Today is
Wednesday June 03, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is slated to appear Tuesday in the Senate to answer questions about the agency’s budget, at a time of intense scrutiny about how the Trump administration is carrying out immigration enforcement and preparing for the World Cup.
Mullin’s appearance at the appropriations subcommittee on homeland security comes as the Senate is weighing legislation that would fund immigration enforcement agencies through the end of President Donald Trump’s term in a maneuver that would bypass the need for support from Democrats, who have demanded restraints before agreeing to fund the agencies.
But, the attempt to fund those two agencies for the long term has been stalled over separate Republican opposition to a $1.776 billion settlement fund to compensate Trump allies who believe they have been politically prosecuted.
Mullin, who was tapped by Trump to lead Homeland Security after his predecessor Kristi Noem was fired, is appearing in the Senate Tuesday for the first time since his confirmation hearing in March.
The hearing also comes at a time when Mullin, who projected himself as a steadying hand at a department wracked by instability during Noem’s tenure, has set the travel industry on edge with threats to withdraw U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers from airports in so-called “sanctuary cities.”
Such a move could upend international travel at a time when millions of visitors are gearing up to come to the U.S. for the World Cup.
Mullin said during a news conference Monday that if needed, he has a plan to pull CBP officers from airports to help with security at the Delaney Hall ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey, where demonstrators have been protesting conditions inside. But he said the state is working to provide security there so it’s not needed right now.
New Jersey state police on Friday relieved federal immigration enforcement agents who had been facing off against protesters at the facility for days. The mayor of Newark Sunday also imposed a curfew around the center.
“As long as we continue to have this partnership with local and state law enforcement then there will be no need to do so,” Mullin told reporters during a news conference in Dallas Monday, in response to questions about whether he would be pulling CBP officers from airports.
Mullin can also expect to face questions over a recent announcement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that demands that most green card seekers apply for permanent residency from their home country, changing longstanding policy that allowed them to do so from the U.S. and prompting widespread confusion among immigration lawyers and their clients.
AUSTIN — Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock said Monday state sales tax revenue totaled $4.5 billion in May, 6.6 percent more than in May 2025. The majority of May sales tax revenue is based on sales made in April and remitted to the agency in May.
“State sales tax collections showed solid growth well above the rate of general price inflation last month, driven in large part by strong increases in certain sectors influenced by business spending,” Hancock said. “Results from nearly all major economic sectors were positive.”
Receipts from the sectors mainly affected by business spending were overall very robust compared with a year ago, with the manufacturing and construction sectors both exhibiting growth of more than 15 percent. Remittances from the wholesale trade sector came in nearly 6 percent more than their May 2025 total. Collections from the mining sector were down slightly.
Among the large sectors driven primarily by consumer spending, remittances from the largest sector, retail trade, were up more than 3 percent compared with last May, and remittances from the services sector increased by more than 8 percent. Within the retail trade sector, collections from electronic shopping outlets were up more than 13 percent and general merchandise stores remitted nearly 2 percent more than in May 2025.
Receipts from restaurants were up 4.3 percent from a year ago, above the rate of inflation for food away from home.
Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in May 2026 was up 8.7 percent compared with the same period a year ago. Sales tax is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 58 percent of all tax collections.
Texas collected the following revenue from other major taxes:
• motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $599 million, down 13 percent from May 2025;
• motor fuel taxes — $333 million, down 2 percent from May 2025;
• oil production tax — $677 million, up 64 percent from May 2025;
• natural gas production tax – $217 million, down 4 percent from May 2025;
• hotel occupancy tax — $74 million, up 6 percent from May 2025; and
• alcoholic beverage taxes — $156 million, up less than 1 percent from May 2025.
Fiscal 2026 franchise tax collections totaled $6.5 billion year-to-date through May.
Compared with collections through May 2025, year-to-date franchise tax collections were down 0.5 percent, lower than was projected in the Comptroller’s 2026-27 Certification Revenue Estimate. Franchise tax entities may request an extension until November 15. Accordingly, franchise tax revenue from the most recent report year will continue to be received through November 2026.
For details on all monthly collections, visit the Comptroller’s Monthly State Revenue Watch.
POLK COUNTY (KETK) — After receiving multiple allegations of ongoing sexual abuse, Polk County officials have arrested a volunteer of several local churches last week. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, they received reports on May 27 from adults and minors that 40-year-old Doyle Hodge II was sexually abusing them. After opening an investigation, deputies identified five possible victims, with additional individuals continuing to come forward.
Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Hodge to ensure the safety and well-being of the children involved. On Friday, he was taken into the Polk County Jail for sexual assault of a child and is being held on a $100,000 bond.
The investigation remains active, and additional charges are expected to be filed.
According to the sheriff’s office, Hodge was a volunteer at several of the local churches. Anyone with any additional information regarding the case or who believes they may be a victim is encouraged to contact investigator Kayla Hemperly at 936-327-6810.
