Today is
Thursday June 04, 2026
BULVERDE (AP) – A 15-year-old student shot a teacher at a Texas high school and then fatally shot himself Monday, according to authorities, who were still investigating what led to the early morning attack.
No other injuries were reported at Hill Country College Preparatory High School in Bulverde, a small but growing city near San Antonio.
The teacher was taken to a nearby hospital. Comal County Sheriff Mark Reynolds said hours after the shooting that he did not know her condition.
“What happened today is something no community ever wants to face, but we prepare for something that we hope never occurs,” Reynolds said.
He said the student shot the teacher before turning the gun on himself. Reynolds said investigators were working to understand the relationship between the student and the teacher and looking into how the firearm was obtained.
The small campus of roughly 250 students was placed on lockdown shortly after 8:30 a.m., according to the school. One student told San Antonio television station KSAT that they heard loud bangs coming from a room on the second floor and then heard screaming.
Another student told the TV station that she heard five shots and yelling before her debate teacher told students to get inside a classroom.
Students were bused to a nearby middle school, where parents stood in long lines, some praying, as they waited to be reunited. Reynolds said the family members of the shooter had also gone into reunification line.
“We’re trying to collect as much information as we can from witnesses,” Reynolds said.
Jesse Lopez, a parent, told KSAT that it will be difficult to tell his daughter that she has to eventually go back to class.
“For one, she has autism, and she’ll be afraid to go back, she’ll be real afraid to go back,” Lopez said.
The school canceled classes for Tuesday but counselors would still be made available for students and families, principal Julie Wiley said in a statement. She did not provide details about the teacher’s condition.
“Our hearts are with everyone impacted, especially that teacher, their family, and our school community,” Wiley said. “We know this has been a difficult day.”
The high school, which is part of the Comal Independent School District, focuses on academics and skills to prepare students for college, according to the district’s website. Its curriculum is centered on science, technology, engineering, arts and math, known as STEAM, with electives that include cybersecurity and engineering.
The school opened in August 2020 with a freshman class. It has since grown to offer grades nine through 12.
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Associated Press reporter Heather Hollingsworth contributed to this report from Kansas City, Missouri.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sysco, the nation’s largest food distributor, will acquire supplier Restaurant Depot in a deal worth more than $29 billion.
The acquisition would create a closer link between Sysco and its customers that right now turn to Restaurant Depot for supplies needed quickly in an industry segment known as “cash-and-carry wholesale.”
Sysco, based in Houston, serves more than 700,000 restaurants, hospitals, schools and hotels, supplying them with everything from butter and eggs to napkins. Those goods are typically acquired ahead of time based on how much traffic that restaurants typically see.
Restaurant Depot offers memberships to mom-and-pop restaurants and other businesses, giving them access to warehouses stocked with supplies for when they run short of what they’ve purchased from suppliers like Sysco.
It is a fast growing and high-margin segment that will likely mean thousands of restaurants will rely increasingly on Sysco for day-to-day needs.
Restaurant Depot shareholders will receive $21.6 billion in cash and 91.5 million Sysco shares. Based on Sysco’s closing share price of $81.80 as of March 27, 2026, the deal has an enterprise value of about $29.1 billion.
Restaurant Depot was founded in Brooklyn in 1976. The family run business then known as Jetro Restaurant Depot, has become the nation’s largest cash-and-carry wholesaler.
The boards of both companies have approved the acquisition, but it would still need regulatory approval.
Shares of Sysco Corp. tumbled 13% Monday to $71.26, an initial decline some industry analysts expected given the cost of the deal.
EL PASO (AP) – From California to Minnesota, elected leaders and civil rights groups are scrambling to distance themselves from César Chavez’s name in the wake of allegations that he sexually abused women and girls during the 1960s as he became the face of the farmworkers’ movement.
Efforts have been swift and widespread to rebrand events ahead of what typically was a day to celebrate the life and legacy of the Latino rights advocate on his birthday, March 31.
In Tucson, Arizona, last weekend’s celebration was instead billed as a community and labor fair. In Grand Junction, Colorado, it’s now the Sí, Se Puede Celebration. El Paso, Texas, will mark Tuesday as Community and Labor Heritage Day.
Lawmakers in Minnesota voted this week to end the César Chavez holiday in their state, while California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed a bill to rename César Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day. In Colorado, lawmakers were considering a bill to rename the voluntary state holiday there to Farm Workers Day.
Renaming efforts also are underway for dozens of schools, streets and other locations across the United States that are named for Chavez, including the national monument in Keene, California.
The resulting conversations have been anything but easy as supporters grapple with conflicted feelings while sorting out how best to honor what was a pivotal labor and civil rights effort in the United States.
A betrayal
Feelings of disappointment, disbelief and even anger have made for an emotional cocktail for those charting the path forward.
The New York Times recently reported that it found César Chavez groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement. The movement’s co-founder, Dolores Huerta, also revealed that she was a victim of the abuse in her 30s.
