxpayers are paying more than a million dollars a day to have them walk around,” said Phil Mendelson, chairman of the District of Columbia Council, in an emailed response to questions.
And, he said, “the presence of armed soldiers on American streets is not a good look.”
Trump, a Republican, issued an executive order in August to deal with what he called a crime emergency. The order brought the guard in, along with hundreds of additional federal law enforcement officers.
Over the months, guard members have responded to medical emergencies, assisted with arrests, helped local police enforce the city’s juvenile curfew and carried out beautification projects. The D.C. Guard helped with snow removal during a major storm in January.
While the guard members do not make arrests, the Trump administration argues their support to the broader mission has helped reduce crime. The White House said 12,000 arrests have been made by the task force since operations began, including 62 known gang members, and thousands of illegal firearms were seized.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the president’s crime task force in the city has “yielded tremendous results for local communities.”
“Every local leader should want to mimic this success in their own locales,” Jackson said.
But officials disagree over how much credit the deployment can be given in Washington, a heavily Democratic city. Figures show crime was already on the decline before, although those figures are being investigated after claims arose against local police that they may have been manipulated.
A court battle over the guard deployment is ongoing, and without a judge stepping in it could go on as long as the White House wants.
Asked how long the guard deployment would continue, Jackson said in an email that there were “no announcements to make.”
The office of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, which is challenging the deployment in court, declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuit. The National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon did not answer requests for comment.
Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is not running for reelection, has walked a fine line on the guard’s deployment and the broader federal intervention, at once appearing to work with the president but also pushing back on some of his demands, like local cooperation for immigration enforcement.
Leading candidates to replace Bowser and the city’s 18-term non-voting delegate in Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, have focused on affordability, statehood and trying to hold federal agencies accountable for their role in the surge.
The District Council, which includes at least four candidates for mayor or delegate, unanimously approved a measure to increase transparency in federal law enforcement operations. While the military deployment is mentioned at times on campaign websites and in ads, it isn’t currently a central campaign issue.
Other pressures on the city, including unemployment and lost revenue tied to federal workforce cuts, have taken priority. The city’s primaries are June 16, along with a special election for an at-large city council seat.
Some residents say frustrations over the guard eased after two members of the West Virginia contingent were ambushed just blocks from the White House, killing Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and severely injuring her colleague.
Kevin Cataldo, a neighborhood commissioner who joined the local Metropolitan Police on a walkalong in his neighborhood recently, said he already treated the guard members courteously, making a point to acknowledge them because they did not choose to be in the city. The shooting ambush deepened his sympathies for them. “That was just horrible,” he said.
District Council member Brianne Nadeau said constituents continue to ask why the guard is still around but the complaints are far fewer than at the start of the deployment.
“It would be great if the federal government would use its money and resources to help the District on the things we need help with and not act like an invading army,” Nadeau said in an email.
Fellow council members and mayoral candidates Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie have raised similar issues, including the high costs.
There has been little recent public polling specifically on attitudes toward the presence of uniformed personnel in U.S. cities.
Several groups are planning protests and other events on May 1 to oppose the federal surge, including the continuing presence of the National Guard, said Keya Chatterjee co-founder and executive director of Free DC, an advocacy group that fights for the city’s autonomy. Among the goals: “an end to the military occupation of D.C. before the June election.”
Chatterjee said normalizing the guard’s presence makes it easier to suppress dissent and “tilt the playing field” in elections.
The presence of guns and military personnel could create an intimidating atmosphere during elections, Chatterjee said. Citizens have to step in and “number one, we have to help our neighbors feel safe voting.”
Scott Michelman, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia, said the situation underscores the city’s limits on self-governance.
Washington is a federal district with limited autonomy where Congress retains authority to review the city’s laws and control its budget and where the president has direct control of the D.C. Guard and can authorize an indefinite military deployment with little effective resistance from local authorities.
“We should have local control and local democratic accountability for the people who enforce our laws,” Michelman said. “D.C. is uniquely disempowered in our system in many ways.”
McALLEN (AP) – A Venezuelan man pleaded his case to asylum officials on Thursday in an interview that his wife, a well-known doctor in South Texas, planned to attend until she was detained at the airport with the couple’s 5-year-old daughter.
Milenko Faria was interviewed at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices near Los Angeles, while his wife, Dr. Rubeliz Bolivar, entered her sixth day in immigration custody in Texas and was unable to attend the appointment they had been waiting for for more than 10 years.
Bolivar, who worked as a doctor in an area federally designated as medically underserved, was arrested by Border Patrol agents at McAllen International Airport on Saturday. She was with their American-born daughter, preparing to board a flight to join her husband and attend their asylum interview together.
Bolivar, 33, was the second Venezuelan physician arrested in the area within the span of a week. On April 6, Dr. Ezequiel Veliz was detained by Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint in South Texas. After spending about ten days in detention, his attorney, Victor Badell, said he was able to successfully request a bond hearing and secure his release on Thursday after paying a bond of $8,000.
The arrests are part of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies. Following an enforcement surge in Minnesota in January, in which two U.S. citizens died, the Department of Homeland Security has focused on less visible arrests.
Bolívar worked in the emergency room of a hospital in McAllen, city of about 150,000 in the Rio Grande Valley near the Mexican border, starting in June 2025, when she was accepted into her medical residency program.