WISE COUNTY – On Monday, June 1, at 7:00 a.m., Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol Troopers responded to a single-vehicle motorcycle crash in rural Wise County.
A preliminary investigation indicated that the rider of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle was traveling south on FM 920 at an unsafe speed and failed to negotiate a curve. The rider went off the road and laid the motorcycle over. The rider was not wearing a helmet.
The rider, Shaun Allan Waits, a 56-year-old male of Weatherford, Texas, was pronounced dead on the scene.
This investigation is ongoing, and no additional information is available at this time.
CORPUS CHRISTI (THE TEXAS TRIBUNE) – Corpus Christi City Council is set to discuss Tuesday whether to revive a controversial and ambitious endeavor to build a desalination plant to convert seawater into drinkable water — a project the council rejected nine months ago over high costs and environmental concerns.
A stubborn drought and rising demand has left the city strapped for water, but the coastal community is still divided on whether an expensive plant is worth the cost to taxpayers and the local ecosystem.
Desalination removes salt and other minerals from seawater or salty groundwater, but plants are expensive to build and require lots of energy to run.
The city’s water department, the mayor and some City Council members view the proposed plant, the Inner Harbor Desalination Project, as the key to a long-term, steady water supply. City Manager Peter Zanoni often calls it a “drought-proof” solution capable of producing up to 30 million gallons of drinking water a day.
If approved Tuesday, the earliest the facility would deliver water is late 2029, too far away to help the city dodge its immediate emergency needs. According to projections, the city is expecting to impose emergency water restrictions in December, when demand is expected to exceed supplies in six months, though recent rain may push restrictions back into early 2027.
Mayor Paulette Guajardo, a strong supporter of the project, said the city needs to think long-term. “At the blink of an eye, three years will be here,” she said.
The facility is estimated to cost $978.8 million, which the water department said is a “guaranteed maximum price.” That’s about 25% cheaper than previous cost estimates.
The water department has already corralled a number of contractors to jump on the plant, which would be built along the bay in Hillcrest, a historically Black neighborhood. It’s fully permitted and about 60% designed. The soonest it would deliver water, if approved Tuesday, would be late 2029.
Climbing costs played a big role in the City Council’s September decision to abandon the original plan, but critics are also concerned about where the plant’s salty leftovers would be released. Under the proposal under consideration Tuesday, millions of gallons of the brine byproduct — which can be twice as salty as seawater — would be discharged into Corpus Christi Bay, home to a variety of fish, crabs and seagrass.
The city hired a consultant, Spheros Environmental Group, to review the Inner Harbor project’s ecological impact on the bay. The report, finalized last week, concluded that the plant would not disrupt the bay’s ecosystem, Zanoni said.
That report follows a 2020 study evaluating the city’s original desalination project by Freese and Nichols, an engineering consulting firm based in Houston, which found that sea creatures living in the bay can tolerate high salt conditions, and that the proposed plant’s discharge would not surpass that threshold.
But Isabel Araiza, co-founder of the citizens group For the Greater Good, is not convinced.
“It just makes sense in a practically closed-based system, you don’t dump 54 million gallons of brine and sludge into the bay every single day and not expect that to destroy the bay,” Araiza said.
She’s asking city leaders to instead focus on forcing the region’s largest water users — oil refineries and petrochemical plants — to conserve water. Over the past decade, Corpus Christi aggressively courted large industrial facilities that require large amounts of water, promising a sufficient supply.
Now, the city’s main reservoirs have shriveled up, threatening 25% water cuts for all city customers that could begin in December or early 2027. City leaders on Tuesday also will discuss how those restrictions would be implemented, and how high surcharge rates would be, if a Level 1 emergency is triggered — the point when the city is six months away from supply falling short of demand.
Araiza said the proposed desalination plant is “not a sustainable solution economically or environmentally, it’s an industrial want,” and that “the right moral and ethical choice” is to reject it again.
But some community members view the desalination plant as the city’s last lifeline.
Nelda Martinez, who lives along the bay, pleaded with City Council members to move forward with the Inner Harbor project.
“People that you serve are worried if they’re going to have their job tomorrow,” she said during a March meeting. “There have been businesses that have shut down. There have been businesses that now are planning their exit plans. There are people and entities that have decided that they’re not going to move here.”
Ginny Cross, vice president of advocacy for United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce, said she hopes city leaders move forward with a desalination plant because an evergreen water source could save businesses from threats of future surcharges. Mandatory restrictions would be especially hard on car washes and landscaping companies, she said.
“We obviously want our public officials to be good stewards of our tax dollars, but I fear that the days of plentiful, inexpensive water are gone,” Cross said. “I hate that reality for everybody, but I think we’re either going to have expensive plentiful water, or expensive scarce water. I think if we’re going to pay for it, we’d rather have lots of it.”
