Today is
Thursday June 04, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — The dangerous heat wave shattering March records all over the U.S. Southwest is more than just another extreme weather blip. It’s the latest next-level weather wildness that is occurring ever more frequently as Earth’s warming builds.
Experts said unprecedented and deadly weather extremes that sometimes strike at abnormal times and in unusual places are putting more people in danger. For example, the Southwest is used to coping with deadly heat, but not months ahead of schedule, including a 112 degrees Fahrenheit (44.4 degrees Celsius) reading in two Arizona communities on Friday that smashed the highest March temperature recorded in the U.S. Two places in Southern California also hit that same temperature. All four spots are clustered within about 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) of each other.
“This is what climate change looks like in real time: extremes pushing beyond the bounds we once thought possible,” said University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver. “What used to be unprecedented events are now recurring features of a warming world.”
March’s heat would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change, according to a report Friday by World Weather Attribution, an international group of scientists who study the causes of extreme weather events.
More than a dozen scientists, meteorologists and disaster experts queried by The Associated Press put the March heat wave in a kind of ultra-extreme classification with such events as the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave, the 2022 Pakistan floods and killer hurricanes Helene, Harvey and Sandy.
The area of the U.S. being hit by extreme weather in the past five years has doubled from 20 years ago, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Extremes Index, which includes various types of wild weather, such as heat and cold waves, downpours and drought.
The United States is breaking 77% more hot weather records now than in the 1970s and 19% more than the 2010s, according to an AP analysis of NOAA records. In the United States, the number and average cost of inflation-adjusted billion-dollar weather disasters in the last couple years is twice as high as just 10 years ago and nearly four times higher than 30 years ago, according to records kept by NOAA and Climate Central, a nonprofit group of scientists and communicators who research and report on climate change.
Trying to keep up with extremes and failing
“It’s really hard to even keep up with how extreme our extremes are becoming,” said Climate Central Chief Meteorologist Bernadette Woods Placky. “It’s changing our risk, it’s change our relationship with weather, it’s putting more people in risky situations and at times we’re not used to. So yes, we are pushing extremes to new levels across all different types of weather.”
For government officials who have to deal with disaster it’s been a huge problem.
Craig Fugate, who directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency until 2017, said he saw extremes increasing.
“We were operating outside the historical playbook more and more. Flood maps, surge models, heat records — events kept showing up outside the envelope we built systems around. That’s just what we saw,” Fugate said via email.
He added: “We built communities on about 100 years of past weather and assumed that was a good guide going forward. That assumption is starting to break. And the clearest signal isn’t the science debate. It’s insurers walking away.”
‘Virtually impossible’ without climate change
Climate scientists at World Weather Attribution did a flash analysis — which is not peer-reviewed yet — of whether climate change was a factor in this Southwest heat wave. They compared this week’s expected temperatures to what’s been observed in the area in March since 1900 and computer models of a world with climate change. They found that “events as warm as in March 2026 would have been virtually impossible without human-induced climate change.”
That warming, from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, added between 4.7 degrees to 7.2 degrees F (2.6 to 4 degrees C) to the temperatures being felt, the report found.
“What we can very confidently say is that human-caused warming has increased the temperatures that we’re seeing as a result of this heat dome, and it’s going to be pushing those temperatures from what would have been very uncomfortable into potentially dangerous,” said report co-author Clair Barnes, an Imperial College of London attribution scientist.
Examples abound of high heat and extreme weather
The Southwest heat wave is solidly in the category of “giant events,” with temperatures up to 30 degrees Fahrenheit (16.7 degrees Celsius) above normal, said Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field.
He listed five others in the last six years: a 2020 Siberia heat wave, the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave that had British Columbia warmer than Death Valley, the summer of 2022 in North America, China and Europe, a 2023 western Mediterranean heat wave and a 2023 South Asian heat wave with high humidity.
And that doesn’t include the East Antarctica heat wave of 2022 when temperatures were 81 degrees (45 degrees Celsius) warmer than normal. That’s the biggest anomaly recorded, said weather historian Chris Burt, author of the book “Extreme Weather.”
Worsening wild weather influenced by climate change isn’t just superhot days, but includes deadly hurricanes, droughts and downpours, scientists told AP.
Devastating floods hit West Africa in 2022 and again in 2024. Iran is in the midst of a six-year drought. And the deadly Typhoon Haiyan hitting the Philippines in 2013 shocked the world.
Superstorm Sandy, which in 2012 flooded New York City and neighbors, had tropical storm-force winds that covered an area nearly one-fifth the area of the contiguous United States. It spawned 12-foot seas over 1.4 million square miles, about half the size of the U.S., with energy equivalent to five Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs, said Yale Climate Connections meteorologist Jeff Masters.
And don’t forget wildfires that are worsened by heat and drought, so recent extremes should include 2025’s Palisades and Eaton wildfires, which were the costliest weather disaster in the United States last year, said Climate Central meteorologist and economist Adam Smith.
“This is due to climate change, that we see more extreme events, and more intense ones and have so many records being broken,” said Friederike Otto, an Imperial College of London climate scientist who coordinates World Weather Attribution.
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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Associated Press reporter Hallie Golden contributed from Seattle.
LIVINGSTON (KETK) — An investigation into the sale of illegal drugs near a Livingston elementary school came to an end on Wednesday with the arrest of a man following the discovery of drugs in his residence. According to the Livingston Police Department, officers were looking into the sale of illegal drugs near Pine Ridge Primary School in a “lengthy” investigation.
Officers executed a search warrant at a home connected to the investigation, finding the following:
– Methamphetamine
– Crack cocaine
– MDMA
– Synthetic marijuana
– Illegally possessed prescription medications
– Items commonly used to sell and distribute drugs
– A firearm
The suspect, Alvin Taylor II was later arrested and charged with six counts of manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. Taylor is currently being held at the Polk County Jail under a $330,000 bond. Since his residence was in a drug-free zone, some charges were increased and additional charges may be filed.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — In polite company or otherwise, the Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott is very comfortable talking to people about religion and politics.
She delivered an impassioned sermon last Sunday encouraging the people in the pews at Grace Lutheran Church to welcome strangers as Jesus did. The day before, she campaigned for Congress in rural Iowa, decrying Medicaid cuts and their impact on people’s access to health care.