“She was always focused on the community, and when she was accepted, it was an immense joy,” Faria, 36, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “We have never done anything outside the law. We have done everything by following the steps in accordance with the law to obtain permanent residency.”
The husband said that she arrived at the U.S. with a tourist visa in 2016, after graduating from medical school in her native Venezuela.
Before her authorized period of stay expired, she was included in the asylum application filed by her husband, he said. Both are also seeking a green card through an application for skilled workers, processed by Faria’s employer, a California company where he has worked as an information systems technician since 2019.
The couple was beneficiary of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela that shielded more than 600,000 Venezuelans from deportation. Trump terminated the protections for Venezuela, Haiti, Syria, Afghanistan, Nicaragua and other countries, a decision that has been challenged in federal court.
The Department of Homeland Security said that Bolivar was arrested because she was in the country illegally.
“She has overstayed her visa since 2017, nearly a decade, and had no legal status,” said DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis.
Jodi Goodwin, an immigration attorney in South Texas, noted that around September or October 2025, she observed a change in policy regarding travel of individuals with pending applications before USCIS.
”It just became a very apparent trend where anyone that had some kind of application pending with USCIS, whether it was an adjustment of status or asylum, anything like that, they were going to be arrested,” said Goodwin.
Faria and Bolivar lived together in Santa Maria, California, until she moved to Texas in the summer of 2025 for her medical residency. He said he traveled every two months to visit his wife and daughter. The day of her arrest was the first time Bolívar had traveled since moving to Texas.
Bolivar was arrested by Customs and Border Protection officers before passing through transportation security screening, where she was asked to show her identification. She showed her driver’s license — bearing the “Real ID” endorsement required to domestic flights — and a work authorization valid until 2030.
She told them that she was adjusting status to a green card and was traveling to California for an asylum interview but the officer detained her after asking for her nationality and demanding that she provide proof of legal permanent residency, said Faria. He received text messages from his wife at the time she was being arrested.
Their 5-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen, was also arrested and handed over to her grandfather 19 hours later. The girl is currently in California with her father.
The doctor was transferred to ICE custody on Sunday and is being held at El Valle Detention Facility in Texas.
She has asked several times why she was detained but has not received any response yet, Faria said.
Ezequiel Veliz, the other Venezuelan physician, came to the United States to become a doctor in 2018 under a tourist visa. His friend, Hector Ruiz, described him as a kind-hearted doctor who loves his pet cats and is devoted to his work.
Veliz adjusted his immigration status as a student and later as a doctor at a South Texas hospital in the Rio Grande Valley working under TPS. The pause in the protection status had immediate consequences on his two-year residency.
“He was one year and four months into that. He couldn’t continue working legally. He had to stop,” said Badell, his attorney.
He was waiting for a visa requested by the hospital when he was detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint traveling to Houston with his husband on April 6.
TYLER — A pedestrian has died after being involved in a vehicle crash on Highway 31, between Tyler and Kilgore, Thursday morning. According to Smith County Emergency Services District 2 and our news partner KETK, the roadway was closed between FM 757 and FM 2908 as crews responded to a vehicle accident around 6:35 a.m. TXDot reports that the roadway is back open to traffic.
A pedestrian was found dead at the scene when first responders arrived. The driver of the vehicle was transported to the hospital with minor injuries, ESD 2 confirmed. No further details were available.
NEW YORK (AP) — A jury found Wednesday that entertainment giant Live Nation, which hosts tens of thousands of concerts a year, and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had a harmful monopoly over big venues.
The ruling, in a lawsuit brought by dozens of states, won’t immediately bring relief for concertgoers who have long complained about high ticket prices. But it could cost Live Nation hundreds of millions of dollars and perhaps force the company to sell some of its concert venues when the judge hands out penalties later.
Among other things, the jury found Ticketmaster’s anticompetitive practices led to people in 22 states paying an extra $1.72 per ticket, which the judge could order the companies to pay back.
A jury in New York deliberated for four days before reaching its decision. State attorneys general who sued Live Nation said the verdict could potentially lead to lower ticket prices for music fans.
Live Nation said in a statement that the verdict “is not the last word on this matter.”
The company predicted that once a remedy phase of the litigation is completed before the judge and all appeals are resolved, the outcome likely won’t be much different from what the federal government achieved with a settlement it reached with the company just after the trial began.
That deal included a cap on service fees at some amphitheaters, plus some new ticket-selling options for promoters and venues — potentially allowing, but not requiring, them to open doors to Ticketmaster competitors such as SeatGeek or AXS.
The trial gave fans the equivalent of a backstage pass to a business that dominates live entertainment in the U.S. and beyond.
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino testified, answering questions about matters including the company’s Taylor Swift ticket debacle in 2022. Rapino blamed a cyberattack.
Jurors also got to see a Live Nation employee’s internal messages to another employee declaring some prices “outrageous,” calling customers “so stupid” and boasting that the company was “robbing them blind, baby.” The employee, Benjamin Baker, who has since been promoted to a position as a ticketing executive, apologetically testified that the messages were “very immature and unacceptable.”
Live Nation Entertainment owns, operates, controls booking for or has an equity interest in hundreds of venues. Its subsidiary Ticketmaster is widely considered to be the world’s largest ticket-seller for live events.
