Today is
Friday June 05, 2026
AUSTIN (THE TEXAS TRIBUNE) – New state rules that eliminate natural smokeable hemp products and increase licensing fees will go into effect at the end of the month. Hemp industry leaders say these new regulations will eliminate a majority of their inventory and force those who don’t have extra income to meet these new fees to close stores.
Earlier this month, the Texas Department of State Health Services released regulations on consumable hemp-derived THC products that will go 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.
However, hemp retailers say the regulation that decreases the amount of total THC in products they sell to 0.3% will eliminate popular smokeable hemp products, such as rolled joints and smokeable flower buds, which make up more than 50% of some stores’ inventories.
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 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.
“They did a ban with their own regulatory scheme,” Lukas Gilkey, chief executive of Hometown Hero, a manufacturer of hemp-derived products, said. “The way they wrote the rules, it’s going to eliminate a lot of products that are fully legal and fully fine and not harmed anyone.”
What will Texans no longer be able to buy?
Under the new rules and regulations, Texans will no longer be able to purchase intoxicating smokeable hemp products, including hemp flower or pre-rolled joints. Consumers can still purchase edibles and beverages because they have lower THC concentrations or because they are under the purview of the TABC, which has not banned these beverages.
“We estimate this will hand 50% of the legal market to illicit operators, making our state less safe,” Heather Fazio, director of Texas Cannabis Policy Center, said.
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.
Under the new rules, laboratories tests will 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, will be banned.
Hemp businesses caught selling noncompliant products will 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.
“Many hemp businesses that have operated legitimately for years will have to make a hard decision about whether or not they can keep their doors open,” said Fazio.
What happens if Texans are caught in possession of smokeable THC products?
People in Texas will not be committing a crime if they are in possession of smokeable THC products after March 31.
Fazio encourages Texans to take advantage of the sales on smokeable hemp products over the next couple of days, as hemp retailers are scrambling to clear these items from shelves.
“There is no risk to consumers who possess or consume hemp in any form,” she said.
Andrea Steel, a Houston attorney for several THC businesses, said in theory customers shouldn’t get in trouble, but expects law enforcement agencies will incorrectly arrest people caught smoking hemp products because they might assume smokeable hemp is banned, just like marijuana.
“Just a twist of the consequences of what happens when an agency goes too far,” she said.
Hemp retailers cannot sell to out-of-state customers, said Fazio, meaning store owners will be stuck with any non-compliant products that they can’t sell before the end of the month.
“They can keep it for themselves, but they cannot sell it,” she said.
Why are hemp industry leaders opposed to these changes?
Fazio said many hemp industry leaders are grateful to see tighter restrictions from DSHS, including requiring stores to verify customers’ ages and ensure products have warning labels and child-proof packaging, because many businesses have operated with very little accountability.
“Good actors welcome increased regulatory enforcement, while bad actors should be concerned about this new level of accountability that will protect consumers,” she said. “However, two major changes greatly concern us: licensing fees and regulatory product restrictions.”
Restricting levels of any THC in hemp will wipe out stores’ most popular products, smokeables. Raising licensing fees for hemp manufacturers from $250 to $10,000 and retailer fees from $150 to $5,000 will close businesses, industry members say.
Under the new rules, hemp retailers and manufacturers will also need to keep detailed records for each product type to ensure THC levels are consistent, records for every production run, documentation of raw materials and ingredients, and formal procedures for documenting and investigating complaints, among other requirements.
While larger hemp manufacturers can handle this new demand, some of the smaller THC retailers, usually located in rural areas of Texas, will close because they lack resources, staff, or time to implement those changes. These extra requirements for retailers could inadvertently cut off access to recreational THC in those regions.
“This death by a thousand paper cuts,” Gilkey said. “The problem is that the desire for these products is not going to go away; they will just order them online, where it’s still legal, or off the street, where we have no testing and no guidance.”
Why do state leaders want these types of restrictions?
Supporters of the licensing fee increase say the new regulations are a necessary step to protect children and consumers from hemp products that have dangerously high amounts of THC in them.