The Lutheran pastor and state senator is one of three clergy members in Iowa running as Democrats for the U.S. House of Representatives.
After years of white Christians overwhelmingly supporting Republican Donald Trump, a striking number of clergy are currently running for political office as Democrats. While James Talarico, a 36-year-old Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seminarian who recently won his Texas primary for U.S. Senate, has gained national attention, he’s hardly the only progressive candidate with a theological education this midterm season.
“Because there’s been the tendency to define Christianity as very conservative and with a Christian nationalist lens, I think you are seeing people on the Democratic side saying, ‘Wait a minute. There are different ways to think about how our faith informs our policy,’” said Melissa Deckman, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute.
Democrats’ next challenge is to figure out how to talk about faith for the long haul in a party that’s more religiously diverse than Republicans and has a greater number of voters who aren’t religious at all.
Talking about religion
Trone Garriott, ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has done extensive interfaith work, something she says has made her a better Lutheran. It’s also informed how she campaigns, sliding seamlessly into a Friday night Lenten fish fry at a Catholic church then going straight to an Iftar dinner at a mosque down the road.
Despite high-profile politicians including former President Joe Biden, a lifelong Catholic Democrat, being candid about their faith, Trone Garriott thinks part of the reason many Democrats have failed to engage certain religious groups is a discomfort in talking meaningfully about it.
“A lot of folks just don’t have the practice to do it in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s imposing oneself on others or being dismissive of other perspectives,” she said. “Folks tend to fall back into this, ‘Well, everyone’s basically the same.’ We’re different and those differences are important.”
But Trone Garriott senses Democrats are now seeing that glossing over religious differences isn’t the answer. “That left a vacuum that the religious right has filled. And there are a lot of people now realizing that it is really important to speak about these issues from the perspective of faith and claim their faith,” she said.
Talarico, a Texas state representative who reaped national attention last summer after appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast, has done just that.
“If we have to force people to put up a poster, to me that means that we have a dead religion,” he said of his opposition to a Texas bill requiring that public schools display the Ten Commandments.
Deckman argues what makes Talarico unique among white Democrats is his comfort in talking about the Bible. But it’s also made him a target for conservatives, particularly his theological rationale for supporting abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights.
“He would be one that I would say, ‘Wait a minute. You are misrepresenting the word of God,’” said Bob Vander Plaats, the politically influential president and CEO of the conservative Christian group The Family Leader. “The GOP has been vastly more consistent in their proximity to God’s word, versus using a verse here and there to try to back up a position.”
Religious voters at the polls
In the 2024 election, Trump once again won the support of about 8 in 10 white evangelical Christian voters, according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 120,000 voters, while the same percentage of Black Protestant voters went for Democrat Kamala Harris. About 7 in 10 nonreligious voters supported Harris.
Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he attributes that lack of support from certain religious voters to messaging within the party.
“We stopped talking about our why,” he said. “When that happens, I think you lose your authenticity. And sometimes that means that people stop believing that you are going to work as hard as you’re committed to doing.”
Amid speculation he will run for president in 2028, Beshear, a deacon for his Disciples of Christ church, hopes to communicate his motivations with his forthcoming book, “Go and Do Likewise: How We Heal a Broken Country,” a reference to the Bible’s Parable of the Good Samaritan.
“My faith is is my authentic why. It’s what drives me to try to better this world,” he said.
For some, the overwhelming support for Trump among white Christians has caused them to look inward. “I put that on us as pastors, that maybe we haven’t done a great job of explaining the faith to people,” said Clint Twedt-Ball, a minister running for Congress in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.
From pews to halls of power
Black clergy running as Democrats is not new. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., is a Baptist senior pastor and the late Rev. Jesse Jackson was a two-time presidential candidate. There are fewer examples of white clergy doing the same, despite the obvious skills, like preaching, that translate to campaigning.
Both Twedt-Ball, a third-generation United Methodist pastor and founder of the nonprofit Matthew 25, and Lindsay James, a PCUSA chaplain who is also running in Iowa’s 2nd district, said the 2016 election was a catalyst for their political involvement.
The rise of pastors in politics extends beyond congressional races.
Rae Huang, also a PCUSA minister and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is challenging Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Huang said her candor about being a pastor has sparked questions from voters.
“‘Are you somebody who is homophobic? Are you somebody who is gonna try and create a theocracy in our city?’ Because that’s all they’ve known,” she recalled. She sees an opportunity to give voters a positive vision of her theology. “Religion doesn’t have to be that space of oppression, that space where we have been suppressing voices rather than uplifting and liberating.”
Finding hope through faith
After he was elected New York City’s first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani appeared on comedian Trevor Noah’s podcast and argued the importance in politics of having the imagination for change — a theme Noah linked to religion.
“Religion is declining, but it’s declining in areas where people are particularly left-leaning or progressive,” Noah said. “One of the things that faith requires of you is the ability to believe that this current state that you’re in is not the end — there is a possibility that something can be greater.”
Mamdani, who is not clergy but is vocal about his faith, agreed. “It’s often in houses of worship where New Yorkers still have that trust,” he said. “It’s by and large lost when it comes to politics.”
Huang, who the Los Angeles Times speculated could be “L.A.’s Mamdani,” echoed this sentiment.
“We’re called and being invited to be prophetic, to be forward thinking, to actually grow our imagination,” she said. “The religious right has a hold over American culture. I think that’s changing. I think progressive Christianity is beginning to stand up.”
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Clergy will be allowed to minister to immigrants in a holding facility at the headquarters of the Trump administration’s enforcement surge in Minnesota, a federal judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell granted an injunction requested by Minnesota branches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and a Catholic priest who had sued the Department of Homeland Security.
Under his ruling, clergy will be allowed in-person pastoral visits to all detainees at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the site of frequent protests over roughly the 3,000 federal officers who had surged into the state at the height of the crackdown.
Blackwell said the plaintiffs had met their burden of proving that they’re likely to succeed when the case reaches a final conclusion, and that restrictions on the religious freedom of clergy to minister to detainees constitutes “irreparable harm.”
He ordered both sides to meet within four business days to try to agree on details for how to provide access that takes into account the government’s legitimate security concerns, and then submit a plan within seven business days, or competing proposals if they can’t agree.