The verdict could cost Live Nation and Ticketmaster hundreds of millions of dollars, based on the jury’s estimate that customers paid an extra $1.72 per ticket. The companies could also be assessed penalties. In addition, sanctions could result in court orders that they divest themselves of some entities, including venues such as amphitheaters that they own.
In its statement, Live Nation said the jury’s award of $1.72 per ticket applied to “a limited number of tickets” sold at 257 venues and representing about 20% of total tickets sold. The company estimated the aggregate single damages figure would be below $150 million, though it would be trebled.
The civil case, initially led by the U.S. government, accused Live Nation of using its reach to smother competition — by blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers, for example.
Live Nation insisted it is not a monopoly, saying that artists, sports teams and venues decide prices and ticketing practices. A company lawyer said its size was simply a function of excellence and effort.
“Success is not against the antitrust laws in the United States,” attorney David Marriott said in his summation.
Ticketmaster was established in 1976 and merged with Live Nation in 2010. The company now controls of 86% of the market for concerts and 73% of the overall market when sports events are included, according to an attorney for the states, Jeffrey Kessler.
Ticketmaster has long drawn ire from fans and some artists. Grunge rock titans Pearl Jam battled the business in the 1990s, even filing an anti-monopoly complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, which declined to bring a case then.
Decades later, the Justice Department, joined by dozens of states, brought the current lawsuit during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Days into the trial, Republican President Donald Trump’s administration announced it was settling its claims against Live Nation.
A handful of the states joined the settlement. But more than 30 pressed ahead with the trial, saying the federal government hadn’t gotten enough concessions.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a release after the verdict that Live Nation’s “illegal, anti-competitive practices” had driven up ticket prices and made it harder for fans to see their favorite acts.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the verdict “a landmark victory.”
After the victory, Kessler would not say specifically what the states will seek in the next phase of the litigation, which was expected to involve another lengthy legal proceeding before penalties are decided.
But he celebrated the moment.
“It’s a great day for consumers,” he said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is set to take up the reauthorization of a divisive program that lets U.S. spy agencies pore over foreigners’ calls, texts and emails, with supporters like President Donald Trump saying it has saved lives while critics point to longstanding concerns about warrantless surveillance of Americans.
A key provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act permits the CIA, National Security Agency, FBI and other agencies to collect and analyze vast amounts of overseas communications without a warrant. It incidentally sweeps up the conversations of any Americans who interact with those foreigners targeted for surveillance.
The program expires Monday, and critics want changes, including a requirement for warrants before authorities can access the emails, phone calls or text messages of Americans. They also want limits on the government’s use of internet data brokers, who sell large volumes of personal information gleaned online, offering the government what critics say amounts to an end-run around the Constitution.
Despite bipartisan criticism, the chances of significant reforms dropped when Trump announced his support for the program’s renewal, saying it had proven its worth in supplying information vital to recent U.S. actions in Venezuela and Iran.
“The fact is, whether you like FISA or not, it is extremely important to our military,” Trump said on social media Tuesday.
U.S. authorities say the program, known as Section 702 of the law, is vital to national security and has saved lives by uncovering terror plots. Critics question what they call a dangerous infringement on civil liberties and privacy.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said a different FISA provision was used to spy on his 2016 campaign but that he supported Section 702’s renewal despite misgivings that political adversaries could use parts of the law against him in the future. He called on lawmakers to extend the foreign surveillance program for another 18 months.
“My administration has worked tirelessly to ensure these FISA reforms are being aggressively executed at every level of the Executive Branch to keep Americans safe, while protecting our sacred Civil Liberties guaranteed by our Great Constitution,” Trump wrote.
Trump is a longtime critic of the nation’s intelligence services and was once opposed to Section 702 before he reversed himself. “KILL FISA” Trump posted on social media in 2024, when the provision was last reauthorized.
Trump isn’t the only one-time critic to change their mind: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard sponsored legislation to repeal Section 702 as a Hawaii congresswoman but now supports it after being tapped to coordinate the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies.
Gabbard says new protections added since her time in Congress helped change her mind.
In addition to a requirement for a warrant to access Americans’ data, critics also want greater protections on how the FBI or other agencies can search communications and how that is reported to the public.
“Journalists, foreign aid workers, people with family overseas, all could have their communications swept up in this surveillance merely because they talked to someone outside of this country,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The longtime critic of the law is pushing for changes that he said will ensure the government isn’t violating civil rights in secret.
Several Republicans also have suggested changes, such as the warrant requirement.
“National security and civil liberties are not mutually exclusive,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz. “We can give our intelligence professionals the tools they need to target foreign threats while ensuring that Americans are not subjected to unconstitutional surveillance.”
Gabbard’s office releases an annual report showing the number of foreign surveillance targets and number of searches likely to identify an American.
For 2025, the number of foreign surveillance targets increased to nearly 350,000 from almost 292,000 in 2024. Searches using terms likely to identify an American decreased slightly to 7,724 from 7,845 in 2024.
The totals are incomplete because agencies like the FBI have found ways to access the data without reporting the searches publicly, said Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
FBI officials repeatedly violated their own standards when searching for intelligence related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and racial justice protests in 2020, according to a 2024 court order.
“It’s reminiscent of J. Edgar Hoover’s tenure at the FBI,” Goitein said, referring to the FBI’s founding director who used illegal surveillance to harass and spy on Americans. “They can pretty much target anyone.”