“Cannabis advocates say this is a billion-dollar industry. It’s fair and appropriate for the people who profit from selling a billion dollars in intoxicating products to create fees that help cover the cost associated with the regulation and societal burden of the product,” Betsy Jones, director of policy and strategy at Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth, told the state health agency earlier this year.
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. However, those calls dropped to 1,485 last year. The majority of these calls involve suspected poisoning of children under the age of five and teenagers.
Drug policy experts said 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.
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 did successfully ban vape pens containing THC and other hemp-derived intoxicating chemicals. Lawmakers banned it for everyone because they were concerned cannabis vape pens were so popular among teenagers because they can use them discreetly.
Also, hemp supporters have accused law enforcement agencies of attempting to rein in the industry by unlawfully raiding stores. Law enforcement agencies accused these hemp shops of selling dangerous products, especially to children, and engaging in other unscrupulous activities such as money laundering. Many of those retailers have not yet been found guilty of any crime, according to their attorneys.
What does the future hold?
Multiple hemp industry leaders and advocates say a conglomerate of hemp businesses plan to sue the state to block these new regulations from taking effect.
Gilkey said 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, leading to a lawsuit that the Texas Supreme Court is expected to consider this year.
“It has been a long, hard battle,” Gilkey said.
Steel predicts Texans will find workarounds to the new regulations, including smoking “semi-synthetic” or “converted” cannabis products, which are items sprayed with various chemicals to mimic marijuana’s high.
“You’ll see edibles and beverages trying to take that gap, but people want to smoke, and so they’re going to fill that gap with something that complies with the law, or at least on its face appears to comply with the law,” she said.
You can see article as it was published by going to The Texas Tribune.
TYLER — A wanted sex offender out of Cass County was arrested on March 20 in Tyler following a coordinated search involving multiple state and federal law enforcement agencies. According to our news partner KETK, the Hughes Springs Police Department said that, Travion Holloman was previously convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child but failed to comply with annual sex offender registration requirements.
A warrant for Holloman was issued in July 2025 out of the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.
On March 4, the police department contacted the Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigation Division (DPS CID) to assist in locating Holloman. DPS CID coordinated with the DPS Homeland Security Division, the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Apprehension Task Force, who were able to locate Holloman in Tyler and take him into custody without incident.
Holloman also had additional outstanding warrants from several counties for probation violation related to the sexual assault case, evading arrest and possession of marijuana.
PALESTINE — The Palestine Police Department is warning residents about a fraudulent document circulating in the community that falsely claims to be a court notice and attempts to collect payments.
According to our news partner KETK, officials said the fake “Notice of Default” appears to come from a municipal court and may include a QR code directing recipients to submit payment. Authorities emphasized that the document is a scam designed to create urgency and pressure individuals into sending money or sharing sensitive information.
Police urged residents not to scan the QR code, send payments or provide any personal or financial details in response to the notice.
“These notices are not legitimate,” the department said, adding that scammers are relying on fear and confusion to exploit victims.
Officials advised anyone who receives such a document to disregard it and instead verify any court-related matters directly with their local court. The department encouraged residents to report any suspicious documents to local law enforcement.
SMITH COUNTY -The Smith County Commissioners Court approved a resolution Tuesday, proclaiming March 24, 2026, as “Grace Community School Girls’ Soccer Day” to recognize the team winning the state championship.
The soccer team won the TAPPS All-Around State Championship on March 4, 2026. It was the second time in three years that they brought home the state title.
The girls were joined by dozens of family members and friends for the recognition in Commissioners Court.
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WASKOM – Interstate 20 eastbound has reopened after it was blocked due to an 18-wheeler crashed in Waskom on Monday. The Waskom Police Department said an 18-wheeler and a vehicle crashed on I-20 eastbound near mile marker 633 at around 3:26 p.m. According to Waskom PD, all eastbound traffic is currently being directed onto the exit 633 on-ramp.
Tyler – Where Tyler police officers will train to serve and protect East Texas is about to be on full display. On Thursday, April 9, at 4 p.m., the Tyler Police Department will host a grand opening for its new Police Training Facility, located at 2520 East Commerce Street. The event will give the public an opportunity to explore the space and connect with Tyler police officers.