Bishop Jennifer Nagel, of the Minneapolis Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was turned away from Whipple when she tried to go to visit with detainees on Ash Wednesday. She told reporters after the hearing that serving people in crisis is fundamental in many religions.
“The trauma that families are going through, and individuals are going through, at these times is exorbitant. And so to be able to meet people in those needs, that’s very much at the core, the heart and soul of what we do as ministers of all different traditions,” Nagel said.
The lawsuit alleges the Whipple building, named for Minnesota’s first Episcopal bishop, a 19th-century advocate for human rights, “now stands in stark contrast to its namesake’s legacy.” It says the building has “become the epicenter of systematic deprivation of fundamental constitutional and legal rights by the federal government.”
Government attorneys noted that Operation Metro Surge officially ended on Feb. 12. They also said the number of new detentions has since subsided, so temporary restrictions on visitors have been eased, and clergy visits have been allowed for over two weeks.
But Blackwell agreed with attorneys for the plaintiffs who argued that the issue isn’t moot, because the government still doesn’t have a formal plan requiring access that sets out who decides the conditions under which clergy are admitted.
Catholic and Episcopal bishops in Minnesota, other Christian and Jewish clergy, and the Minnesota Council of Churches also formally supported the request. The courtroom was filled with Lutheran, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist, Jewish and other clergy.
Clergy across the country have been pushing for more access to immigration detention facilities, especially during the holy seasons of Lent and Ramadan. It’s a longstanding practice for faith leaders to minister to detainees. but it has become far more contentious amid the current immigration crackdown.
It took a similar lawsuit for two Catholic priests and a nun to gain entry into an ICE facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview on Ash Wednesday last month. And Muslim and Christian clergy in Texas have struggled to get into large Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities there.
Tauria Rich, a senior local ICE official who oversees Whipple, said in a filing this week that visitors to Whipple are rare, and that any clergy requests are handled on a case-by-case basis. She said one clergy member had attempted to visit in early March, but left because no detainees were present. The visit would have been allowed if any detainees had been there, she said.
ICE calls the building a short-term holding facility, and not the kind of long-term detention center where clergy visits are normally allowed.
It’s not just clergy who’ve struggled to get in. Three members of Congress from Minnesota were turned away when they tried to inspect the facility. Once they did get in, they reported poor conditions.
Access has also been an issue for attorneys. Homeland Security was ordered by a different federal judge last month to give new detainees at Whipple immediate access to counsel before they’re taken elsewhere. That judge held a hearing this week to consider whether to convert her temporary order into a more permanent injunction. Her ruling is pending.
Jessica Jackson was supposed to be released from Dallas County jail in time for the holidays last year. She was arrested in early December for misdemeanor drug possession and violating parole, but was credited time for two years she’d already served on a previous aggravated robbery sentence.
With the credits, Jackson was eligible for release on Dec. 19, when a judge ruled she had no time left to serve. But, Christmas passed, then New Year’s, and despite daily calls to jail staff from her public defender, family and a friend trying to help her, she could not understand why she was still in jail.
By the time the county released Jackson 49 days later on Feb. 6, she had missed a job interview that she scheduled and lost her state-provided housing after missing a filing deadline, all without knowing why she was held so long, she said.
“I lost everything,” Jackson said. “I was expecting to go home that day, and I’d been gone for two months, so that position was already filled, where I was going to work at. So, it was really frustrating.”
What happened to Jackson is not unique to Dallas County, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment on her case. It’s unknown exactly how many Texans in county jails are kept well past the time they’re supposed to be released. That’s because no state agency tracks the number of so-called post-conviction over-detentions, and no state law prevents or punishes it. State agencies, including the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, also do not formally track the number of over-detention cases.
Multiple attorneys told The Texas Tribune that delays in “pen packets” are often the reason why people are overstaying their sentences, including in about a dozen cases in the last five years that the Tribune reviewed. These packets are a collection of documents about an inmate’s impending release that counties must send to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to be processed before release.
Unbeknownst to Jackson, Dallas County had not sent her pen packet to TDCJ by email until Jan. 29, and did not mark it for expediting until Feb. 2, more than a month after her sentencing, emails between the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office and TDCJ show.
State law outlines deadlines for TDCJ to process pen packets, but does not require counties to send the documents to TDCJ on time. Counties have attributed delays to a variety of reasons including difficulties with technology or calculating an inmate’s sentence, but all result in late releases.
After the Tribune asked about the lack of regulations or monitoring of over-detention, TDCJ said it plans on asking counties to indicate whether an inmate is “time-served” — a judge has ruled they are eligible for immediate release. It will act as “another layer of reminder” to get people stuck in Jackson’s position out of jail quicker, according to TDCJ.
This change, however, does not solve the problem of counties’ delaying sending their pen packets to TDCJ.
Without state oversight, over-detention victims have resorted to private lawsuits to get compensation, which can be a time-consuming way of getting reparations and expensive for counties. In February, 102 inmates settled a $1.5 million lawsuit against Smith County for pen packet delays that kept them confined beyond the end of their sentence, the largest settlement in Texas for victims of over-detention.
The settlement payouts lead to taxpayers having to “foot the bill twice” in many cases, said Nick Hudson, a policy and advocacy strategist with ACLU Texas: paying for the resources to house people for additional days in jail, then again for any resulting lawsuits.
Jails already face a plethora of issues that strain resources, including overcrowding and reduced staffing. Keeping inmates longer than necessary draws out those expenses.
“Coming up with a better way to ensure people are getting out when they are entitled to release, it would be good for the people who are jailed,” Hudson said. “It would be good for taxpayers. And ultimately, it’s good for the criminal legal system because we need a system that is operating based on the law and not one based on the whims of a jailer.”
At the same time, Krish Gundu, executive director of the Texas Jail Project which first identified the overdetention problem at Smith County jail, said settlements have not resulted in admissions of wrongdoing.
“Accountability is impossible to get when there is no admission of wrongdoing and unless there is admission of wrongdoing, you can’t begin to have the conversation about how to repair,” she said.
In the past two years, Dallas County commissioners have approved settlements in three lawsuits from inmates who accused the county of not releasing them from jail on time, two for $60,000 and one for $100,000.
Jackson’s public defender put her in touch with Jim Spangler, a private attorney involved in two of the previous settlements who said he was looking at 20 more cases.