“It was a personal hurt and a betrayal,” said Jose Luis Chavez, founder and president of the committee that has organized the César Chavez Celebration for Mesa County, Colorado, for the past decade. The committee is made up of people who have worked in the agricultural industry and whose grandparents and parents cut grapes and picked peaches.
“I think that’s what my committee was feeling, and I think when we look at our community here, that is what people are still feeling,” said Jose Luis Chavez, who is not related to the famous civil rights leader. “They’re feeling a lot of hurt and a lot anger.”
Born from a desire to educate students about marginalized communities, the annual celebration in Grand Junction has evolved into a gathering with music, food, classic cars and high school students taking the stage to accept scholarships.
Canceling it simply wasn’t an option, Jose Luis Chavez said.
The logo was adjusted to include the words “Sí, se puede” — the rallying cry coined by Huerta that translates as “Yes, it can be done.” A flurry of social media posts let people know the event would go on under a new name.
Finding a broader focus
The annual César Chavez and Dolores Huerta March and Rally in Tucson was scaled back and rebranded. There was no march or car show last weekend and it was billed instead as the Comunidad y Labor Unity Fair, focusing more broadly on labor rights without mentioning Chavez.
Organizers with the Arizona César E. Chávez + Dolores Huerta Holiday Coalition encouraged supporters of the movement to continue showing up for one another.
“Even when we thought about canceling, we chose to keep going, because this movement is bigger than a name or one person,” the group said in a social media post. “No single individual defines it. … We, the working people, do.”
It’s a chorus that has resonated loudly and consistently since the allegations became public. While there have been calls in Texas and elsewhere to remove the holiday altogether, the groups that are pushing ahead are driven by a sense of duty to the overall legacy of the movement.
Sehila Mota Casper, executive director of Latinos in Heritage Conservation, said the outcome will be different for every community.
“It’s due process that’s needed to help grapple with this,” she said. “I think that’s the best resolution that each community will have to decide for themselves, how it is that they land on a decision that best reflects their community and their values.”
A time for listening
The annual march in Albuquerque was canceled long before the news broke and for unrelated reasons, but New Mexico’s largest city is just beginning the process of sorting out name changes for roads and other public spaces.
It’s a complex process that will take time and involve public outreach, said City Councilor Joaquín Baca, whose district includes roads named after both César Chavez and Huerta. Even Baca and his family still are contemplating the fate of a César Chavez and Dolores Huerta poster that hangs in their home.
The emails, phone calls and text messages that have poured in to city leaders include demands that everything related to César Chavez be torn down, as well as requests that a broader brush be used to recognize the rights of farmworkers and other laborers, Baca said.
“It’s every side on every issue within the context of this,” he said. “So for me, it has been a lot of listening at this point.”
Mota Casper, who has built a career in heritage tourism and historic preservation, said it’s a chance for elected leaders and policymakers to pause and consider expanding the narrative around Chavez’s legacy. She said society has a responsibility to tell “that full story,” understanding that humans are complex and fallible.
“So in commemorating or glorifying them, we have to be able to acknowledge the good and the bad and take that as it comes … but also understand that we can’t gloss over history,” she said. “We can’t simplify it just to make it easy. We have to be able to talk about it.”
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LUFKIN, Texas (KETK) — An AI-technology company based out of Nevada entered a purchase and sale agreement with Jefferson Enterprise Energy, LLC for a 132-acre property in Lufkin, according to a filing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The purchase of the property cost the AI-company, 1606 Corp., a total of $11,168,864, consisting of $7 million in cash that must be paid at closing on April 15. Included in the purchase are associated development rights, improvements and equipment.
A press release filed with the SEC said the property has a 50,000-square-foot warehouse, which is capable of supporting large-scale data center infrastructure.
1606 Corp. believes the purchase of the site is “attractive” for potential partnerships with data center operators looking to develop new data centers in the area.
KETK News spoke with 1606 Corp CEO Austen Lambrecht and he said the opportunity to bring a new business to the city is exciting.
“It’s exciting to bring new business to the community,” Lambrecht said.
According to Lambrecht, the company is talking with people on the ground in Lufkin to determine how they can best use the site once they gain control of the property.
“We’re talking with different people in Lufkin on what the best usage would be but we don’t have site control yet, so we haven’t gone through that yet,” Lambrecht explained.
Lambrecht said they’re waiting for final funding to come through in order to complete the transaction for the property on April 15.
HOPKINS COUNTY – A man was arrested in Hopkins County on Friday for allegedly sexually abusing a child under 14 years old, according to our news partner KETK and the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office said in a press release that a report of a past-occurrence of sexual assault involving a juvenile was received by deputies on Wednesday. Over the next two days, sheriff’s office investigators did interviews and gathered evidence with the help of the Northeast Texas Child Advocacy Center.