The Tyler Police Department, which includes 204 sworn officers, has developed a culture of expertise, with nearly half of its officers serving as certified trainers. The department launched its in-house police academy in 2021 to expand training capabilities.
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HOPKINS COUNTY — Months after a video surfaced of an East Texas breeder shooting a dog, a federal investigation revealed deplorable conditions at her unlicensed facility — charges that could send her to prison for up to 20 years. According to our news partner KETK, an indictment delivered from a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Texas on Monday names Kristine Michelle Hicks, 51, of Cumby and charged her with acting as an unlicensed animal dealer and four counts of wire fraud.
Hicks’ appearance in federal court comes after being arrested on Dec. 21, 2025, for a social media video depicting her allegedly shooting at a dog three times and leaving it for dead, spurring an investigation into her breeding facilities.
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SMITH COUNTY – The Smith County Sheriffs Office has issued a Scam Alert. The White Collar Crime Division of the Smith Couty Sheriff’s Office is actively monitoring and documenting impersonation and Bitcoin scams targeting families of jailed inmates.
The pattern used centers on fraudulent claims of bond?related ankle monitor fees, directed payments through Bitcoin ATMs, and the misuse of Smith County law enforcement identities, Smith County Sheriff’s Officials reported on Monday. Victims receive unsolicited phone calls and/or text messages from individuals claiming to be with Smith County Pretrial Services, the Smith County Jail, or a lieutenant or deputy with the Sheriff’s Office. Read the rest of this entry »
LUFKIN – A man was arrested on Sunday after more than 11 pounds of marijuana were found during a traffic stop in Lufkin. According to our news partner KETK, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), said a DPS trooper did a traffic stop on a 2021 Kia at around 1:30 a.m. in Lufkin on U.S. Highway 59. The officer searched the vehicle found around 11.5 pounds of marijuana in bags during the stop.
An unidentified 27-year-old man from Moulton was arrested and charged with felony possession of marijuana. He is in the Angelina County Jail. The investigation is being continued by DPS and local law enforcement.
LIVINGSTON (KETK) — An investigation into the sale of illegal drugs near a Livingston elementary school came to an end on Wednesday with the arrest of a man following the discovery of drugs in his residence. According to the Livingston Police Department, officers were looking into the sale of illegal drugs near Pine Ridge Primary School in a “lengthy” investigation.
Officers executed a search warrant at a home connected to the investigation, finding the following:
– Methamphetamine
– Crack cocaine
– MDMA
– Synthetic marijuana
– Illegally possessed prescription medications
– Items commonly used to sell and distribute drugs
– A firearm
The suspect, Alvin Taylor II was later arrested and charged with six counts of manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. Taylor is currently being held at the Polk County Jail under a $330,000 bond. Since his residence was in a drug-free zone, some charges were increased and additional charges may be filed.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — In polite company or otherwise, the Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott is very comfortable talking to people about religion and politics.
She delivered an impassioned sermon last Sunday encouraging the people in the pews at Grace Lutheran Church to welcome strangers as Jesus did. The day before, she campaigned for Congress in rural Iowa, decrying Medicaid cuts and their impact on people’s access to health care.
The Lutheran pastor and state senator is one of three clergy members in Iowa running as Democrats for the U.S. House of Representatives.
After years of white Christians overwhelmingly supporting Republican Donald Trump, a striking number of clergy are currently running for political office as Democrats. While James Talarico, a 36-year-old Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seminarian who recently won his Texas primary for U.S. Senate, has gained national attention, he’s hardly the only progressive candidate with a theological education this midterm season.
“Because there’s been the tendency to define Christianity as very conservative and with a Christian nationalist lens, I think you are seeing people on the Democratic side saying, ‘Wait a minute. There are different ways to think about how our faith informs our policy,’” said Melissa Deckman, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute.
Democrats’ next challenge is to figure out how to talk about faith for the long haul in a party that’s more religiously diverse than Republicans and has a greater number of voters who aren’t religious at all.