Pen packet problems
Rebecca Yung, a defense attorney serving Central and West Texas, said at least three counties haven’t released her clients on time because counties have delayed in sending in pen packets to the state.
One of Yung’s clients in Tom Green County was held 17 days past his release date last May and was released only after Yung filed a request to a district judge to release him and asked to subpoena three county employees.
“Each time it comes up, it’s almost as if it’s the first time,” Yung said. “Not only do I say, ‘Hey, this person should be released,’ I always say, ‘Why did this happen? And what can I do so this doesn’t happen again?’ And I never really get much meaningful information.”
Tom Green County Sheriff Nick Hanna said in a statement that the sheriff’s office was in touch with TDCJ “to ensure inmates are not detained beyond their sentencing requirements,” but declined to answer specific questions about Yung’s client.
County officials’ delays in sending packets can dramatically affect how much additional time an inmate will have to spend incarcerated. But there are no state laws or guidelines requiring when a county should send a pen packet to TDCJ or counties to flag if a pen packet is for someone who has overstayed their sentence.
Under state law, TDCJ has 45 business days after packets are received to process them so that the agency can notify the county to release inmates, but the department aims to have expedited packets back to counties in 10 business days, TDCJ Classification and Records Director Timothy Fitzpatrick said. TDCJ encourages, but does not require counties to mark the pen packets of those who have overstayed their sentences as expedited.
TDCJ receives roughly 1,250 pen packets weekly from counties by email, mail and in some cases hand-delivery, Fitzpatrick said. It’s not clear how many of them are for those who have overstayed their sentences.
Counties have previously indicated that technical issues like incompatible jail and court software can cause delays in gathering all of the documents necessary for pen packets before sending them to TDCJ. Reports from the Dallas Morning News indicate Dallas County has pointed to jail systems causing delays as early as 2005.
But Dami Animashaun, an attorney who represented plaintiffs in the Smith County settlement, said counties show a “deliberate indifference” in ensuring timely release by pushing the blame to technological gaps. He wants state officials to implement a law or standard that tells counties to stop delaying releases.
Animashaun said without state guardrails, victims can go completely unnoticed if they don’t have an advocate on the outside like a private lawyer or a robust public defender office.
“These people have lives, and when they’re not released on time, it significantly affects their lives,” Animashaun said. “People lose jobs, people lose custody of their children.”
Jackson asked her public defender for help, had her family and lawyer speak with Dallas’ TDCJ liaison and begged officers to check her sentence, but nothing she said or did while she remained over-detained in jail seemed to quicken the process, she said.
Jail officials “kept on saying, ‘you’re going to get out, you going to get out (in) 10 days, five days,’ and it just kept on, more and more days,” Jackson said.
A state standard
To prevent over-detention and other issues caused by paperwork delays, TDCJ is launching a pilot program for a pen packet portal that would formalize the process and allow for instant document transfers between counties and the state. Dallas County will serve as the first testing ground, and Fitzpatrick said the agency hopes to begin utilizing the new program by the end of March.
Michele Deitch, a leading criminal justice expert who directs the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, said the state could do more to address the issue: have the Texas Commission on Jail Standards implement a requirement that jails release inmates when they’ve completed their sentence.
The Fourteenth Amendment bans the government from taking away a person’s freedom unfairly and arbitrarily. Having a standard would spell out what this constitutional right means to jails and what steps they need to take to avoid overdetention, instead of facing lawsuits after the harm has happened, according to Deitch.
“It’s more preventative,” she said.
When asked by the Tribune if his agency would implement a requirement for jails to stop over-detention, TCJS interim executive director Ricky Armstrong said the agency would do so if the Legislature passed a law or a member of the public proposed the change.
Armstrong said it wouldn’t be too much work for TCJS to remedy the problem, but described over-detention as a “fairly new hot topic” in the wake of the Smith County settlement.
“We definitely would be able to take it on as a responsibility, that would not be an issue (to) add to our inspections process, just another step, something else to look at,” Armstrong said. “We already look at releases, it wouldn’t take that much longer to look into some release dates.”
Republican state Sen. Pete Flores, chair of the Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee, said in a brief statement that over-detention in county jails is being “looked into and addressed,” but didn’t provide details on who was looking or what was being done.
State Rep. Sam Harless, chair of the House Corrections committee and who is not seeking reelection, was unavailable to comment.
Gundu, with the Texas Jail project, is however skeptical that adding just one requirement would fix the problem. The state needs to focus on incarcerating fewer people, she said.
“We have to start reckoning with this monster that we have created, this machinery that we have created, which routinely steals people’s lives because that’s what it did,” Gundu said. “That’s what over-detention does: you’re just basically stealing time from their life.”
Since leaving Dallas County Jail, Jackson has found a job and is staying with friends until she finds permanent housing. With no other recourse, Jackson is working with her attorney to file a lawsuit asking the county to compensate her for the mental anguish she endured during those 49 extra days she spent in jail.
“I’m trying to survive until then, I hope,” she said.
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Disclosure: ACLU Texas and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
ATLANTA (AP) – The wait times at airport security checkpoints have become a guessing game during the shutdown of a single U.S. government department, with the daily attendance of Transportation Security Administration officers determining whether lines move quickly or stretch far outside terminals.
Travelers at Houston’s largest airport endured hourslong waits Thursday morning due to staffing issues, causing some to miss their flights or scramble to their gates.
But at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which a day earlier saw some of the country’s longest security lines, officials reported largely moderate-to-low wait times. One checkpoint was closed due to low staffing, however, and lines during the early morning rush exceeded an hour.
Experts said it’s hard to predict where the lines will be the longest at any given time because much of the problem stems from TSA personnel not showing up for their shifts. The roughly 50,000 federal workers who screen passengers and bags have been working without pay while lawmakers fail to agree on funding the Department of Homeland Security.
The shutdown is the third affecting TSA workers since the fall. Growing financial strain makes it harder for them to afford basics, like gas or childcare, while continuing to report for work, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents most airport security screeners.
Homeland Security has said at least 376 TSA agents have quit since the current shutdown began on Feb. 14. About 10% of TSA officers nationwide missed work each day between Monday and Wednesday, the department reported Thursday. The agency’s employees saw their first income-free paydays last weekend.