Jesus Rojas Tellez was also interview during the investigation and according to the sheriff’s office, he admitted to having inappropriate sexual contact with a minor. Tellez was then taken into custody and is currently being held in the Hopkins County Jail on a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14-years-old and is on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.
The sheriff’s office stated that they are continuing to investigate this case but that no further information will be released at this time in order to protect the victim’s privacy.
GRAPEVINE (AP) — For the first time in nearly a decade, President Donald Trump did not attend one of the biggest annual meetings of conservatives. But even in his absence, the Conservative Political Action Conference revolved around him.
There were disagreements over his war with Iran, pride over his immigration crackdown and lots of encouragement to avoid infighting as the Republican Party faces a difficult midterm election.
It was a contrast with last year’s gathering, when conservatives were riding high after Trump’s return to office and Elon Musk waved a chain saw to symbolize his new role leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
Here’s a look at some of the key moments.
‘Save that for the socialists’
From the conference’s opening moments, speaker after speaker appealed for unity.
“They want us divided,” warned Mercedes Schlapp, a senior fellow at CPAC whose husband, Matt, chairs the organization.
Evangelist Franklin Graham said the war with Iran represents a “critical time for our country.”
“We can discuss our differences, but do it with respect without attacking and tearing down the other person,” he said. “Save that for the socialists.”
Conservative influencer Benny Johnson said he was “well aware” of debates within the conservative movement but said Trump’s supporters should focus on his victories, such as tighter border security.
“I want to establish something very clearly here that your enemy is not the people that you have good-faith disagreements with inside your movement,” he said. “Your enemy is the Marxist, and they’re going to be running against us hard in the midterms and in 2028.”
Warnings about war
It was clear, however, that the conservative movement was not on the same page about the war with Iran. While there was little criticism of Trump, some warned against deepening the conflict.
“A ground invasion of Iran will make our country poorer and less safe. It will mean higher gas prices, higher food prices, and I’m not sure we would end up killing more terrorists than we would create,” said former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.
Steve Bannon, a longtime Trump ally, said that “the decision in going forward is obviously the commander in chief’s,” but he suggested that the American people still need to be convinced.
“You have to be convinced that this is the right thing to do, particularly now that we’re on the eve of potentially the insertion of American combat troops,” he said. “Your sons, daughters, granddaughters, grandsons could be on Kharg Island or holding a beachhead down by the Strait of Hormuz. ”
Recent polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that Trump risks frustrating his voters if gas prices continue rising as the country faces the kind of prolonged war in the Middle East that he promised to avoid.
‘Make Iran great again’
Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi told the gathering he was ready to lead a new Iranian government and would call on the country’s citizens to rise up when the “right moment arrives.”
Pahlavi is the son of the shah, a monarch deposed in 1979 when the Islamic theocracy came to power.
He hasn’t lived in Iran for five decades, but was interrupted several times by enthusiastic applause and cheers. He praised Trump for attacking Iran, and suggested that the country could one day be a U.S. ally.
“Can you imagine Iran going from death to America to God bless America?” he said.
“President Trump is making America great again,” Pahlavi said. “I intend to make Iran great again.”
Hundreds of Iranian Americans attended the conference and frequently had impromptu pro-war demonstrations, chanting “thank you, Trump!”
Applause for immigration crackdown
Trump’s handling of immigration got some of the biggest applause at the conference, and one of the special guests included recently retired Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino. He had led high-profile urban crackdowns but was pushed aside after two protesters were killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.
Bovino briefly came onstage during Benny Johnson’s speech. The actor Dean Cain also shook Bovino’s hand.
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar who took over for Bovino in Minnesota, was also at the conference. He drew cheers when he said Trump wouldn’t walk away from his deportation campaign.
“I don’t care if people hate me,” he said.
Trump reshaping prosecutions, media
Top administration officials made clear Trump’s ambitions for reshaping the country.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said more than 200 people who participated in investigations of the president were fired, retired or quit.
“President Trump, for the first time in modern history, has said, ‘I am the president,’” said Blanche, who previously worked as Trump’s defense attorney. “And if you work in the executive branch, you work for me.”
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr emphasized the president’s influence over the media, pointing to PBS and NPR being defunded and praising the departure of people like Stephen Colbert, whose show will end in May.
“President Trump is taking on the fake news media, and President Trump is winning,” he said.
Straw poll results
Every year, CPAC conducts a straw poll as an informal measure of conservatives’ sentiments.
Asked who they wanted as Republicans’ presidential nominee in 2028, Vice President JD Vance finished first with 53% support. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was second with 35%. No other potential candidate surpassed 2% support. (Trump, who has mused about serving a third term despite constitutional limits, was not listed as an option.)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton got CPAC’s endorsement in the U.S. Senate runoff on May 26, when he’s facing incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.
CPAC goes global
As in previous years, CPAC leaned into its relationships overseas.