The city is also considering two desalination plant proposals from private companies. In March, the City Council agreed to hear a plan from Aquatech, a desalination company offering to finish building a water plant for plastics manufacturer Corpus Christi Polymers if the city agrees to purchase water from it.
City representatives also are in talks with AXE H2O, a 2-month-old Houston company that is offering to fully fund and build a desalination facility in the Coastal Bend area. Before work could begin, the city would have to commit to buying at least 50 million gallons a day for at least 30 years.
Kenneth Dees, a water resources engineer based in Fort Worth, said Corpus Christi and the rest of the state should start preparing to shell out more for water, including desalination plants, as the drought deepens and infrastructure ages.
“We’re not running out of water, we’re running out of cheap water,” Dees said.
The original article for this story appears here.
FORT WORTH (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) — Republicans Michael Burgess and Joe Barton, former congressmen who represented North Texas in Washington, are alike in their support of Sen. John Cornyn.
They both endorsed the longtime Republican senator for a fifth term. They both saw him lose Tuesday night, when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton soundly won his runoff against Cornyn, an endorsement from President Donald Trump in tow.
But, Wednesday morning — after assessing the wreckage of a scathing primary season that fractured the state’s Republicans — the two men have reached different conclusions about their plans for the Nov. 3 general election, when Paxton will face Democratic nominee James Talarico.
“I do not plan to vote for Ken Paxton,” said Burgess, who now lives in Aubrey, after representing Congressional District 26 from 2003 to 2025.
He said the solution isn’t voting for Talarico.
“I may write John Cornyn’s name in,” he said. “I may write my name in. I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Email newsletter signup
But supporting Paxton?
“Just morally, it’s something I cannot bring myself to do,” he said.
Barton will.
“There is no way on God’s green earth I’m going to turn around and vote for the Democratic candidate,” said Barton, who has known Cornyn for years, having represented Congressional District 6 for more than three decades before retiring in 2019. Barton even put a sign in his front yard supporting his former colleague’s bid, he said.
There’s always the option to sit out altogether, but that’s a nonstarter for the former congressman.
“You could say, ‘I just won’t vote,’ but that’s not fair because you have an obligation,” Barton said. “Democracy eventually narrows things down to two candidates, and if you participate, you participate, and I will support Paxton.”
Many Republicans across the state are weighing the same question of what to do come November.
The run up to Tuesday was bruising as Cornyn went on the attack, going after Paxton’s personal and professional troubles that have loomed over his political career.
The attorney general has faced allegations of securities fraud, bribery, corruption and infidelity, but has come out largely unscathed. Meanwhile, he’s garnered a reputation as a conservative champion in the courtroom and a loyal friend to Trump and the MAGA movement.
Facing fears of a torn-apart party and an expensive fight ahead, there have been early calls for unity within the GOP, as the national party tries to keep its grip on the Senate in November and as Texas Republicans worry about keeping statewide and legislative seats red in what could be a vulnerable, midterm election cycle.
Republican U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill of Flower Mound told Paxton’s election night watch party attendees that they need to unify unless they’re ready to see Talarico in Washington.
“Now we’re at a point where it’s the Reds versus the Blues, it’s shirts and skins,” Gill said. “Now it’s time for Republicans to come together to unite to make sure that we send a Republican, Ken Paxton, to the Senate.”
Republican state Rep. Mitch Little was one of the most outspoken Paxton supporters during the primary election. Before being elected to represent part of Denton County in 2024, Little’s claim to political fame was as Paxton’s defense attorney in the impeachment trial.
He said Paxton is no stranger to garnering party support after a heated primary. In 2022, Paxton went head-to-head with challenger George P. Bush in a primary runoff for his seat as attorney general. After clinching the 2022 win, Paxton quickly turned to torn Republicans asking for alliance.
The same demand was a cornerstone of Paxton’s victory speech. He also gave a short statement of thanks to Cornyn for his years of service.
“Tonight is not the end of a campaign,” Paxton told supporters. “Tonight is the beginning of the fight to preserve every value we hold dear. The future of Texas and the future of America is on the line, and I intend to do everything I can to expand our movement. I won three statewide elections, because I know how critical it is for our party to come together, and that’s what we must do now.”
Little said politicians have to master the art of keeping short accounts.
“Once you’re in politics, you don’t tend to forget things like that,” Little said. “You know who ran the ugly ads and had negative things to say about you, but you have to put that in its proper compartment and just realize that the state of Texas is more important than any of those, any kind of personal grudge that you might hold.”
Cornyn didn’t mention Paxton by name in an election night speech, but did say he’d support the Republican ticket in the general election.
Burgess repurposed a quote from Trump as he reflected on Wednesday’s losing outcome for Cornyn.
“I’m not happy,” he said.