Talking about religion
Trone Garriott, ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has done extensive interfaith work, something she says has made her a better Lutheran. It’s also informed how she campaigns, sliding seamlessly into a Friday night Lenten fish fry at a Catholic church then going straight to an Iftar dinner at a mosque down the road.
Despite high-profile politicians including former President Joe Biden, a lifelong Catholic Democrat, being candid about their faith, Trone Garriott thinks part of the reason many Democrats have failed to engage certain religious groups is a discomfort in talking meaningfully about it.
“A lot of folks just don’t have the practice to do it in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s imposing oneself on others or being dismissive of other perspectives,” she said. “Folks tend to fall back into this, ‘Well, everyone’s basically the same.’ We’re different and those differences are important.”
But Trone Garriott senses Democrats are now seeing that glossing over religious differences isn’t the answer. “That left a vacuum that the religious right has filled. And there are a lot of people now realizing that it is really important to speak about these issues from the perspective of faith and claim their faith,” she said.
Talarico, a Texas state representative who reaped national attention last summer after appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast, has done just that.
“If we have to force people to put up a poster, to me that means that we have a dead religion,” he said of his opposition to a Texas bill requiring that public schools display the Ten Commandments.
Deckman argues what makes Talarico unique among white Democrats is his comfort in talking about the Bible. But it’s also made him a target for conservatives, particularly his theological rationale for supporting abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights.
“He would be one that I would say, ‘Wait a minute. You are misrepresenting the word of God,’” said Bob Vander Plaats, the politically influential president and CEO of the conservative Christian group The Family Leader. “The GOP has been vastly more consistent in their proximity to God’s word, versus using a verse here and there to try to back up a position.”
Religious voters at the polls
In the 2024 election, Trump once again won the support of about 8 in 10 white evangelical Christian voters, according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 120,000 voters, while the same percentage of Black Protestant voters went for Democrat Kamala Harris. About 7 in 10 nonreligious voters supported Harris.
Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he attributes that lack of support from certain religious voters to messaging within the party.
“We stopped talking about our why,” he said. “When that happens, I think you lose your authenticity. And sometimes that means that people stop believing that you are going to work as hard as you’re committed to doing.”
Amid speculation he will run for president in 2028, Beshear, a deacon for his Disciples of Christ church, hopes to communicate his motivations with his forthcoming book, “Go and Do Likewise: How We Heal a Broken Country,” a reference to the Bible’s Parable of the Good Samaritan.
“My faith is is my authentic why. It’s what drives me to try to better this world,” he said.
For some, the overwhelming support for Trump among white Christians has caused them to look inward. “I put that on us as pastors, that maybe we haven’t done a great job of explaining the faith to people,” said Clint Twedt-Ball, a minister running for Congress in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.
From pews to halls of power
Black clergy running as Democrats is not new. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., is a Baptist senior pastor and the late Rev. Jesse Jackson was a two-time presidential candidate. There are fewer examples of white clergy doing the same, despite the obvious skills, like preaching, that translate to campaigning.
Both Twedt-Ball, a third-generation United Methodist pastor and founder of the nonprofit Matthew 25, and Lindsay James, a PCUSA chaplain who is also running in Iowa’s 2nd district, said the 2016 election was a catalyst for their political involvement.
The rise of pastors in politics extends beyond congressional races.
Rae Huang, also a PCUSA minister and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is challenging Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Huang said her candor about being a pastor has sparked questions from voters.
“‘Are you somebody who is homophobic? Are you somebody who is gonna try and create a theocracy in our city?’ Because that’s all they’ve known,” she recalled. She sees an opportunity to give voters a positive vision of her theology. “Religion doesn’t have to be that space of oppression, that space where we have been suppressing voices rather than uplifting and liberating.”
Finding hope through faith
After he was elected New York City’s first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani appeared on comedian Trevor Noah’s podcast and argued the importance in politics of having the imagination for change — a theme Noah linked to religion.