The conference featured international speakers like Polish President Karol Nawrocki and former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who announced the first British CPAC in July.
Conservatives from Australia, Brazil Germany, Hungary and Japan also appeared on stage to say they’re developing or working to put on similar conferences in their nations.
GRAPEVINE (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s was the unofficial guest of honor at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where hundreds of right-wing activists from around the country hailed him as Republicans’ clear choice for U.S. Senate.
He met with supporters behind closed doors, gave the keynote address at the Ronald Reagan dinner and held court during a private reception where people lined up for handshakes and photos. Audiences cheered for Paxton and booed any mention of Sen. John Cornyn, Paxton’s opponent in the May 26 runoff.
If Paxton wins the nomination, it will be because of support from his party’s fervent grassroots base. That rock-solid foundation rescued Paxton’s political career after he was impeached — but acquitted — for corruption charges by the Texas Legislature three years ago.
“I want you to know, there’s only one reason I got through all that, and it’s by the grace of God,” he said in his Friday night speech as a wave of applause rolled through the hall. “He absolutely delivered me, and he used to people of Texas to deliver me.”
Neither Paxton nor Cornyn won enough votes in the March 3 primary to clinch the nomination outright. Although Cornyn has raised far more money and is backed by the party establishment in Washington, Paxton’s well-honed survival skills could lead him to victory.
The winner will face Democrat James Talarico, a state lawmaker, in what will be one of the most closely watched Senate races as Republicans try to retain their grip of Congress.
Cornyn did not attend CPAC, which was held at a resort and convention center near Dallas. Paxton was the overwhelming favorite in CPAC’s straw poll, beating Cornyn by more than three to one, and he won the organization’s endorsement.
‘There’s got to be a change’
President Donald Trump promised that he would endorse either Paxton or Cornyn weeks ago, but no announcement ever came. Paxton, however, has had no trouble proving his bona fides with the party’s right wing.
“The real benefit of Paxton is that he is more an ally of Trump,” said Luke Brown, a 21-year-old college student from Amarillo, Texas. “There’s got to be a change for newer conservatives.
He added that, “I have respect for Cornyn. I just think it’s time for someone more conservative.”
Although Cornyn finished first in the primary, which also included Rep. Wesley Hunt, Paxton swiftly appealed to Trump by embracing legislation known as the SAVE Act, which would mean new, strict proof-of-citizenship requirements for voting. The proposal is a priority for the president, but it has stalled in the Senate because Republican leaders do not want to lift the filibuster.
Paxton said he would consider stepping aside if the legislation passed and accused Cornyn of being a “coward.” About a week later, Cornyn reversed his position on the filibuster and wrote in an op-ed that “I support whatever changes to Senate rules that may prove necessary.”
‘Too little too late’
Paxton crowed about the shift during his reception on Saturday.
“Unfortunately, John Cornyn has never been focused on this issue until right now, when I called him out on it,” he told supporters.
Cornyn’s campaign noted that the senator is an original co-sponsor of the voting legislation.
“Ken Paxton has lied to his staff, to taxpayers, to his colleagues and to his own family, so it should be not a surprise he’s lying here too,” said Matt Mackowiak, a senior adviser to Cornyn’s campaign.
Joe Ropar, a 72-year-old defense contractor who attended CPAC, described Paxton’s maneuvering as “brilliant.”
“Cornyn’s trying to change his stripes now,” Ropar said. “It’s too little too late.”
While Cornyn did not attend CPAC, which was held at a resort and convention center near Dallas, Paxton was extolled by speakers throughout the event.
“Ken Paxton is emblematic of the grassroots of the MAGA movement across the nation,” said Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser who hosts the “War Room” podcast, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Earlier Friday, CPAC senior fellow Mercedes Schlapp polled the crowd. Asking for a show of support for Paxton, there was a roar of cheers. When she asked about Cornyn, there was a light ripple of boos.
‘Time for a change’
Paxton reminded conservatives here of another connection with Trump: They both have portrayed themselves as the victims of political persecution. While Paxton was impeached and acquitted once, Trump went through the process twice during his first term.
Some conservative Republicans hold other grudges against Cornyn. They remember his early criticism of Trump’s proposal for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in 2016, his co-sponsoring of gun control legislation after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022, and his dismissive remarks about Trump’s comeback campaign in 2024.
Retired music teacher Valerie Burge, 58, said she voted for Cornyn in the primary because of his long service.
“But I’m not sure about the runoff,” she said. “It might be time for something new.”
Barbara Palmer, a 65-year-old lawyer, said Cornyn had simply been in office for too long. He has been a judge, state supreme court justice and state attorney general, and now he wants a fifth term as senator.
“It’s just time for a change,” Palmer said.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Aviation Funding Solvency Act. The Keep America Flying Act. The Keep Air Travel Safe Act. The Aviation Funding Stability Act.