The president endorsed Paxton in the final days of the runoff, bucking Senate leadership’s preference of a Cornyn-Talarico ballot. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and members of the Republican establishment are now beginning to build bridges with Paxton in the wake of his decisive victory, Axios reports.
To Burgess, it seems, too many bridges have been burned to win over Cornyn voters like him.
“I don’t know how you make up that ground over the five months ahead … given just the amount of turmoil that’s going to be present in the electorate,” Burgess said.
Paty Hardy, a former State Board of Education member who endorsed Cornyn, has moderate Republican friends saying they won’t vote in the general election.
She has her reservations with Paxton — his character and her impression that he’s arrogant — but she won’t be joining her friends in staying on the sidelines. Cornyn has more of a “gentleman persona,” Hardy said.
“It probably was not wise for him to run again, because of the fact that he has been around for so long, but he’s — I just like the guy,” she said. “He’s a good man.”
Paxton wasn’t Hardy’s first pick, but the attorney general aligns with her conservative policy positions on issues like abortion and sports participation for transgender athletes more than Talarico does.
“I probably won’t go door to door or anything like that,” she said with a chuckle.
Cornyn could have been better about standing up to Republicans in the Senate and he and his peers more aggressive on the SAVE America Act, an election bill Paxton made a center point of his runoff bid, Hardy said.
The incumbent’s electability in November against Talarico factored heavily into her endorsement calculus.
Barton, the former congressman who is supporting Paxton going forward after endorsing Cornyn, said Cornyn lost not because he did a bad job — “he did a very good job” — but because voters wanted a change.
You’ve got to give Paxton credit, he said.
“It’s no small task to defeat an incumbent U.S. Senator of the stature of John Cornyn,” Barton said.
Paxton is a personable man who is good with people in small settings and will be an effective U.S. senator, Barton said. Asked if he has any lingering reservations he’d like to see Paxton overcome, Barton turned the conversation to Democrats.
“I have great faith in the Democrat Party to expose whatever they consider Mr. Paxton’s flaws to be ad nauseam,” said Barton, who is no stranger to scandal himself.
Paxton’s public divorce on “biblical grounds” was a feature of the primary. In a perfect world, people have a perfect private life and marriage, but that’s very rare, he said. What matters more is how officials conduct themselves in office, their voting record and service to constituents.
“I will not say that your private life does not matter,” Barton said. “I think it does matter, but it is not normally the determining factor.”
For Burgess, the way Paxton “has treated his spouse” is something he “almost can’t get over.”
Weighing whether there’s anything Paxton could do to win over his vote, Burgess replies, “We’ll see.”
“That’s his task for the next five months,” he said.
LONE STAR (KETK) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the results of a months long investigation into child exploitation on Friday, including the arrest of one East Texas man for possession of child pornography.
Operation Soteria Shield was conducted in the months of March and April with the goal of finding “offenders who exploit children through online platforms, social media, messaging applications, and other digital environments.”
In that time, the FBI’s Dallas field office cooperated with over 90 Texas law enforcement agencies to arrest 276 people, reportedly rescuing 89 children in the process. Operation Soteria Shield arrived in East Texas when the Lone Star Police Department was assigned a cybertip.
The cybertip was from the social media platform X, formerly called Twitter. The tip claimed a person living near Lone Star in Morris County was using the X artificial intelligence platform “Grok” to generate “life like images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).”
On March 27, Lone Star Police Department officers, Morris County Sheriff’s Office deputies , Ore City Police Department officers, Mt. Pleasant Police Department officers, Hawk Cove Police Department officers and FBI agents took Jesus Aleman Jr. into custody in connection to the cybertip.
According to Lonestar PD, Aleman admitted to having CSAM on his phone at his Morris County residence. After Aleman was arrested on a warrant for possession of child pornography, officers got a search warrant for his phone, which was found to contain over a thousand CSAM images.
“The men and women of East Texas Law Enforcement want all abusers and exploiters of children to know that the internet that was once your playground is now our hunting ground and you can no longer hide on the net,” Lone Star PD said on Friday.
Aleman was a registered sex offender from a previous conviction, meaning his case is being forwarded to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for federal prosecution, according to Lone Star PD.
“Operation Soteria Shield brought together over 90 agencies from across the state of Texas,” FBI Dallas special agent in charge R. Joseph Rothrock said. “Together, we were able to make a significant impact in the ongoing battle against predators who exploit children in our communities. This would not have been successful without the resolve of each participating agency. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to prioritize the safety of the most vulnerable members of our communities.”
The operation’s namesake, Soteria, was an ancient Greek pagan goddess who personified safety, salvation and protection from harm.
WASHINGTON (AP) — David Johnston was a licensed attorney when he illegally entered the Capitol with a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. More than five years later, the South Carolina man is offering to help fellow “J6ers” apply for payouts from the Trump administration’s nearly $1.8 billion new fund for people claiming to be victims of a weaponized government.