Despite bipartisan concerns about the law and its implications for civil liberties, time is running out for Congress to make any changes before Monday’s expiration.
Trump’s support also reduces the odds that enough Republicans will break ranks and join Democrats to push for reforms.
Wyden said Section 702 votes are routinely delayed until the last minute, then lawmakers are told that national security demands they vote yes. Lawmakers are told, he said, that “if they vote for any amendments, the program will die and terrible things will happen and it will be all their fault.”
The best chance for inserting changes likely is the House, where a large number of lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns.
But Rep. Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, is backing Trump’s call for an 18-month renewal.
Crawford has taken aim in the past at what he calls the weaponization of intelligence but said last month that he believes the government can empower spy agencies while also holding them accountable.
“We can walk and chew gum at the same time,” Crawford said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who were sentenced to prison terms for leading members of the far-right extremist groups in attacking the U.S. Capitol to keep President Donald Trump in office over five years ago.
Trump commuted the prison sentences of several Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders last January in a sweeping act of clemency for all 1,500-plus defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
The request by the Justice Department would go a step further and erase all the convictions for extremist group leaders, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who didn’t receive pardons last January.
The move to abandon the convictions represented a stunning reversal from the Biden administration, which hailed the guilty verdicts as a crucial victory in its bid to hold accountable those responsible for what prosecutors described as an attack on the heart of American democracy. It’s part of the Trump administration’s continued efforts to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack and downplay the violence carried out by the mob of Trump supporters that left more than 100 police officers injured.
In court filings, prosecutors asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the convictions so that the government can permanently dismiss the indictments.
“The government’s motion to vacate in this case is consistent with its practice of moving the Supreme Court to vacate convictions in cases where the government has decided in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of a criminal case is in the interests of justice — motions that the Supreme Court routinely grants,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing signed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
Juries in Washington, D.C., convicted the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders of orchestrating violent plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Trump’s 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.
The department’s dismissal request also includes the convictions of Oath Keepers members Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Jessica Watkins and Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola.
Other extremist group members, including former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, received pardons from Trump on the first day of his second term in the White House.
Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he and several lieutenants were convicted in one of the most consequential cases arising from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
Prosecutors said Rhodes and his followers stockpiled guns for possible use by “quick reaction force” teams at a Virginia hotel, but they never deployed the weapons.
Nordean’s attorney, Nicholas Smith, said they are grateful to the Justice Department for its “wise decision” in seeking dismissal of the convictions.
“We don’t want a precedent that says that any physical confrontation between protesters and law enforcement means a crime akin to treason, such as seditious conspiracy,” Smith said.
Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who was dragged into the mob and suffered a heart attack after a rioter shocked him with a stun gun, was disappointed but not surprised by the latest milestone in the dismantling of Capitol riot prosecutions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Resignations came quickly this week from two congressmen accused of sexual misconduct toward staff members. Yet for many of the women of Capitol Hill, the moment of accountability was years in the making — and far from enough.
Reps. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, both announced within hours of each other Monday that they were leaving Congress. Their decisions came the day before the House returned to Washington and as both faced the prospect of being expelled from the chamber by their colleagues.
It was a reckoning of sorts for Capitol Hill, the most striking since the careers of roughly a dozen male politicians were toppled during the heights of the #MeToo movement. Yet some congresswomen said that the pair of resignations took too long and proved what they’ve long been saying: that more must be done to rid Capitol Hill of sexual predation.
“Today was an important turning point,” said Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. “That it should — that abuse of power — should never be accepted, and above all, in public office. And so, I think this is an important resetting point for the institution.”
A bipartisan group of congresswomen had threatened on Tuesday to file resolutions that could have forced votes on expelling Swalwell and Gonzales. Their moves forced the two men to act and came swiftly after the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN had reported Friday that a woman said Swalwell sexually assaulted her.
The initial allegations against Swalwell date back to 2019 and 2024; they were followed with other allegations of inappropriate behavior made by other women. Swalwell has denied engaging in any sexual misconduct but acknowledged mistakes in judgment. Gonzales for months had resisted calls for his resignation after he admitted to a 2024 affair with a staff member who later died by suicide.
“Accountability can happen. We can hold men accountable when they abuse women, and we’re going to do more of it,” said Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, who chairs the Democratic Women’s Caucus.
It is against the House Code of Conduct for any member to have a sexual relationship with their staff members.
Following the #MeToo movement, the House changed its rules to require annual trainings on sexual harassment and discrimination for members. The House also approved legislation to speed the slow-moving process for harassment complaints, require more disclosure of settlements and force lawmakers to personally pay any penalties they’re required to make.
Former Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat who led the movement for reforms around sexual assault, told The Associated Press that problems still persist after those reforms.
“What we do in Congress is basically look the other way,” she said, adding that she was calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries to “really tighten the rules and create a safe environment for these women to report.”
While Johnson said he did not talk with the lawmakers before they announced their resignations, he told reporters that the episode had played out “appropriately.”
“This is the right thing for the institution,” he said.
Sexual abuse has been top of mind for lawmakers as they investigate the actions of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. A handful of Republican women, mostly hailing from the right wing of their party, played crucial roles in forcing Congress to take up the issue.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, alongside Rep. Lauren Boebert and then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, rebuffed pressure from President Donald Trump and Johnson last year as they joined with Democrats and forced a vote on a bill mandating the release of many of the case files on Epstein.