On Wednesday, airports in Atlanta and Houston saw roughly 38% of TSA officers call out of work, according to Homeland Security. Philadelphia International Airport said 33% of the TSA officers there reported they would not be in on Wednesday, while New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport saw an absentee rate of 25%.
“This is a very unfortunate situation and an extreme situation, and one that has been dragging on far too long, and is only likely to get worse,” said Eric Rosen, director of travel content for the travel and finance site The Points Guy.
Rosen urged travelers to check security line wait times at their specific airport, either on the airport’s website or via its social media feeds. Some airports also specify which security checkpoints are open and closed, he said.
That’s useful information for the vast majority of travelers who are using the regular security lanes, he said. But given the current situation, programs that let people skip ahead can be hugely valuable. For example, when wait times hit three hours in Houston recently, getting through the TSA PreCheck line took 10 minutes, Rosen said.
“It can cut down wait times even during the best times when things are flowing smoothly, but right now we’re seeing the true value of that,” he said.
Last month, DHS said it planned to suspend the PreCheck program during the shutdown, but it quickly canceled that plan. Global Entry, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection program that allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers to use expedited kiosks when entering the U.S. from abroad, was halted for almost two and a half weeks.
Another option for shortening wait times is Clear+, a paid membership that allows users to bypass the line for getting their identities and boarding passes verified and to move directly to bag screening. The company declined to say whether it has seen an increase in members in the last month.
But traveler Sara Oberton said Thursday that she and fellow Houston passengers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport’s Terminal E were all funneled into one line, regardless of whether they had Clear+ or TSA PreCheck. An airport spokesperson declined to confirm specifics, saying only that the number of available TSA screening lanes can vary based on staffing levels.
Oberton, a fashion blogger, said it took her three hours to get through the line, causing her to miss her flight to Los Angeles.
“It is pure insanity here in Houston,” she said in a video posted on social media.
Rosen, from The Points Guy, also had some advice for those who arrive at the airport hours before their flights but still find themselves in danger of missing them: Ask an airline representative if you can cut the line.
“I know it’s a little cringe and I know it’s a little uncomfortable,” he said. “But it’s not like showing up 20 minutes before your flight and expecting just to breeze through.”
That said, airlines aren’t required to help passengers who are stranded because of the TSA staffing woes.
“It’s not on them to make sure that you get to the gate on time,” he said.
DALLAS (AP) – Scenes of airport security lines spilling out of terminals may be adding a new layer of stress for travelers as the busy spring break season unfolds.
Some airports have seen wait times stretch well past an hour. In recent days, passengers reported waiting up to two hours in line at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, while people were advised to get to the airports in New Orleans and Austin, Texas, as much as three hours before their flights.
Many other airports reported wait times in line with normal conditions, making it difficult for travelers — especially those with upcoming trips or those accustomed to arriving at the last minute — to know what to expect.
The uneven delays are being driven by a mix of factors, including a partial government shutdown that has strained Transportation Security Administration staffing, along with heavy spring break crowds. The result is a patchwork of conditions that can shift quickly, even within the same airport.
That unpredictability makes checking TSA wait times before a scheduled departure a key step for airline customers right now.
TSA is not actively managing its sites during the shutdown, meaning the wait times listed on the MyTSA mobile app may not be accurate. Experts say the estimated wait times listed on third-party websites tracking TSA lines may also be outdated during the shutdown if they rely on publicly available data.
“Luckily, major airports tend to list those checkpoint times, terminal by terminal. I can’t think of a major one that doesn’t,” said Eric Rosen, director of travel content for The Points Guy, a travel and finance advice website.
The most reliable way to monitor wait times right now is by checking an airport’s websites and social media accounts, Rosen said, including the social platform X, where many airports have been sharing timely updates and guidance.
Still, travelers should keep in mind that airport conditions can change quickly, meaning any information might not reflect what is happening at a specific time.
Experts say it’s best to check airport conditions early and often. Waiting until a few hours before a flight can leave little to no margin for delays — for example, if the drive to the airport takes 45 minutes for a flight leaving in three hours.
The shutdown, which began Feb. 14, affects only the Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA. It is the third funding lapse in a year that has left roughly 50,000 TSA agents working without pay and waiting for money from missed paychecks.
Employee absences are rising as the shutdown drags on because unpaid TSA workers face growing financial strain, making it harder to afford basics, like gas or childcare, while continuing to report for work, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents most airport security screeners. Homeland Security has said at least 366 TSA agents have quit during the shutdown.
“It’s so hard to predict where these bottlenecks are going to pop up,” Rosen said. “One airport might have 30% of its TSA agents calling out in a certain day and 10% the next day. There’s just no way to know that in advance.”
Democrats in Congress have said Homeland Security won’t get funded until new restrictions are placed on federal immigration operations following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Tyler Hosford, a security director at global risk management firm International SOS, said travelers should take a proactive approach rather than relying solely on monitoring TSA wait times.
When booking travel, flying earlier in the day can be helpful, he said, because passengers would have more time to adjust their plans if something goes wrong — whether that means rebooking another flight, departing from a different airport or arranging a rental car.
“I always say you should have a Plan B under the best of circumstances,” Hosford said. “But I think we’re to a point where you need to start having Plan C, D and maybe even E.”
If travelers arrive at an airport with long lines, it doesn’t have to be a hopeless situation, Hosford said.
Passengers can ask staff at security checkpoints for an estimated wait time and whether any assistance is available to move through the line more quickly.
“Always talk to people. It can never hurt to ask,” Hosford said. “The worst they can say is, ’No, we can’t help you.'”
If that happens, he said, contact the airline — by phone, on their mobile app or on social media — to ask about options for rebooking.
“Never stay stagnant. You want to be moving forward trying to find your options,” he said. “It can feel exhausting, but the alternate is you potentially get stuck and miss your flight.”
AUSTIN (AP) – Many of the upcoming celebrations and holidays honoring the late farmworker labor leader César Chavez are being renamed, postponed or completely canceled in the wake of allegations that he sexually abused women and girls while at the helm of the United Farm Workers Union.
Labor rights activist Dolores Huerta revealed this week she was among those who say they were abused by Chavez, who died more than three decades ago.
The allegations have prompted swift fallout, including from the United Farm Workers, which announced it would not take part in any events named after the organization’s former leader.