He’ll do it for a 10% cut of any award, capped at $5,000 apiece.
“I think the narrative is changing” about how the history of that day is being told, Johnston said in a video he posted to social media. “I think good things are happening for us.”
Hundreds of Trump loyalists pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol, admitting under oath that they broke the law. Now pardoned by Trump, many hope to capitalize on their crimes by tapping into the $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate the Republican president’s allies who believe they were politically prosecuted.
A bipartisan backlash to the fund and a legal roadblock have not dimmed the celebratory response from Jan. 6 rioters clamoring for a share of the taxpayer money. Some are staking claims even though the government has not established an application process and a judge has frozen the fund’s formation, at least temporarily.
The fund’s critics see it as another vehicle for Trump and his allies to whitewash the events of Jan. 6, retroactively justify the mob’s assault on a pillar of American democracy and reward some of Trump’s most loyal followers.
Jason Riddle, a military veteran from New Hampshire who was sentenced to 90 days behind bars after pleading guilty to riot charges, publicly rejected a pardon from Trump. Likewise, he said it would be “ridiculous” for him or any other Jan. 6 rioter to get government compensation.
“I’d love money, but I can’t accept that. That would bother me for the rest of my life,” he said. “We weren’t innocently persecuted just because of who we are or who we vote for. We were persecuted for committing criminal behavior in the Capitol of the United States.”
Plenty of other “J6ers” do not share Riddle’s reluctance.
A Florida man who posed for photos with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s podium argued on social media that he deserves to be compensated for the cost of his infamy. A rioter from New Jersey described by prosecutors as a Nazi sympathizer hailed the fund as “good news not just for J6ers but all victims of weaponization.” A Texas man who received a seven-year prison sentence for storming the Capitol with a metal tomahawk celebrated the fund as “payback” for “victims of Biden’s tyranny,” referring to Democratic President Joe Biden.
Oregon resident Pamela Hemphill, sentenced to 60 days in jail for her conviction, rejected a pardon from Trump but has drafted a written claim for compensation from the fund. Unlike scores of rioters who claim to be victims of a government weaponized by Democrats, Hemphill blames Trump for her legal troubles. Her claims letter says she is seeking $5 million in compensation.
“I wouldn’t have been through all of this if Trump hadn’t lied about the election being stolen,” she said during a telephone interview. “It’s a direct result of his lies that I was even there that day.”
It is an open question whether anyone convicted of a Capitol riot-related crime could be eligible for payments from a fund created to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has not ruled out that possibility. Blanche said there are no limits on who can apply, but he noted that the fund’s five commissioners — all yet to be named — will decide who deserves to be compensated and why, based on factors such as “what the person did, his sentence, how much time he was in jail.”
“That’s up to the commissioners,” Blanche told The Associated Press on Thursday when asked about his position on whether violent Jan. 6 defendants should be eligible for payments.
“You have to define something and then stick to it. That’s something I’ve been hesitant to try to do, because it’s very fact-intensive,” Blanche said. ”Me sitting here and talking in hypotheticals is something that I don’t think is fair to the process.”
It is unclear whether Congress would block payments to Jan. 6 defendants. Senate Republicans who are angry about the settlement have said they want to place parameters on the fund as part of a Department of Homeland Security spending bill. They abruptly left town earlier this month after a tense meeting with Blanche and will return on Monday with the situation unresolved.
A federal judge in Virginia has frozen the fund’s establishment and temporarily blocked any processing or paying of claims. The judge issued that ruling Friday in one of at least three lawsuits challenging the fund.
Brendan Ballou, a former prosecutor who tried several Jan. 6 cases before leaving the Department of Justice last year, sued on behalf of two police officers who helped defend the Capitol from the mob. Ballou views the fund’s creation as part of a broader Trump campaign to undermine democratic institutions and rewrite the history of Jan. 6.
“And if the president is successful in that effort, if he’s able to get people to either forget or condone that day, he knows that he can get people to accept any attack on democracy,” Ballou said.
Nearly 1,600 people were charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. More than 1,200 were convicted and sentenced before Trump issued mass pardons and ordered the dismissal of all pending Jan. 6 cases. Trump also freed far-right extremist group members who were imprisoned for plotting to attack the Capitol to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Biden.
The self-described “J6 community” isn’t the only pro-Trump constituency angling for cuts of the money.
Meshawn Maddock, who was charged as being a fake elector for Trump in Michigan before a judge dismissed the case last year, said she and her husband, state Rep. Matt Maddock, “absolutely” plan on making a claim. She believes the fund’s use of taxpayer money is justified because it “paid for the prosecution and investigation of the years that I was being hunted down.”
“I want vengeance and I want retribution,” Maddock said.