Again and again, members of Congress have dusted off the same idea: ensuring the federal employees who control air traffic and screen passengers and bags at U.S. airports get paid during government shutdowns.
Bills to make it happen keep getting introduced in one form or another, sometimes with Democrats and Republicans as co-sponsors. Yet session after session, the result has been the same — agencies receive their annual appropriations, public outrage over long security lines and flight delays fades, legislation languishes and workers have no guarantees their paychecks won’t stop coming again.
“Once the crisis is over, people assume that the good times are back,” said Eric Chaffee, a Case Western Reserve law professor whose research includes risk management in the aviation industry. “It’s easy to pass the next big bill when you’re still in the throes of the financial crisis, but once the shutdown is done, people have a relatively short memory of the problems that it created.”
Since 2019, after a partial shutdown that spanned the holiday travel season, lawmakers have drafted, revised and reintroduced multiple proposals to pay aviation workers who would have to keep reporting for duty in the event of another budget impasse.
The Aviation Funding Stability Act of 2019 — and 2021 and 2025 — and the bipartisan Aviation Funding Solvency Act introduced after a government shutdown last fall would protect the pay of air traffic controllers. The Keep Air Travel Safe Act, filed in October, extended the protection to Transportation Security Administration agents. The Keep America Flying Act, also from October, would cover both TSA personnel and certain Federal Aviation Administration employees.
Broader proposals, like the Shutdown Fairness Act introduced in January, would maintain the pay of essential federal workers across the U.S. government. Those bills have stalled as well.
“Congress cares about headlines, and as a result of that, it means they don’t always make changes that would be really beneficial,” Chaffee said.
Political gridlock
Shutdowns that disrupt air travel have continued along with the push for aviation-specific pay protections. The 35-day shutdown that arose over funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border during President Donald Trump’s first term resulted in delays at East Coast airports and prolonged wait times at some airports as air traffic controllers and TSA agents went unpaid.
Last fall’s 43-day shutdown broke the record for the longest funding lapse and revived concerns over the consequences of requiring air traffic controllers to work without pay. The FAA, citing risks to aviation safety, took the extraordinary step of ordering U.S. airlines to cut flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports as unscheduled absences deepened existing staffing shortages at air traffic control facilities.
TSA officers who worked through that shutdown also found themselves working through a short one that started on Jan. 31 and yet another when funding for only the Department of Homeland Security lapsed on Feb. 14. Thousands began missing shifts each day as the stalemate entered its second month.
Carlos Rodriguez, a TSA agent and local union leader in New York, said many workers had not recovered financially from last year’s shutdown when this one hit.
“Part of the American dream that I was sold was that working for the government was honorable and stable,” Rodriguez, a second generation Dominican American, said. “But this is not honorable or stable.”
On Friday, the 42nd day of the DHS shutdown, Trump signed an emergency order instructing Homeland Security to pay TSA agents immediately. The action came after House Republicans defeated a Senate deal that would have funded the TSA, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. The House later in the night passed its own bill to fund the entire Homeland Security department through May 22, but senators had already left town.
Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the TSA division of the American Federation of Government Employees, said union members resent having their livelihoods used as tools and talking points in a game of political brinkmanship.
To them, the machinations of Congress feel like “let’s checkmate the queen with the TSA pawn here, and then we’ll smash them over whenever we feel like it,” Jones said. “We’re on the chess board.”
Public pressure builds
Labor unions, airline leaders and airport executives have issued open letters, taken out newspaper ads and made direct appeals to urge lawmakers to act on at least one of the existing bipartisan proposals.
“Congress has the power to end this dysfunction once and for all, and must use any legislative vehicle to accomplish this goal,” the Modern Skies Coalition said in a joint statement this week. The broad coalition of more than 60 organizations pointed to the Aviation Funding Solvency Act, Aviation Funding Stability Act and Keep America Flying Act as potential options.
The president and CEO of Airlines for America, a trade group representing major U.S. airlines, made a similar case in a Washington Times op-ed this week, writing that Congress “must get to the table immediately” and pass legislation that would prevent more scenes of frustrated passengers, overflowing airport terminals and donation drives for public servants.
“Right now, lawmakers are sitting on their hands doing nothing with three viable, bipartisan bills that could prevent this mess,” wrote Chris Sununu, a former New Hampshire governor hired to lead the trade group last year.
The American Federation of Government Employees joined more than 30 unions this week in urging Congress to pass the Shutdown Fairness Act, warning that funding lapses undermined employee morale, recruitment and retention.
Breaking the cycle
Some TSA workers have reported sleeping in their cars or thinking about selling them to make rent. Union leaders have described workers not being able to fill their refrigerators or gas tanks.
Caleb Harmon-Marshall, a former TSA officer who runs a travel newsletter called Gate Access, said the officers he’s spoken with are eager to receive all of their back pay quickly because they are struggling to pay their bills and accumulating debt. But without greater certainty, more officers may miss shifts or decide to quit, he said.