Several states recognize a day on or near Chavez’s March 31 birthday as an annual holiday, including California, Colorado, Minnesota, Texas, Utah and Washington. In 2014, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation designating March 31 as César Chavez Day. The day isn’t a paid holiday for federal workers, however — it’s a commemorative observance.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday that his state would not observe the holiday this year, and that he was directing all state agency heads to comply with the change. Abbott also said he would work with legislators to remove the holiday from state law.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has declined to recognize March 31 as César Chavez Day as she has in the two prior years, said Liliana Soto, a spokesperson for Hobbs. While it is not a state holiday, some Arizona municipalities recognize it, closing schools or government offices.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said he was still “processing” the news and wouldn’t commit to making any changes to the state holiday.
The city of Lansing, Michigan, canceled its Legacy of César Chavez Dinner on March 25. The featured speaker was scheduled to be granddaughter Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who was campaign manager for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
“We remain committed to honoring the Latino community, and the service, dignity, and rights of farmworkers. We will be working on further events and celebrations in the future,” the city said.
The city of Milwaukee also canceled its annual celebration.
The Coconino County Hispanic Advisory Council in Arizona postponed an annual César E. Chavez Community Breakfast, with plans to reschedule it to focus on the contributions and achievements of Hispanic residents in the county.
San Jose, the largest city in Northern California, is canceling its César Chavez celebration, the mayor announced Wednesday morning. Matt Mahan said the city would identify ways to honor the legacy of the farmworker movement without celebrating “individuals who caused such profound harm to the community.”
The Hispanic Advocates and Business Leaders of Austin, Texas, announced that an annual march honoring Chavez set for March 28 would no longer take place. Several Austin city leaders also announced that they support the renaming of César Chavez Street.
The César Chavez Peace and Justice Committee of Denver canceled a celebration set for April 11.
Officials at the AFL-CIO said the allegations came as a shock and that the federation of unions would not participate or endorse any activities for César Chavez Day.
“Our thoughts are first and foremost with any victims of assault and abuse who have described experiencing what no one — especially children — should ever have to survive,” AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler and secretary-treasurer Fred Redmond said in a statement. “No legacy can excuse it.”
The organization continues to support farmworkers and said the rights they have won “cannot be erased by the horrific actions of one person.”
Dozens of schools, streets and other locations across the United States are named for Chavez, including the César E. Chávez National Monument in Keene, California.
Dennis Arguelles, the director of the National Parks Conservation Association in Southern California, said renaming the national monument would require an act of Congress. He said the national park site should continue to honor the farmworker movement and leaders who fought for dignity, better working conditions and fair wages.
The Lubbock Democratic Party in Texas on Wednesday called on city leaders to rename César Chavez Drive to honor Dolores Huerta.
In Wisconsin, Milwaukee City Alderperson JoCasta Zamarripa said discussions will begin soon on what to do about a street named after Chavez.
Portland, Oregon, city councilor Candace Avalos said she would start a petition to rename a city boulevard after Huerta. City rules require 2,500 signatures to start a renaming effort, Avalos wrote on social media, urging her constituents to stay tuned for ways to help with the effort.
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, a New Mexico Democrat, issued a statement Wednesday saying abuse of any kind, especially against children, is indefensible and a betrayal of the values that Latino leaders have championed for generations.
“His name should be removed from landmarks, institutions and honors,” Luján said of Chavez. “We cannot celebrate someone who carried out such disturbing harm.” ___ Associated Press reporters around the United States contributed.
LUFKIN – The City of Lufkin general election, which was scheduled for May, has been cancelled because both candidates are running unopposed. The Lufkin City Council approved the ordinance on Tuesday to cancel the May elections. Due to the cancellation, the city said Jimmy Ford, who was running unopposed to represent Ward Five, will be sworn in at the council meeting on May 5. Additionally, William Price, who was running unopposed to represent Ward Six after incumbent Adam Lowther decided not to run for re-election, will be sworn in on May 5 as well.
LONE STAR – An investigation by the Texas Railroad Commission found that drilling fluids containing oil from a reserve pit at a Rose City Resources well site on U.S. Steel property leaked into a damaged pipe and flowed into a nearby low?lying area. From there, the fluids migrated through underlying rock formations and ultimately entered the Ellison Creek Reservoir. According to our news partner KETK, the Railroad Commission concluded that Rose City Resources is responsible for the unpermitted disposal and will be required to handle the cleanup, with the Commission providing oversight.
To date, cleanup efforts have primarily targeted the origin point and the lake’s east side, but Tuesday’s observations emphasize the need for more comprehensive action. Inspection findings indicate that areas on the western shoreline require more attention, aligning with suggestions from local officials. The public is encouraged to report any additional affected areas to the Morris County Sheriff’s non-emergency number at 903-645-2232.
HOUSTON COUNTY (KETK) — A Houston County jail employee has been arrested on Wednesday following allegations of sexual misconduct involving an inmate.
According to the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, an inmate reported sexually inappropriate behavior by jailer Cameron Lee Burch on Jan. 17. Sheriff Zak Benge said the report was relayed to the jail administrator, prompting an internal investigation.
Investigators determined Burch engaged in inappropriate conduct. When he returned to duty on Jan. 19, he was immediately terminated, Benge said.
The case was referred to the Texas Rangers, who presented evidence to a grand jury. An indictment was issued, and a warrant was obtained for Burch’s arrest.
At about 4 a.m. Wednesday, Burch turned himself in to the Houston County Jail. He is charged with official oppression and violating the civil rights of a person in custody, with no bond posted.
RICHMOND (AP) — More than two dozen cars of a Union Pacific train derailed Wednesday morning in a Texas town near Houston, causing an ethanol leak from two of the cars that officials said didn’t pose a threat to the public.
The derailment happened around 5 a.m. CDT in Richmond, a town of 13,000 people about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Houston. No injuries were reported, Union Pacific spokesperson Robynn Tysver said.
Two of the derailed cars began leaking ethanol after the accident, said Fort Bend County Fire Marshal Justin Jurek. Both leaks were later contained, he said.
Ethanol, typically made from corn, can be used as a fuel additive.
“It is not posing a current threat to the public and air monitoring is ongoing as a precaution. There’s no need for evacuation at this time,” Jurek said.