Trump’s campaign to recast Jan. 6 as a peaceful protest seems to have emboldened many convicted rioters.
Johnston’s eagerness to help other Capitol rioters with claims contrasts with his remorse at sentencing in 2022. He apologized for his “terrible lapse in judgment” before a judge sentenced him to three weeks in jail and three months of home detention. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor trespassing charge.
“It was a dumb, dumb thing to do,” Johnston told the judge. “I am 100% responsible for what I did that day.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Tomatoes, ubiquitous in everything from fast-food burgers to haute cuisine, are taking on a new role beyond the plate: A nagging reminder of rising costs.
Prices for those red orbs have soared more than any other food product over the past year to cement a spot as one of the consumer headaches du jour.
“The tomato has become a symbol of something much deeper,” says Isaac Bernal Carbajo, a New York City chef who lamented life’s “simplest pleasures” falling victim to price increases. “Something as basic as buying fresh vegetables is starting to become a serious financial decision for many families.”
Tomato prices are up about 40% over a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Price Index, dwarfing increases for other groceries, including coffee (up 18.5%), beef roasts (up 17.8%) and frozen fish and seafood (up 12%), among other products that have become symbols of America’s affordability squeeze.
A separate inflation gauge released Thursday showed that overall prices increased 3.8% in April from a year earlier, the highest reading in nearly three years.
Alongside crop yields, experts blame price increases for tomatoes, in part, on two pillars of President Donald Trump’s second-term policies: the Iran war and tariffs. The war spiked gas prices and increased shipping costs. Meantime, the U.S. withdrew from a deal allowing duty-free imports of tomatoes from Mexico, which grows most of America’s supply.
Usha Haley, a Wichita State University economist, says it’s “a perfect storm of trade policy, extreme weather and Mideast policy.”
American tomato farmers cheered the withdrawal from the tomato deal last July, saying it would help rebuild their shrinking industry. But for consumers, it’s been painful. Though the U.S. withdrew from the Mexico tomato deal in July, it took time to see the impact in the produce aisle, with more imports in late winter and early spring.
When the tomatoes arrived, they were slapped with a 17% tariff.
“Tariffs are undeniably a big driver of the price inflation,” says Brett Massimino, a Virginia Commonwealth University business professor. “Because the U.S. relies on Mexico for the majority of its tomato supply, any changes in trade policy can have a large impact.”
U.S. tariffs collected on tomatoes ballooned from just $16,424 in 2024 to nearly $4.6 million, according to federal data, a staggering 27,879% increase.
As the cost trickles down, outraged shoppers have pulled out their phones in the produce aisle, shooting videos lamenting costs they said quadrupled, with some vowing to plant a garden to avoid prices of up to $8 a pound. But the impact has been most pronounced for businesses that rely on tomatoes as a key ingredient in their kitchens.
MarginEdge, which tracks prices for restaurants, says grape tomatoes have increased most — 65% in just a month — but prices have gone up across all types of tomatoes.
Phillip Coles, a professor of supply chain management at Lehigh University, says prices should drop later in the year when domestically grown tomatoes are harvested. Higher prices, he says, will also “induce farmers to increase planting to meet the demand, but this takes longer because of the lead time.”
Meantime, it’s translating to a big hit for businesses like Snarf’s Sandwiches, which puts a tomato in nearly every sandwich it makes.
Wayne Humphrey, chief operating officer of Snarf’s, which operates dozens of stores in Colorado, Missouri and Texas, said cases of tomatoes went from costing him $27 to $93 in the space of a year, piled on top of rising expenses for other ingredients including bread and beef, as well as increased labor costs.
“That single ingredient now costs us more than $1.7 million in additional spend annually,” says Humphrey. “The math is getting harder to ignore.”
NEW YORK (AP) — The cigarette smoking rate among U.S. adults dropped to another all-time low last year, with 1 in 11 adults saying they were current smokers, according to government survey data released this week.
Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer, heart disease and stroke, and it’s long been considered the leading cause of preventable death.
The preliminary findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were based on survey responses from more than 24,200 adults. In the survey, CDC officials defined current cigarette smoking as smoking at least 100 cigarettes in a lifetime and now smoking every day or some days.
In the mid-1960s, 42% of U.S. adults were smokers. The rate has been gradually dropping for decades, due to cigarette taxes, tobacco product price hikes, smoking bans, public education campaigns and changes in the social acceptability of lighting up in public.
In 2024, the percentage of current adult smokers fell below 10% for the first time. Last year, it was 9%, according to the new survey.
The use of electronic cigarettes has been inching up among adults, but has held about steady in 2025, at about 7%.
“The continued decline in smoking is a monumental public health achievement that has saved millions of lives and billions in healthcare costs,” said Yolonda Richardson, president and chief executive of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy and research organization.