If the president’s emergency order only funds a single pay period, “that’s not enough to bring them back,” Harmon-Marshall said. “It has to be an extended pay for them to come back or want to stay there.”
Previous legislation with bipartisan backing struggled to make it across the finish line. The Aviation Funding Act of 2019 that was introduced by Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, had 13 co-sponsors, eight of them Democrats. It never made it out of committee. A House version introduced by Oregon Democrat Peter DeFazio eventually had 303 co-sponsors and cleared the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee but never received a floor vote.
The current political environment in the U.S. may consign the legislation in Congress now to the same fate, Chaffee said.
“We live in a society currently where things are very polarized,” he said. “Whether or not any of these bills get passed, it will need to have political momentum behind it, meaning it will need to be something that the public really wants to see happen.”
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — It was Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s show at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where hundreds of right-wing activists from around the country hailed him as Republicans’ clear choice for U.S. Senate.
After meeting with supporters behind closed doors, Paxton crowned the day by standing before thousands as the keynote speaker at the Ronald Reagan dinner.
Paxton thanked them for sticking by his side after he was impeached — but acquitted — for corruption charges by the Legislature four years ago.
“I want you to know, there’s only one reason I got through all that, and it’s by the grace of God,” he said Friday night as a wave of applause rolled through the hall. “He absolutely delivered me, and he used to people of Texas to deliver me.”
If Paxton is going to win the Republican nomination, it will be because of support in rooms like this one. He is in a bitter runoff with Sen. John Cornyn after neither won enough votes in the March 3 primary. Although Cornyn has raised far more money and is backed by the party establishment in Washington, Paxton’s well-honed survival skills and rock-solid foundation with the local Republican base could see him through the May 26 election.
President Donald Trump promised that he would endorse either Paxton or Cornyn weeks ago, but no announcement ever came. Paxton, however, has had no trouble proving his bona fides with the party’s right wing.
While Cornyn did not attend CPAC, which was held at a resort and convention center near Dallas, Paxton was extolled by speakers throughout the day.
“Ken Paxton is emblematic of the grassroots of the MAGA movement across the nation,” Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser who hosts the “War Room” podcast, said referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan that originated in his 2016 campaign.
Earlier Friday, CPAC senior fellow Mercedes Schlapp polled the crowd. Asking for a show of support for Paxton, there was a roar of cheers. When she asked about Cornyn, there was a light ripple of boos.
Cornyn finished first in the primary, which also featured U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt. There were briefly concerns among Paxton’s supporters that Trump would back the incumbent. That would have come as a relief to party leaders, who view Cornyn as stronger candidate against Democratic nominee James Talarico.
But Paxton appealed to Trump by embracing legislation known as the SAVE Act, which would mean new, strict proof-of-citizenship requirements for voting. The proposal is a priority for Trump, but it has stalled in the Senate because Republican leaders do not want to lift the filibuster.
Joe Ropar, a 72-year-old defense contractor who attended CPAC, said Paxton’s move was “brilliant.” Although Cornyn later said he was willing to change filibuster rules, Ropar believed Paxton had demonstrated stronger loyalty to Trump.
“Cornyn’s trying to change his stripes now,” Ropar said. “It’s too little too late.”
Paxton has another political connection with Trump: They both have portrayed themselves as the victims of political persecution. While Paxton was impeached and acquitted once, Trump went through the process twice during his first term.
James Schaare, a 61-year-old church music leader from Euless, Texas, said that perseverance shows Paxton is the right choice.
“In Paxton’s career, he’s been faithful to what he’s said he’s going to do,” he said.
Some conservative Republicans hold other grudges against Cornyn. They remember his early criticism of Trump’s proposal for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in 2016, his co-sponsoring of gun control legislation after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022, and his dismissive remarks about Trump’s comeback campaign in 2024.
Retired music teacher Valerie Burge, 58, said she voted for Cornyn in the primary because of his long service.
“But I’m not sure about the runoff,” she said. “It might be time for something new.”
Barbara Palmer, a 65-year-old lawyer, said Cornyn had simply been in office for too long. He has been a judge, state supreme court justice and state attorney general, and now he wants a fifth term as senator.
“It’s just time for a change,” Palmer said.
AUSTIN – Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick expanded on an initial list of priorities that included “preventing Sharia law” and looking into Medicaid fraud by directing state senators to research a wide range of policy issues ahead of next year’s legislative session, including prediction markets, data centers, THC, and more.
Patrick’s priorities included data centers three times. The Lieutenant Governor, who is in charge of the state senate, gave various committees instructions to evaluate the water requirements of “energy-intensive technologies,” such as data centers, and to think about how to meet their electricity needs. Additionally, Patrick charged the Health and Human Services Committee with researching “the impact of THC on increased health care costs, mental health emergency detentions, and the risk of being diagnosed with a THC-induced psychotic disorder,” indicating a continued focus on outlawing hemp-based THC products.