Mace, who in 2019 shared her own account of surviving rape, has continued an outspoken campaign advocating for victims of sexual assault. She and Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna had repeatedly called for Swalwell and Gonzales to resign.
Mace has also extended that demand to Republican Rep. Cory Mills, who is facing an ethics investigation on allegations of sexual misconduct and violence against an ex-girlfriend. Mills has said he will disprove the allegations.
Meanwhile, Mace and Luna are also calling for the resignation of Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat. The House Ethics Committee found evidence that she broke campaign finance law related to a mistaken overpayment of $5 million from the state of Florida to her family’s health care business. She has said she did nothing wrong.
“Clean house. Expel them. Hold every last one accountable,” Mace said on social media. “The American people are watching.”
At the same time, Mace herself is under investigation by the ethics panel for allegations she improperly claimed housing reimbursements. She has denied wrongdoing.
As accusations of sexual abuse continued to land against Swalwell, some Democrats found themselves in a moment of reflection and contrition, especially those who kept close company with him.
Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, a close friend of Swalwell’s who chaired his presidential campaign, called reporters to his office on Tuesday for an emotional press conference.
“I messed up. I’m human. I trusted this man,” a teary-eyed Gallego said.
Under intense questioning from reporters, Gallego acknowledged that he had heard rumors about Swalwell being “flirty,” but contended that he trusted him as a close family friend.
“I definitely look at the world in a different way now,” Gallego said. “I personally am going to make sure that I’m going to take personal steps and office steps to make sure that we don’t even get close to a gray line.”
Speier, who entered politics by first working as a congressional aide and experienced harassment from a supervisor, said that part of the problem in Congress is that members are given wide latitude to run their offices. All 535 lawmakers are bosses of their own hand-selected staff.
“There’s really no one overseeing you,” Speier said. “There’s a sense of entitlement that kind of overtakes many of these members.”
Speier, alongside then-Rep. Bradley Byrne, led the effort to pass legislation to make it easier to report sexual harassment and discrimination, including banning nondisclosure agreements to protect members of Congress.
Since the 2018 reforms began requiring the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to report awards and settlements related to formal complaints, there have been eight payments made by House members’ offices, totaling just over $400,000. Those payments cover all types of violations of workplace rights, not just sexual harassment, and the violations could have been committed by other congressional staff in the office.
Speier said that it was crucial to keep making it easier for survivors to report sexual abuse.
“Unless someone comes forward, you know the conduct continues,” she said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s Tax Day on Wednesday, the deadline for most Americans to file taxes, and the Trump administration says millions of people have already used new breaks such as no tax on tips and overtime, exemptions for interest on certain car loans, deductions for some seniors, and Trump Accounts for children’s savings.
More than 53 million filers claimed a deduction under one of those provisions from Republicans’ massive tax and spending law, a Treasury official told reporters Tuesday ahead of the deadline, with 6 million people claiming no tax on tips, 21 million claiming the overtime deduction and 30 million older Americans claiming the enhanced deduction.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the numbers, said the 2026 filing season was a success from the administration’s perspective.
Still, the latest data comes as most Americans, or 7 in 10, still think their taxes are too high, according to recent polling, despite the passage of the Republican tax law which promised big savings for taxpayers.
As the tax season kicked off in January, the White House boasted that average returns were projected to rise by at least $1,000. But currently, the average refund amount is $3,462, according to the latest IRS data, which is up 11% or about $350 from last tax year’s $3,116 average refund payment.
Treasury has shifted its messaging to tout that tax refunds this season are up 24% compared with the four-year average of refunds before President Donald Trump took office.
The White House has been trying to promote Trump’s tax cuts as a way to get voters more enthusiastic about the way he’s handling the economy ahead of November’s midterm elections, but the message has been overshadowed for weeks by higher gas prices caused by the war in Iran.
The 2026 season comes as the IRS has gone through a leadership turnover and reduced its workforce by 27% over the past year through cuts brought on by the Department of Government Efficiency.
IRS CEO Frank Bisignano is set to testify in front of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday.
In his public testimony to lawmakers, Bisignano planned to tout the IRS’ implementation of the Republican tax law.
However, Democratic lawmakers zeroed in on IRS disclosures of confidential taxpayer information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of an agreement between ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to share information for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the U.S.
TYLER — A popular retail shop has unexpectedly closed its doors after the corporation recently filed for bankruptcy. The Painted Tree, which has several stores across the country, opened at the Village at Cumberland Park in 2024 and has since been a staple for residents looking to purchase home decor, gifts and a variety of different clothing options. According to our news partner KETK, the boutique provided a venue for small business owners to sell their merchandise and receive consistent profit.
The store announced on Tuesday that it has decided to cease all business operations and will no longer conduct any further sales at the location.
“We understand the impact this has on you and your business, and we are truly sorry,” the Painted Tree said. “We know many of you have invested significant time, energy, and resources into building your spaces at Painted Tree, and this is not the outcome any of us hoped for.” Read the rest of this entry »
AUSTIN (AP) – An Austin district judge on Monday ordered the state’s Historically Underutilized Business Program rules be temporarily reinstated, meaning women- and minority-owned business owners can qualify for the state’s HUB program again for now.