“Religion is declining, but it’s declining in areas where people are particularly left-leaning or progressive,” Noah said. “One of the things that faith requires of you is the ability to believe that this current state that you’re in is not the end — there is a possibility that something can be greater.”
Mamdani, who is not clergy but is vocal about his faith, agreed. “It’s often in houses of worship where New Yorkers still have that trust,” he said. “It’s by and large lost when it comes to politics.”
Huang, who the Los Angeles Times speculated could be “L.A.’s Mamdani,” echoed this sentiment.
“We’re called and being invited to be prophetic, to be forward thinking, to actually grow our imagination,” she said. “The religious right has a hold over American culture. I think that’s changing. I think progressive Christianity is beginning to stand up.”
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Clergy will be allowed to minister to immigrants in a holding facility at the headquarters of the Trump administration’s enforcement surge in Minnesota, a federal judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell granted an injunction requested by Minnesota branches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and a Catholic priest who had sued the Department of Homeland Security.
Under his ruling, clergy will be allowed in-person pastoral visits to all detainees at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the site of frequent protests over roughly the 3,000 federal officers who had surged into the state at the height of the crackdown.
Blackwell said the plaintiffs had met their burden of proving that they’re likely to succeed when the case reaches a final conclusion, and that restrictions on the religious freedom of clergy to minister to detainees constitutes “irreparable harm.”
He ordered both sides to meet within four business days to try to agree on details for how to provide access that takes into account the government’s legitimate security concerns, and then submit a plan within seven business days, or competing proposals if they can’t agree.
Bishop Jennifer Nagel, of the Minneapolis Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was turned away from Whipple when she tried to go to visit with detainees on Ash Wednesday. She told reporters after the hearing that serving people in crisis is fundamental in many religions.
“The trauma that families are going through, and individuals are going through, at these times is exorbitant. And so to be able to meet people in those needs, that’s very much at the core, the heart and soul of what we do as ministers of all different traditions,” Nagel said.
The lawsuit alleges the Whipple building, named for Minnesota’s first Episcopal bishop, a 19th-century advocate for human rights, “now stands in stark contrast to its namesake’s legacy.” It says the building has “become the epicenter of systematic deprivation of fundamental constitutional and legal rights by the federal government.”
Government attorneys noted that Operation Metro Surge officially ended on Feb. 12. They also said the number of new detentions has since subsided, so temporary restrictions on visitors have been eased, and clergy visits have been allowed for over two weeks.
But Blackwell agreed with attorneys for the plaintiffs who argued that the issue isn’t moot, because the government still doesn’t have a formal plan requiring access that sets out who decides the conditions under which clergy are admitted.
Catholic and Episcopal bishops in Minnesota, other Christian and Jewish clergy, and the Minnesota Council of Churches also formally supported the request. The courtroom was filled with Lutheran, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist, Jewish and other clergy.
Clergy across the country have been pushing for more access to immigration detention facilities, especially during the holy seasons of Lent and Ramadan. It’s a longstanding practice for faith leaders to minister to detainees. but it has become far more contentious amid the current immigration crackdown.
It took a similar lawsuit for two Catholic priests and a nun to gain entry into an ICE facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview on Ash Wednesday last month. And Muslim and Christian clergy in Texas have struggled to get into large Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities there.
Tauria Rich, a senior local ICE official who oversees Whipple, said in a filing this week that visitors to Whipple are rare, and that any clergy requests are handled on a case-by-case basis. She said one clergy member had attempted to visit in early March, but left because no detainees were present. The visit would have been allowed if any detainees had been there, she said.
ICE calls the building a short-term holding facility, and not the kind of long-term detention center where clergy visits are normally allowed.
It’s not just clergy who’ve struggled to get in. Three members of Congress from Minnesota were turned away when they tried to inspect the facility. Once they did get in, they reported poor conditions.
Access has also been an issue for attorneys. Homeland Security was ordered by a different federal judge last month to give new detainees at Whipple immediate access to counsel before they’re taken elsewhere. That judge held a hearing this week to consider whether to convert her temporary order into a more permanent injunction. Her ruling is pending.