Patrick expressed interest in prediction market gambling because, despite the state’s ban on sports betting and casinos, markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have grown thanks to a federal loophole. Regarding property taxes, Patrick reiterated “Operation Double Nickel,” his plan to lower property taxes by raising the portion of a home’s value that is exempt from taxes in order to fund public education.
GRAPEVINE – On Friday, the Texas Tribune reported that Bo French, a Republican running for Texas Railroad Commissioner, called for the deportation of 100 million people, or almost one-third of the nation’s population. “I’m going to say something that’s going to make some people uncomfortable: The problem is, we call it Sharia [law], but the problem is actually Islam,” French said.
During a panel discussion titled “Do not Sharia My Texas” at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine, French, a former Tarrant County GOP chair who has previously faced criticism from his own party for his frequent use of derogatory language on social media, made the remarks. According to the Pew Research Center, there were 14 million undocumented immigrants in the United States in 2023. This means that French is advocating for the deportation of millions of Americans. Gov. Greg Abbott praised his efforts to combat Islam in Texas at a later CPAC panel, stating that it is “something that we have been fighting for well over a decade.”
ABILENE (AP) – Microsoft is taking over a data center construction project in Texas after OpenAI declined to pursue it, in a move that will make the two companies neighbors at one of the nation’s largest complexes for running artificial intelligence.
Data center developer Crusoe said Friday it is working with Microsoft to build two new “AI factory” buildings and an on-site power plant in Abilene, Texas, right next to where Crusoe has been building an even larger computing campus for OpenAI and Oracle.
OpenAI’s existing project, the flagship of a broader initiative called Stargate, is so massive that President Donald Trump was the first to officially announce it just after his inauguration last year to signal AI investments he called a “resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential.”
Microsoft was once OpenAI’s exclusive cloud computing provider and still holds a roughly 27% stake in the ChatGPT maker, but the two companies are increasingly pursuing AI development separately, even though they are on the same tract of land.
Crusoe has already completed two buildings for OpenAI and its other cloud partner, Oracle, supplying a surge of computing power that helps build and operate technology like ChatGPT. SoftBank was also an investment partner. Crusoe is still completing six more buildings for OpenAI and Oracle due to be completed by the end of this year.
OpenAI said earlier this month that it dropped plans to expand its Abilene project even further.
“Our flagship Stargate site is one of the largest AI data center campuses in the United States,” said Sachin Katti, OpenAI’s head of compute infrastructure, in a post on X. “We considered expanding it further, but ultimately chose to put that additional capacity in other locations.”
Katti said OpenAI has more than half a dozen sites under development across the United States, including one it is building with Oracle in Wisconsin.
Microsoft’s additional two Abilene facilities announced Friday will bring the total number to 10 data center buildings, expected to supply a stunning 2.1 gigawatts of computing capacity from what was once a vast tract of mesquite shrub lands, home to coyote and roadrunners.
Originally planned as a facility to mine cryptocurrency, developers pivoted and expanded their designs after ChatGPT sparked an AI boom.
Crusoe co-founder and CEO Chase Lochmiller said in a written statement that a new power plant attached to the Microsoft project will be able to generate 900 megawatts to “continue building the industrial foundation for American AI — at a velocity the industry has never seen.”
That will be larger than the existing 350-megawatt, gas-fired power plant attached to the OpenAI and Oracle project. Oracle has previously described that on-site plant as a backup source of power, since the data centers primarily draw from the region’s electricity grid, which includes power supplied by nearby wind farms.
The AI race has been complicating tech companies’ commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, most of which come from the burning of gas, oil and coal and drive climate change. “We’re burning gas to run this data center,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said while visiting Abilene last year, adding that “in the long trajectory of Stargate” the hope is to rely on many other power sources.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The astronauts set to become the first lunar visitors in more than half a century arrived at their launch site Friday, joining the towering rocket that stands poised to blast off next week and send them around the moon.
Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman flew in with his three crewmates from Houston. It was the closest they’ve come to launching. Fuel leaks and other rocket issues caused two months of delay and double hangar-to-pad rollouts.
NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman greeted the astronauts as they emerged from their T-38 training jets at Kennedy Space Center. Besides Wiseman, the crew includes NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen.
NASA is aiming for liftoff as soon as Wednesday. The space agency has the first six days of April to launch the Space Rocket System rocket before standing down for nearly a month.
The Orion capsule atop the rocket will carry the four on NASA’s first astronaut moonshot since Apollo 17 in 1972. The 10-day flight will end with a Pacific splashdown.
Earlier this week, Isaacman outlined a fresh plan for the moon base that NASA intends to build under the Artemis program. The upcoming moonshot will be followed in 2027 by a lunar lander demo in orbit around Earth and in 2028 by one and possibly two lunar landings by astronauts.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — New U.S. House districts in Missouri backed by President Donald Trump can be used ahead of the midterm elections, despite the potential for a voter referendum on the new map, a judge ruled Friday.