Four business owners and a trade association sued the state of Texas and acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock on March 2 over the agency’s emergency rules that removed women and minorities from the HUB program and stripped their businesses of their HUB certifications. The judge ordered the reinstatement of six businesses that sued the Comptroller’s office over the emergency rules — two joined after the lawsuit was first filed — and further directs state agencies to inform HUB businesses that have been decertified since December of the court ruling.
The HUB program was created through bipartisan legislation during the 1990s to give minority- and women-owned businesses a leg up when seeking state contracts. The program does not set quotas for the the number of HUB-certified businesses, but sets goals that state agencies generally strive to meet.
The plaintiffs include Houston-based general contractors Ipsum General Contractors, LLC and Houston Construction Services; Sugarland-based medical technology distributor Mpulse Healthcare & Technology LLC; Burleson-based restoration firm Williams Professional Water Restoration Service LLC; and the greater Houston chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors, a nonprofit trade association that represents 155 minority- and women-owned contractors.
Along with Hancock, the lawsuit also names Texas Department of Transportation Executive Director Marc Williams, Texas Health and Human Services Commission Executive Commissioner Stephanie Muth and Texas Facilities Commission Executive Director Will McKerall, whose departments all implemented Hancock’s changes to the HUB program.
Travis County district judge Amy Meachum set a trial date for the suit for Nov. 9.
The background: HUB businesses received 3,634 contracts totaling more than $4 billion in 2024, according to the Comptroller’s Office. Republicans in the state Legislature filed several bills aimed at killing the HUB program entirely last year, but legislation failed in both chambers.
In October, Hancock announced that his office would not issue new or renewed certifications while the program was being reviewed. His decision pushed the program into the national battle over government initiatives seen as those focused on “diversity, equity and inclusion.” The comptroller’s office then cited emergency powers to restructure the program in December, removing all women and minority business and limiting eligibility to only service-disabled veteran business owners.
“Businesses deserve a level playing field where government contracts are earned by performance and best value — not race or sex quotas,” Hancock, who is running in a competitive GOP primary for comptroller, wrote on social media at the time.
That change shrank the program from more than 15,000 participants to just under 500. HUB certified business owners said at the time that the change risked undercutting their business strategy and would hurt their bottom line.
State Sen. Royce West, a Dallas Democrat who co-authored the 1999 bill that codified the program into state law, said the Legislature, not the comptroller, is empowered to change the program.
“The Legislature voted. The answer was no,” West said. “The Comptroller doesn’t get to override that decision because he disagrees with it — that’s not his role under the Texas Constitution, and these business owners deserve to have that principle upheld in court.”
This is the first lawsuit challenging Hancock’s changes to the program.
Why the businesses are suing: During a news conference in Austin announcing the suit in March, the business owners said they are suing because they all lost out on government contracts after Hancock stripped their HUB certification in December.
“In this country, the legislature passes the laws, not the comptroller, and Texas is no different,” Alphonso David, president & CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum, and lead counsel for the plaintiffs, wrote in a statement. “The HUB case highlights a fundamental American principle — members of the executive branch cannot rewrite laws passed by the state legislature. They cannot deny citizens of their legal rights without a court order, legislative approval, or due process.
“Acting Comptroller Hancock took a program created by statute and rewrote it without any legal authority. His actions are baseless and unlawful and must be reversed.”
The businesses ultimately want the court to restore the program to its original form, arguing that Hancock overstepped his statutory authority, deprived them of state contracts without due process and violated the Texas Constitution.
Ruben Mercado Jr., founder of Ipsum General Contractors, said a contract he was drafting a $1 million bid for was withdrawn after Hancock restructured the program in December.
Wendell Stamley, president of the National Association of Minority Contractors, said its members in Texas have seen government contracts canceled and work they were expecting be unexpectedly returned to competitive bidding.
What state officials said: The comptroller’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the injunction granted on Monday. In a statement in March, Hancock defended the changes to HUB by pointing to the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended affirmative action in college admissions and a 2025 executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott that banned DEI policies in Texas agencies.
“Every Texas business is equally eligible to compete for state contracts, regardless of race or gender,” Hancock wrote. “Through the Centralized Master Bidders List, the primary system agencies use to notify vendors of bidding opportunities, any qualified business can register and compete. Texas will continue expanding opportunity for small businesses across our state the right way — rooted in fairness, equal treatment, and the Constitution.”
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Texas man accused of trying to kill OpenAI CEO Sam Altman by throwing a Molotov cocktail at his San Francisco home was experiencing a mental health crisis and has been overcharged by prosecutors, his public defender said Tuesday.
Daniel Moreno-Gama made his first court appearance on state charges with disheveled hair and wearing an orange jail uniform. The 20-year-old, whose attorney said is autistic, kept his gaze down during the brief hearing and softly answered “yes” when asked by a judge whether he agreed to continue his arraignment. San Francisco Judge Kenneth Wine ordered him held without bail and set his arraignment for May 5.
Authorities say Moreno-Gama, of Spring, Texas, hurled the incendiary device at Altman’s home Friday, setting an exterior gate on fire before fleeing on foot. Less than an hour later, Moreno-Gama went to OpenAI’s headquarters about 3 miles (5 kilometers) away and threatened to burn down the building, they said. They said he traveled to the city from Texas.