TROUP – Troup City Council has decided to call off their May 2 elections, calling two city council seat elections and the mayor’s race. The city council unanimously decided to declare Mayor Jeff Hale, Council Place 2 Nelson Darden and Council Place 4 Susan Adams as the winners in their individual races since they’re all running unopposed following the recent primary elections.
Since the three candidates are running unopposed, the council decided there would be no need to go ahead with the May 2 election. The City of Lufkin also recently cancelled their May 2 election for similar reasons.
ATLANTA (AP) – The wait times at airport security checkpoints have become a guessing game during the shutdown of a single U.S. government department, with the daily attendance of Transportation Security Administration officers determining whether lines move quickly or stretch far outside terminals.
Travelers at Houston’s largest airport endured hourslong waits Thursday morning due to staffing issues, causing some to miss their flights or scramble to their gates.
But at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which a day earlier saw some of the country’s longest security lines, officials reported largely moderate-to-low wait times. One checkpoint was closed due to low staffing, however, and lines during the early morning rush exceeded an hour.
Experts said it’s hard to predict where the lines will be the longest at any given time because much of the problem stems from TSA personnel not showing up for their shifts. The roughly 50,000 federal workers who screen passengers and bags have been working without pay while lawmakers fail to agree on funding the Department of Homeland Security.
The shutdown is the third affecting TSA workers since the fall. Growing financial strain makes it harder for them to afford basics, like gas or childcare, while continuing to report for work, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents most airport security screeners.
Homeland Security has said at least 376 TSA agents have quit since the current shutdown began on Feb. 14. About 10% of TSA officers nationwide missed work each day between Monday and Wednesday, the department reported Thursday. The agency’s employees saw their first income-free paydays last weekend.
On Wednesday, airports in Atlanta and Houston saw roughly 38% of TSA officers call out of work, according to Homeland Security. Philadelphia International Airport said 33% of the TSA officers there reported they would not be in on Wednesday, while New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport saw an absentee rate of 25%.
“This is a very unfortunate situation and an extreme situation, and one that has been dragging on far too long, and is only likely to get worse,” said Eric Rosen, director of travel content for the travel and finance site The Points Guy.
Rosen urged travelers to check security line wait times at their specific airport, either on the airport’s website or via its social media feeds. Some airports also specify which security checkpoints are open and closed, he said.
That’s useful information for the vast majority of travelers who are using the regular security lanes, he said. But given the current situation, programs that let people skip ahead can be hugely valuable. For example, when wait times hit three hours in Houston recently, getting through the TSA PreCheck line took 10 minutes, Rosen said.
“It can cut down wait times even during the best times when things are flowing smoothly, but right now we’re seeing the true value of that,” he said.
Last month, DHS said it planned to suspend the PreCheck program during the shutdown, but it quickly canceled that plan. Global Entry, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection program that allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers to use expedited kiosks when entering the U.S. from abroad, was halted for almost two and a half weeks.
Another option for shortening wait times is Clear+, a paid membership that allows users to bypass the line for getting their identities and boarding passes verified and to move directly to bag screening. The company declined to say whether it has seen an increase in members in the last month.
But traveler Sara Oberton said Thursday that she and fellow Houston passengers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport’s Terminal E were all funneled into one line, regardless of whether they had Clear+ or TSA PreCheck. An airport spokesperson declined to confirm specifics, saying only that the number of available TSA screening lanes can vary based on staffing levels.
Oberton, a fashion blogger, said it took her three hours to get through the line, causing her to miss her flight to Los Angeles.
“It is pure insanity here in Houston,” she said in a video posted on social media.
Rosen, from The Points Guy, also had some advice for those who arrive at the airport hours before their flights but still find themselves in danger of missing them: Ask an airline representative if you can cut the line.
“I know it’s a little cringe and I know it’s a little uncomfortable,” he said. “But it’s not like showing up 20 minutes before your flight and expecting just to breeze through.”
That said, airlines aren’t required to help passengers who are stranded because of the TSA staffing woes.
“It’s not on them to make sure that you get to the gate on time,” he said.