The decision by Cole County Circuit Judge Brian Stumpe marked a triumph for Republicans, who hope the districts will help them win an additional congressional seat in the November midterm elections.
Opponents of the new districts asserted they should have been automatically suspended in December when more than 300,000 petition signatures were submitted calling for a statewide referendum on the plan.
But Stumpe said opponents lacked the legal grounds to sue, had done so too soon and were asking the court to get involved in a political question best left to the executive and legislative branches. He said the new map can be suspended only if it is ultimately determined that the referendum petition meets legal muster and contains enough valid signatures.
“Without verification requirements, any group could suspend legislation merely by submitting boxes of invalid signatures, signatures of unregistered voters, forged names, or other fraudulent submissions,” Stumpe wrote. “Clearly, the framers of Missouri’s Constitution could not have intended such an easily exploited system that would allow bad-faith actors to paralyze the legislative process.”
Under state law, Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins has until Aug. 4 — the date of Missouri’s primary election — to make a final determination on the validity of the referendum petition.
Missouri is one of several states engaged in a national redistricting battle that began last summer when Trump called upon Texas Republicans to redraw House districts to try to give the GOP an advantage in this year’s midterm elections. After Texas acted, California Democrats reciprocated with their own new districts, and a tit-for-tat redistricting clash soon spread among states.
The redistricting fight, so far, has resulted in only a slight edge for Republicans as they try to hold on to their narrow House majority. But voters in Virginia are deciding in an April 21 election whether to authorize a mid-decade redistricting that could help Democrats win several additional seats.
It’s uncertain whether all the manipulation of voting district boundaries ultimately will make a difference in which party wins control of the House. The party in power typically loses seats in the midterms and Trump faces negative approval ratings in polls.
Missouri currently is represented in the U.S. House by six Republicans and two Democrats under a map passed in 2022 based on the most recent census. At the time, Republican lawmakers turned back an attempt by some in the party to push a map giving Republicans a shot at winning seven seats. They cited concerns that it could spread Republicans too thin and backfire in losses if Democrats enjoyed a favorable election year.
But Republicans set aside those concerns last year under pressure from the White House to revise the districts for partisan advantage.
A new map passed during a September special legislative session was intended to help Republicans win a Kansas City-area seat currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. It reassigned portions of Kansas City to two neighboring districts represented by Republicans and stretched the remainder of his 5th Congressional District eastward into Republican-heavy rural areas.
The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a legal challenge asserting that mid-decade redistricting wasn’t allowed under the state constitution. A trial court also recently rejected a legal challenge asserting that the new districts violate constitutional requirements to be compact. Plaintiffs have appealed that case to the state Supreme Court.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The astronaut who prompted NASA’s first medical evacuation earlier this year said Friday that doctors still don’t know why he suddenly fell sick at the International Space Station.
Four-time space flier Mike Fincke said he was eating dinner on Jan. 7 after prepping for a spacewalk the next day when it happened. He couldn’t talk and remembers no pain, but his anxious crewmates jumped into action after seeing him in distress and requested help from flight surgeons on the ground.
“It was completely out of the blue. It was just amazingly quick,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press from Houston’s Johnson Space Center.
Fincke, 59, a retired Air Force colonel, said the episode lasted roughly 20 minutes and he felt fine afterward. He said he still does. He never experienced anything like that before or since.
Doctors have ruled out a heart attack and Fincke said he wasn’t choking, but everything else is still on the table and could be related to his 549 days of weightlessness. He was 5 ½ months into his latest space station stay when the problem struck like “a very, very fast lightning bolt.”
“My crewmates definitely saw that I was in distress,” he said, with all six gathering around him. “It was all hands on deck within just a matter of seconds.”
Fincke said he can’t provide any more details about his medical episode. The space agency wants to make sure that other astronauts do not feel that their medical privacy will be compromised if something happens to them, he said.
The space station’s ultrasound machine came in handy when the event occurred, he said, and he’s gone through numerous tests since returning to Earth. NASA is poring through other astronauts’ medical records to see if any related instances that might have occurred in space, he said.
Fincke identified himself late last month as the one who was sick to end the swirling public speculation.
He still feels bad that his illness caused the spacewalk to be canceled — it would have been his 10th spacewalk but first for crewmate Zena Cardman — and resulted in an early return for her and their two other crewmates. SpaceX brought them back on Jan. 15, more than a month early, and they went straight to the hospital.
“I’ve been very lucky to be super healthy. So this was very surprising for everyone,” he said.
Fincke stopped apologizing to everybody after NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman ordered him to stop.
“This wasn’t you. This was space, right?” his colleagues assured him. “You didn’t let anybody down.”
Ever the optimist, he’s holding out hope that he can return to space one day.