No one was injured at Altman’s home or the company’s offices. San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Diamond Ward called the case a “property crime, at best,” and said that prosecutors are pursuing higher charges to curry favor for Altman. Moreno-Gama also faces federal charges.
“It is unfair and is unjust for the San Francisco district attorney and the federal government to fearmonger and to exploit the mental illness of a vulnerable, young man by turning a vandalism case into an attempted murder, life exposure case to gain support of a billionaire, and to get political points at the expense of true justice for everyone involved,” Ward said.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins disputed that he was overcharged, saying Moreno-Gama carried out a “targeted attack on Mr. Altman” and that prosecutors had evidence to back up the charges. She said prosecutors would act the same whether the victim was a “billionaire or a CEO or any average San Franciscan.”
“Regardless of a victim’s status, they all deserve justice and they all deserve safety,” she said.
Moreno-Gama’s parents said in a statement he has never harmed anyone and recently began having mental health issues.
“We have been trying our best to address these issues and get him effective treatment, and we are very concerned for his well-being,” they said.
Authorities said Moreno-Gama, who works part-time at a pizzeria and is attending community college, expressed hatred of artificial intelligence in his writings, describing it as a danger to humanity and warning of “impending extinction,” according to court filings.
“This was not spontaneous. This was planned, targeted and extremely serious,” FBI San Francisco Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Cobo said during a news conference Monday.
Moreno-Gama is charged in California state court with two counts of attempted murder and attempted arson. He tried to kill both Altman and a security guard at Altman’s residence, Jenkins alleged. Officials have not said whether Altman was home at the time, prosecutors said.
Jenkins said the state charges carry penalties ranging from 19 years to life in prison.
On Monday morning, FBI agents went to Moreno-Gama’s home in a Houston suburb where they spent several hours before leaving. He has also been charged by federal prosecutors with possession of an unregistered firearm and damage and destruction of property by means of explosives. Those charges carry respective penalties of up to 10 years and 20 years in prison.
“We will treat this as an act of domestic terrorism, and together with our partners, prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law,” U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said.
The document in which Moreno-Gama discussed his opposition to AI also made threats against Altman and executives at other AI companies, officials said.
“If I am going to advocate for others to kill and commit crimes, then I must lead by example and show that I am fully sincere in my message,” Moreno-Gama wrote, according to authorities.
Advocacy groups that have issued grave warnings about AI’s risks to society condemned the violence.
Anthony Aguirre, president and CEO of the Future of Life Institute, said in a written statement Friday that “violence and intimidation of any kind have no place in the conversation about the future of AI.”
Another group, PauseAI, said in a statement that the suspect had no role in the group but joined its forum on the social media platform Discord about two years ago and posted about 34 messages there, none containing explicit calls to violence but one that was flagged as “ambiguous.”
Discord said Monday that it has banned Moreno-Gama for “off-platform behavior.”
EAST TEXAS — Law enforcement officials responded to a potential threat reported to Troup ISD via phone call Monday. The school was placed on lock-down. According to a statement from the Troup Police Department, all three campuses were secured, allowing only emergency personnel access. At the same time, Troup Police began an investigation into the reported threat.
After a thorough investigation, it was determined that the reported threat was a hoax intended to prompt an emergency response from law enforcement and school officials. Once it was confirmed that there was no credible threat to students or staff, everyone was released in accordance with school safety procedures.
The investigation remains active and ongoing. Officials say they have developed several leads.
“Rest assured that the individual(s) responsible will be identified, arrested, and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. The safety of our students, staff, and community remains our highest priority. We appreciate the swift response and cooperation from all agencies involved, as well as the patience and understanding of parents, students, and staff during today’s events.” – Troup Police
SMITH COUNTY — A former Chapel Hill ISD educator is currently under investigation by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). According to an official record of certification obtained by CBS19, Joseph Hewitt is currently under review by the TEA Educator Investigations Division. Hewitt served as the Chapel Hill ISD Fine Arts Director for several years, but has since left the district before the end of the Spring 2026 semester.
The district has removed his listing from their staff page, and Assistant Band Director William Ross is serving in his place. Click here for the original article. Investigative journalist, Sarah J. Fields, was first to report the story.
AUSTIN (AP) – Texas hemp industry leaders and advocacy groups have sued the state to block new regulations that eliminate natural smokeable hemp products and increase licensing fees.
The Texas Hemp Business Council, Hemp Industry & Farmers of America, and several Texas-based dispensaries and manufacturers filed for a temporary restraining order in state district court in Travis County against the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission on Tuesday. They argue that the agencies have overstepped their constitutional authority by rewriting the statutory definitions of hemp established by lawmakers in 2019.
“Under current Texas law, hemp is defined by its delta-9 THC concentration of not more than 0.3%,” said David Sergi, an attorney for the hemp coalition, in a press release. “These Texas officials and state agencies are clearly attempting to create new law in direct contradiction to what the Texas legislature intended.”
Even though Texas law bans marijuana, lawmakers legalized hemp in 2019. State law defines hemp as containing less than 0.3% levels of intoxicating Delta-9 THC.
To get around the law’s Delta-9 THC restrictions, manufacturers started cultivating hemp plants with another type of THC, called THCA, that, when ignited in a joint or smokeable product, can produce a high. Many lawmakers have said this legal loophole has allowed a recreational THC market to appear overnight without direct approval from the state.