Richardson said current smoking-prevention efforts have been set back by cuts President Donald Trump’s administration made that eliminated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health and its “Tips from Former Smokers” advertising campaign.
She cited estimates that the “Tips” campaign alone helped more than 1 million Americans quit smoking and saved over $7.3 billion in healthcare costs.
“This critical work must be restored and sustained to continue reducing smoking-related disease, death and healthcare costs nationwide,” Richardson said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday gave his endorsement to a January study by the Department of Health and Human Services that calls for cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every American child.
An executive order from Trump directs federal agencies to align their policies behind the study, which recommended an overhaul long called for by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The study found that the United States recommends more childhood vaccines than many peer nations.
The Trump administration previously moved to narrow the number of recommended childhood vaccines in response to the report, but the move was blocked by a federal judge in Massachusetts. The administration is appealing the decision.
The study recommends vaccinating all children against 11 diseases. Several others would be recommended only for high-risk groups or when doctors recommend them in what’s called “shared decision-making.” That includes vaccines for flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV.
Trump’s order adds weight behind the study at a time when the administration had appeared to be trying to shift focus away from Kennedy’s more contentious vaccine policies and toward more mainstream topics like healthy eating.
The order directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the study and “take any appropriate steps” to update its vaccine recommendations. It says the CDC should “provide maximum flexibility to parents and doctors” and directs agencies to make sure all actions, regulations and funding are aligned with the study.
The order adds that any changes should ensure that Americans retain their current access to vaccines.
States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. While CDC requirements often influence those state regulations, some states have begun creating their own alliances to counter the Trump administration’s guidance on vaccines.
Trump directed HHS to carry out the study in December.
Kennedy is a longtime activist against vaccines and has sought ways to inject his skepticism about the shots into national guidance. Last year, he announced the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women, a move questions by public health experts who saw no new data to justify the change.
Last June, he fired a 17-member CDC vaccine advisory committee and later installed several of his own replacements, including multiple vaccine skeptics.
The January report found that vaccine recommendations for American children had increased in recent decades. It also highlighted countries where no vaccines are required to attend school.
NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KETK) — Texas State Rep. James Talarico brought his “The People vs. Ken Paxton Tour” to Nacogdoches on Thursday, telling a crowd of hundreds that he’s focused on expanding economic opportunity for East Texans.
The visit came just days after Attorney General Ken Paxton secured the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. Talarico, the Democratic nominee, used his second tour stop to draw a sharp contrast, pledging to fight for working families and challenge what he described as the influence of billionaires in Texas politics.
“We’re going to end 30 years of one?party rule in Texas and elect a senator who is going to serve us,” Talarico told supporters.
Paxton, in his primary?night victory speech earlier this week, labeled Talarico “the most extreme radical the Democrats have ever nominated,” using nicknames that have circulated among critics.
Talarico responded Thursday, saying, “Ken Paxton is the most corrupt politician in America, and he should be nowhere near the United States Senate.”
To be competitive in November, Talarico will need to win over independent voters and unite Democrats — including supporters of Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who performed strongly in East Texas during the March primary.
“We are bringing our coalition back together,” Talarico said. “Whether you voted for Congresswoman Crockett or for me, we’re all on the same team now.”
A Democrat has not won a U.S. Senate seat in Texas in nearly 30 years. While the challenge is significant, Talarico told the crowd he believes this could be the year the streak breaks.
DALLAS (AP) — Firefighters responding to reports of a gas leak at a Dallas apartment complex had already arrived and were preparing to evacuate residents when the building exploded in a massive fireball, killing three people and injuring several more, the city’s fire chief said Friday.
Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Justin Ball said the first group of four firefighters arrived within two minutes of the call reporting the gas leak on Thursday.
“Right before they were going to enter and evacuate, it exploded,” Ball said.
Firefighters had been on scene for about 10 minutes, conducting necessary safety protocols that include blocking off the street, finding the leak, donning protective gear and setting up a water supply, he said, describing their actions as “heroics.”
Officials stand near rubble following an apartment complex fire, Friday, May 29, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Officials stand near rubble following an apartment complex fire, Friday, May 29, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
“No time was wasted,” Ball insisted. “That takes time to put all the safety protocols in place. I would be criticizing them if they had not done that.”
The explosion shook nearby homes and the resulting inferno razed the two-story complex. A child and two other people were killed and at least five people were injured and sent to hospitals. No firefighters were injured, Ball said.
The building’s 22 units were occupied by 19 families. Ball said authorities searched the charred wreckage late into Thursday night and early Friday morning with drones, cadaver dogs and specialized urban rescue teams, and did not expect to find any more victims.
“There is nobody unaccounted for or we’d still be searching,” Ball said. “We’ve had no one come to us and say, ‘Our family member is missing.’”
Several blocks of streets around the explosion site were still closed off by police cars and police tape Friday. The smell of smoke lingered over the area as law enforcement officials and workers in bright yellow vests circled the rubble of what was once the apartment building.