A third derailed car leaked corn syrup, officials said. That leak was also contained, Tysver said.
The derailment caused traffic delays for several hours in Richmond and nearby Rosenberg. Traffic began to clear up after several blocked railroad crossings were cleared.
There was no timeframe on how long the cleanup could take but Union Pacific was “working as safely and as efficiently as possible to clean up the site and reopen the crossings,” Tysver said.
“The incident is under investigation,” she said.
CORPUS CHRISTI (AP) – Corpus Christi leaders on Tuesday unveiled new projections suggesting that the city could be just two months away from triggering emergency water measures.
At a marathon city council meeting that stretched for 10 hours, Nick Winkelmann, interim chief operating officer of Corpus Christi Water, outlined five potential scenarios — two of which would push the city into a level one water emergency by May. At that point, the city’s water supply would be projected to fall short of demand within 180 days.
When pressed by council member Kaylynn Paxson on which scenario the city is preparing to follow, staffers at the water utility said they expect to narrow the possibilities down to two or three in the coming weeks as more data becomes available.
Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott — who sharply criticized Corpus Christi leaders for their handling of the crisis recently — has ordered agencies to suspend normal procedures in an effort to buy the city more time.
Complicating the outlook are bleak seasonal forecasts. Projections from the National Weather Service show little to no rainfall expected between July and September, limiting inflows to key reservoirs that supply the city, including Choke Canyon, Lake Corpus Christi and Lake Texana.
Despite the mounting concerns, the city has not finalized a curtailment plan that would lay out how much — and how soon — residents and businesses would have to reduce their water use.
“If we get to the point where we have to declare a level one water emergency, we need to be ready for that and we have no precedent to follow and we have no there’s no manual, there’s no video, there’s no, ‘This is how we did it the last time,’ ” City Manager Peter Zanoni told the council, adding that a curtailment plan could take weeks or months to finalize and implement.
Tuesday’s meeting marked the culmination of a crisis that has been years in the making. For a decade, Corpus Christi has aggressively courted large companies to build refineries, natural gas export terminals and other industrial facilities along Corpus Christi Bay while promising the city would have sufficient water to meet the expected demand.
Much of that confidence hinged on a planned seawater desalination plant that was supposed to deliver 30 million gallons of water per day by 2028 — most of it destined for industrial customers. But when the city council killed the project last year amid public opposition to its rising cost and potential environmental impacts on the bay, it upended the city’s long-term water planning.
City leaders are now hoping to restart the desalination project, which received more than $750 million in low-interest loans from the Texas Water Development Board.
Earlier this year, one model projected that the city’s water supply could drop below expected demand as soon as June 2027, at which point the water system would not be able to move water to customers.
The city recently boosted production from its primary water pipeline that pulls from Lake Texana and the Colorado River, increasing capacity by 24 million gallons per day, even as a deepening drought threatens to cut off that extra water.
Under the drought plan for the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority, which operates the lake, when the lake reaches 50% capacity, the agency must reduce customers’ water supply by 10%. The reservoir is currently at 54% of capacity.
The governor’s office Friday ordered the river authority to change that trigger point to 40% to guarantee more water to the city. The authority is meeting on Wednesday to make that change, according to the governor’s office.
Meanwhile, several major water infrastructure projects remain months or even years away from completion, leaving a critical gap as water demand continues to climb.
To close that gap, the city has turned to drilling wells in two fields in rural Nueces County that are expected to produce up to 26 million gallons daily once fully operational. One field is completed and another has some wells ready to operate soon, but is awaiting a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Corpus Christi officials say the delays could push the city toward a water emergency sooner.
“The only thing holding us up is a piece of paper,” Zanoni, the city manager, said at a Friday press conference.
On Friday, Abbott directed the TCEQ to fast-track temporary permits and loosen certain regulatory requirements to accelerate the city’s drilling projects.
“Corpus Christi is an important economic driver not only for Texas but also the nation,” said Andrew Mahaleris, the governor’s press secretary. “The State of Texas is committing significant investments to ensure Corpus Christi has the water resources it needs to serve citizens. The Governor is further stepping in and has waived regulations to ensure TCEQ can issue temporary permits on an expedited basis — while still preserving public input.”
TCEQ did not immediately comment on whether those permits have been issued.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the council also voted to accelerate the second well drilling project — despite not yet having the permits needed to pump.
The Evangeline groundwater project would include 24 wells and is projected to produce about 24 million gallons of water per day from neighboring San Patricio County. It could be finished by 2028, according to a city memo.
“We’re taking a calculated risk and continuing the design and we’re going to build,” Zanoni told council members. “We’re going to start building the project in about five weeks, without the permits, without the drilling permits.”
Officials say the design for the project is about 60% complete and the wells could deliver roughly 4 million gallons of water per day by November, though that timeline depends heavily on when the city receives permits to start pumping.
City officials acknowledged their action could face legal challenges.
The local groundwater district initially approved the city’s well permits in San Patricio County, but when the city of Sinton and two other parties contested them, the permits were put on hold until there’s an administrative hearing. No date has been set for that hearing, which Corpus Christi officials said could trigger a contested case that delays the project by up to two years.
The city of Sinton and San Patricio County Groundwater Conservation District did not immediately reply to comment on the city’s decision to move forward.
Zanoni defended the aggressive timeline and financial risk on Tuesday, saying the project is critical to avoiding water restrictions.
“It’s the only thing right now that’ll keep us out of a level one water emergency,” he said. “So yes, it’s expensive, but it’s the only thing.”
Mayor Paulette M. Guajardo echoed that urgency.
“We need this water, we cannot let it go,” she said. “We have to move this forward and hope for the best and do everything we can.”
Council member Rolando Barrera questioned whether the city is committing too much money to a project that is not guaranteed to move forward. Council member Mark Scott raised similar concerns about moving ahead without permits.
“My heartburn is that I thought it was a no-brainer to get these permits,” Scott said. “Now I’m walking the plank … about to spend, how much money, based on the assumption that we’re going to get those permits.”
The council unanimously approved moving forward with construction — earmarking nearly $190 million for it — and also voted to spend $170 million on land that comes with groundwater rights.