Last year, the Texas Legislature voted to ban the products out of fear that these intoxicating products were consistently getting into the hands of children. But, Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed the decision last summer, before asking the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and DSHS to increase regulations on the industry instead.
The Texas Department of State Health Services released regulations on consumable hemp-derived THC products that went into effect on March 31. These new regulations include child-resistant packaging, a significant increase in licensing fees, new labeling, testing, and bookkeeping requirements. The rules also codify the legal purchasing age to 21, which went into effect last year as an emergency directive.
Also under the new rules, laboratories tests now measure the total amount of any THC in a product. If the THC levels exceed the 0.3% threshold, even if it’s only activated upon being smoked, the product will be noncompliant under state regulations. As a result, some of the most popular hemp products, like THCA flower and pre-rolled joints, have been banned.
Hemp businesses caught selling noncompliant products face a range of penalties and fines, including license revocation and up to $10,000 in violation fees for each day these products were sold in stores.
“An administrative agency may not substitute its own policy judgment for the outcome produced by the constitutional lawmaking process,” the lawsuit states. “The Texas Constitution vests legislative power in the Legislature, not administrative agencies.”
Retailers cannot sell hemp to out-of-state customers either.
The rules also increase licensing fees for manufacturers of hemp-derived THC from $258 to $10,000 per facility and retail registrations from $155 to $5,000, which industry leaders say will fulfill the ban by forcing businesses to close. The hemp business community’s lawsuit is not challenging the other new regulations, including the age verification or ones they say protect consumers.
“Texas hemp businesses wholeheartedly support those regulations, as they fall within the agency’s authority,” said Sergi. “We are seeking to halt rules that would effectively end the in-state production of hemp and the sale of hemp products—items the Legislature chose not to ban during recent legislative and special sessions.”
Concerns about the safety of these high-THC products among youth led lawmakers to attempt to ban hemp-derived THC products outright last year. While the overall ban didn’t succeed, lawmakers successfully banned vape pens containing THC and other hemp-derived intoxicating chemicals.
Data provided from the Texas Poison Center Network confirms a sharp increase in cannabis-related poisoning calls starting in 2019, a year after hemp-derived THC was legalized by the federal government, from 923 to a 10-year high of 2,592 in 2024. Calls climbed to 2,669 last year. The majority of these calls involve suspected poisoning of children under the age of five and teenagers.
Drug policy experts sa id these numbers seem alarming, but it is natural for poisoning calls to increase when a drug has become legalized, and the data needs additional context before making conclusions from it.
Jennifer Ruffcorn, spokesperson for HHSC, directed questions about the lawsuit and what it means for the new hemp regulations to DSHS.
Lara Anton, spokesperson for DSHS, declined to comment on pending litigation.
The hemp industry’s battle to stay alive in Texas started back in 2021 when the state health agency classified any amount of a natural intoxicating hemp compound called delta-8 THC as illegal. The hemp industry sued the state over its ban on delta-8 and the Texas Supreme Court is expected to consider the case this year.
The delta-8 lawsuit will have an impact on the outcome of the most recent lawsuit over the smokeable hemp ban because both lawsuits challenge the authority of a state health agency to make changes to the market without approval from lawmakers or the public.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The wife of a U.S. soldier was released Tuesday from a federal immigration detention facility where she had spent nearly a week after being taken into custody on a Louisiana military base.
The detention of 22-year-old Annie Ramos, the Honduran born-wife of a U.S. Army staff sergeant preparing to deploy, prompted public backlash from critics of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign who warned it demoralized troops during an ongoing war.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Ramos’ mother-in-law, Jen Rickling, confirmed her release to The Associated Press. The New York Times first reported Ramos’ release.
Ramos, who married Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank in March, had been detained by federal immigration agents while attempting to register at his base to receive military benefits and ultimately obtain a green card. She had lived in the country since she was less than 2 years old. DHS said Ramos had been ordered removed by a federal immigration judge in 2005 after her family had failed to appear for a hearing.
Ramos and her husband say she has been attempting to gain legal status, including by applying for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2020 though her application remained stalled amid legal battles to eliminate the program.
“All I have ever wanted is to live with dignity in the country I have called home since I was a baby,” Ramos said in a statement to the AP after her release. “I want to finish my degree, continue my education, and serve my community — just as my husband serves our country with honor.”
A spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, said that Kelly had called DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin regarding Ramos’ detention. Blank has family in Arizona.
“I’m happy Annie is back with her husband and family where she belongs,” Kelly said in a statement. “They never should have gone through this painful process, but far too many families like theirs are because of this administration.”
DHS told the AP that Ramos had been released with a GPS monitor “while she undergoes further removal proceedings.”
“She will receive full due process,” DHS said.
The Trump administration has scrapped policies of immigration enforcement leniency toward the family members of military personnel and veterans, even as the military has promoted the protection of U.S. soldiers’ family members from deportation as a recruiting incentive.
Ramos said she plans to continue studying biochemistry and focusing on enjoying married life with her husband.
“As Matthew continues preparing for his long career in the military, my focus now is on securing my status, continuing my studies, and building our life together,” Ramos said. “We want to create a home, a future, and a family. This experience has been incredibly difficult, but it has also reminded me of the power of faith, love, and community. I am hopeful for what comes next.”