The cause of the gas leak before the explosion is still unknown.
The National Transportation Safety Board said a team of eight investigators arrived Friday. The agency investigates gas pipeline accidents, and said initial reports indicated a contractor had damaged an underground gas pipeline.
An attorney for the apartment owner said the building was being sold to a buyer who planned to build a new housing unit. He said an engineering firm hired by that company struck the gas line while doing soil testing.
“The owner is shocked by this outcome and likewise mourns this outcome,” attorney Geoff Henley said.
Phone and email messages left with an engineering company that the complex’s owner said was doing soil testing were not immediately returned.
Sherry Woods, who lives in an apartment across an alleyway from the fire site, said Friday she was sitting outside her front door when she and her boyfriend smelled what they believed to be gas.
Moments later, the explosion nearly knocked her down.
Trish Thompson surveyed the site from across a grassy field Friday morning and could see the gap on the block where the apartment complex stood just 24-hours earlier.
Thompson, who lives nearby, described hearing a “loud rumble, something more like a train to me” and seeing smoke and fire.
“Pray for them,” Thompson said.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal immigration officer wanted for shooting a Venezuelan man during the Trump administration’s Minnesota crackdown was arrested Friday in Texas, authorities said.
Christian Castro, of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, was taken into custody 11 days after Minneapolis prosecutors charged him with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.
Hennepin County, Minnesota prosecutors said the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension located Castro, 52, in Texas and worked with agents from the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General’s Office and the Texas Rangers to arrest him.
“Today’s arrest is a critical step forward in our prosecution of Mr. Castro,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said.
Online court records do not list an attorney for Castro and it wasn’t immediately clear if he has one. Messages seeking comment were left with ICE, the Homeland Security Inspector General’s Office and the Texas Rangers.
Castro is the second federal agent to be charged over their conduct during the Minnesota crackdown, which was known as Operation Metro Surge. He is one of two agents that ICE Director Todd Lyons said lied about the circumstances of the incident.
According to prosecutors, Castro fired through a home’s front door and shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh after Castro and another officer chased a different man, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, to the Minneapolis apartment duplex where he and Sosa-Celis lived. Sosa-Celis and Aljorna were legally in the U.S., Moriarty said.
Federal authorities initially accused Sosa-Celis and Aljorna of beating an officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel. A federal judge later dismissed the charges, and ICE and the Justice Department opened an investigation into whether officers lied about what happened.
In a statement after the charges were announced, ICE said the U.S. attorney’s office was investigating statements made by officers, who could face disciplinary action including being fired and prosecuted. ICE called the Hennepin County attorney’s action “unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt.” DHS’s Inspector General’s Office, which Moriarty credited with assisting in the arrest, is separate from ICE and is meant to serve as a watchdog for DHS agencies, including ICE.
Minneapolis last month released video showing the moments before Sosa-Celis’s shooting, captured from a distance by a city-owned security camera.
The video appears to show a person standing with a snow shovel outside the house, near the street, then retreating toward the house and tossing the shovel into the yard. This happens as a person being chased by another person runs up from the street, falls on the sidewalk, gets up, and keeps heading toward the house.
The three appear to scuffle near the front steps for about 10 seconds. The exact moment when Sosa-Celis is shot isn’t clear. A car with flashing lights pulls up, and another person walks up.
The Trump administration sent thousands of officers to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area as part of President Donald Trump’s national deportation campaign and considered Operation Metro Surge a success.
But tensions mounted during the weekslong campaign, and the shooting deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers sparked mass unrest and raised questions about officers’ conduct.
Minnesota leaders and the Trump administration have clashed over who has the authority to investigate and prosecute federal officers for on-duty conduct.
Moriarty’s office last month charged immigration agent Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. with assault for allegedly pointing his gun at people in a car on a highway. He turned himself in last week and his lawyer disputes the charges.
The county is also investigating Good’s and Pretti’s killings and sued the Trump administration in March to gain access to evidence in those cases and the Sosa-Celis shooting.
TYLER – East Texans are starting to feel relief at the gas pump this week as the statewide average per gallon has dropped following Memorial Day weekend. According to AAA Texas, the average price of gas is currently $3.92 per gallon, 17 cents lower than last week. However, the average price of gas is currently $1.18 higher than it was at this time last year. In East Texas, Tyler residents are paying an average of $3.88 per gallon of regular gas, while Longview residents are paying $3.93 per gallon. San Augustine County residents are paying the most, with an average of $4.16 per gallon. In major cities across the state, El Paso residents are currently paying the most to fill up their tanks at $4.10 per gallon while drivers in McAllen are paying only $3.74 per gallon to fill up their cars according to AAA. Nationally, the average price of gas is $1.26 higher than it was on this day last year and 14 cents lower than last week.