“It’s a little scary,” said council member Gil Hernandez, “but we’re in a situation where we should be afraid right now.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Air traffic controllers will use radar, not just visual checks, to ensure that helicopters maintain a safe distance from arriving and departing airplanes in the wake of last year’s fatal midair collision near Washington, D.C., federal officials announced Wednesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration said recent near-misses show that previous guidelines for pilots to maintain visual separation between helicopters and airplanes have failed to provide adequate protection around busy airports.
Under the new guidelines, air traffic controllers must use radar to keep helicopters and airplanes apart by specific lateral or vertical distances. The new requirement applies to more than 150 of the nation’s busiest airports, extending a restriction already put in place at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
“Today, we are proactively mitigating risks before they affect the traveling public,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a news release. “Following the mid-air collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), we looked at similar operations across the national airspace. We identified an overreliance on pilot ‘see and avoid’ operations that contribute to safety events involving helicopters and airplanes.”
Officials also specifically mentioned a Feb. 27 near-miss in which a police helicopter had to turn to avoid an American Airlines flight that was landing at San Antonio International Airport in Texas. A similar close call happened on March 2, when a helicopter had to turn away from a small aircraft that had been cleared to arrive at California’s Hollywood Burbank Airport, officials said.
The January 2025 collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter killed 67 people, making it the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil since 2001. Among other factors contributing to the crash, investigators said controllers in the Reagan tower overly relied on asking pilots to spot aircraft and maintain visual separation.
The night of the crash, the controller approved the Black Hawk’s request to do that twice. However, investigators say the helicopter pilots likely never spotted the American Airlines plane as the jet circled to land on the little-used secondary runway.
Many of the people who died were young figure skaters and their parents and coaches who had just attended a development camp in Wichita, Kansas, after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships were held there.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Closing arguments concluded Tuesday in a trial pitting Elon Musk against Twitter shareholders who say the world’s richest man engaged in a pattern of deceptive behavior that misled investors as he attempted to back out of his $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform in 2022.
The case is now in the hands of eight jurors, who will decide whether Musk is liable for defrauding investors with tweets and statements he made in the months leading up to his purchase of Twitter.
The civil trial in San Francisco centers on a class-action lawsuit filed just before Musk took control of Twitter, which he later renamed X, in October 2022, six months after agreeing to buy the embattled company for $44 billion, or $54.20 per share. The price represents a sliver of the Tesla CEO’s fortune, now estimated at $837 billion.
Much of the trial focused on Musk’s claims about the number of bots on Twitter. Musk testified, as he long contended, that Twitter had a much higher number of fake and spam accounts than the 5% it disclosed in regulatory filings. He used what he called Twitter’s misrepresentation of the number of fake accounts on its service as a reason to retreat from the purchase.
After Musk tried to back out, Twitter went to court in Delaware to force him to honor his original deal. Just before that case was scheduled to go to trial, Musk reversed course again and agreed to pay what he had originally promised.
Mark Molumphy, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, asked jurors to hold Musk accountable and compensate thousands of investors who lost money because of tweets Musk sent, including one from May 13, 2022, that said the deal was “on hold.”
“He knew what he was doing,” Molumphy said.
The plaintiffs argue that, as Tesla’s stock price declined and buying Twitter became too expensive for Musk, he tweeted statements that drove down the stock price in the hopes he could renegotiate the deal for a lower price or get out of it altogether.
Musk’s tweets, the plaintiffs’ lawyer argued, were not some “innocent mistake” or a “stupid tweet” off the top of his head, but carefully calculated to drive down’s Twitter’s stock price.
Michael Lifrak, a lawyer for Musk, however, countered that the plaintiffs did not present “one shred of evidence” to show that Musk purposely plotted to drive down Twitter’s stock price. He reminded the jury that according to their instructions, even motive and intent to commit fraud is not enough to prove that actual fraud has taken place.
Lifrak also said there’s “zero evidence” that Tesla’s stock price decline during the time he was in the process of buying Twitter was the issue.
Everyone “wants to pay less and not more,” he said, adding that “you can’t just say” he wanted a lower price and therefore he committed fraud.
The problem of bots and fake accounts on Twitter wasn’t new at the time Musk negotiated the deal. The company had paid $809.5 million in 2021 to settle claims it was overstating its growth rate and monthly user figures. Twitter also disclosed its bot estimates to the Securities and Exchange Commission for years while also cautioning that its estimate might be too low.
But Musk claimed the number was much higher, at least 20% according to some analysts. Saying the bot number was at least this high was like “saying the grass is green or the sky is blue,” Musk said.
Twitter’s former CFO Ned Segal disputed this claim and said on the witness stand that the number was actually closer to 1%.
Asked if Twitter ever filed false filings to the SEC that misstated its spam numbers, Segal said it did not. But he mentioned that the company once restated its finances after it became aware of a mistake in its calculation of daily users. In 2017, Twitter said it had been overstating its monthly user numbers by mistake because it was including users of a third-party app it should not have.
Molumphy showed jurors tweets Musk sent before he agreed to buy Twitter, including ones from 2020 complaining about the number of fake accounts on the platform. He also referred to Musk’s testimony from last week, where, when he was asked whether he thought Twitter was “exaggerating” their user numbers before signing the deal, Musk replied, “Yes.”
Referring to Musk’s May 13 tweet of the deal being “on hold” that’s become central to the case, Lifrak, his lawyer, used visual aids to try to make it clear to the jury that it was not a false statement. First, he showed a screen with the words “people who said the tweet was false at the time:” with a blank space underneath. A second screen said “people who said the tweet was false at the trial:” with another blank space underneath.
He also addressed animosity toward Musk, and urged jurors, who hail from around the Bay Area not to “fall for a San Francisco us vs. Elon Musk dynamic.”
“He may tweet stupid things,” Lifrak said. “But this isn’t a stupid tweeter trial.”
Rather, “it’s a trial on whether this man committed securities fraud and whether they proved it — and they didn’t.”
On Monday, the two sides met to go over instructions to the jury. Judge Charles R. Breyer noted that many in the jury pool had negative views on Musk. But, he added, a person who is “not universally liked” still deserves a fair trial, and should not be treated in a discriminatory or prejudicial way.
Musk, however, seems to already contend he hasn’t been treated fairly in the courtroom and earlier this month filed a motion for a mistrial, saying he has been deprived of his right to a fair trial because of the plaintiffs’ — and in some cases the judge’s — conduct.