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Thursday June 04, 2026
POLK COUNTY — A Polk County man was arrested on Wednesday after allegedly physically abusing his stepdaughter inside their home. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and our news partner KETK, deputies were contacted by staff members at Big Sandy ISD on Wednesday regarding a junior high student who they believed may have been a victim of abuse.
Once deputies arrived at the school, they observed several facial and bodily injuries on the student, prompting an investigation regarding concerns of possible physical abuse.
While speaking with officials, the student stated that her stepfather had physically assaulted her inside their home the previous night. The victim was later taken to the local Child Advocacy Center, where she underwent a forensic interview.
Based on information obtained during the interview, a search warrant was issued for the victim’s residence, and the stepfather was taken into custody and charged with causing bodily injury to a child. The victim’s mother was also taken into custody on Thursday morning after it was discovered that she was allegedly present during the abuse.
The sheriff’s office said that the investigation remains ongoing and additional charges may be filed.
Editor’s Note: KETK News has withheld the names of the suspects to protect the privacy of the victim.
POLK COUNTY (KETK) – A large indoor marijuana farm operating off U.S. Highway 59 was recently shut down after being discovered by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. On Tuesday, residents reported a persistent odor of marijuana in the area and suspicious activity involving frequent traffic to and from a property in the early morning hours, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies were able to obtain a search warrant for the property, and during the search, they found a large quantity of marijuana, including over 1500 plants. The owner of the building Elier Jimenez, was placed under arrest following the search and charged with possession of marijuana between 50 and 2,000 pounds
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Two Texas residents were passengers on the cruise ship that experienced a hantavirus outbreak, the Texas Department of State Health Services said, adding that they are not experiencing any symptoms.
DSHS sent a release on Thursday, saying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerted the agency to the two residents who traveled on the MV Hondius. The passengers left the ship and came back to the U.S. before the outbreak was identified.
Public health workers contacted the two residents, who reported that they were not experiencing symptoms and did not have contact with a sick person while aboard the ship, DSHS said. The residents’ personal details are not being released to protect their privacy, the agency said.
The residents will continue to monitor themselves for symptoms and contact public health officials if they show signs of being sick.
DSHS explained hantaviruses are typically spread through contact with wild rodent waste, but the strain in the cruise ship outbreak, called the Andres virus, can spread from person to person “in limited circumstances.”
“It typically requires close, prolonged contact with a person who is actively sick with the disease,” DSHS said. “It is not known to spread through casual contact such as shaking hands or being in the same room for a few minutes.”
DSHS added that there have been no documented cases where a person without symptoms spread it to someone else.
The Associated Press reported that the Hondius set sail from southern Argentina on April 1, and three passengers have died from the illness, and one is in intensive care in a South African hospital.
AUSTIN (THE TEXAS TRIBUNE) — After a one-month reprieve, smokeable hemp products, such as flower buds and rolled joints, must be pulled from shelves again as the state appeals the latest ruling.
Lawyers for the state filed an appeal on Tuesday against Travis County Judge Daniella DeSeta Lyttle’s ruling last week, which extended the pause on the smokable hemp ban. The state’s 15th Court of Appeals agreed to hear the appeal Wednesday, putting the state’s rules that effectively bans smokeable hemp back into effect.
Lawyers for the hemp industry also requested on Wednesday that the appeals court reinstate the temporary pause on the ban until the next hearing, currently scheduled for July 27. A decision is expected from the appeals court this week.
“We are confident that the 15th Court of Appeals will reinstate our Temporary Injunction so that our Vets, elderly, and adult consumers have reasonable access to these products,” said David Sergi, an attorney for the hemp industry. “The voters will remember who voted for true liberty in November.”
This week’s decision on smokeable hemp is the latest in a string of dizzying court actions that have ping-ponged the status of the drug’s sale in Texas.
The statewide ban on smokeable hemp was supposed to go into effect on March 31. After lawyers for the hemp industry filed a lawsuit asking to block the ban, a Travis County district judge on April 10 temporarily lifted the ban until May 1. Last week, Lyttle ruled to extend the ban until the next hearing in the district courts, scheduled for July 27, but because the 15th Court of Appeals has agreed to considering the state’s appeal, the ban is back in effect.
The Texas Hemp Business Council, Hemp Industry & Farmers of America, and several Texas-based dispensaries and manufacturers have been fighting the state’s new testing requirements that create a 0.3% total THC threshold that would effectively bar the sale of natural smokeable hemp products. The state also created a 3,000% increase in licensing fees for hemp retailers.
During the three-day hearing last week, lawyers for the hemp industry argued that the Texas Department of State Health Services overstepped its constitutional authority by rewriting the statutory definitions of hemp established by lawmakers in 2019.
“The Texas Legislature must answer to the voters of Texas; that is a fundamental check and balance of our constitution. Agency bureaucrats lack accountability to the people of Texas, which is why their authority is limited,” said Jason Snell, one of the attorneys for the hemp businesses.
Attorneys for the state argued in court that Texas law requires the health agency to prioritize Texans’ well-being in rulemaking, allowing them to implement new hemp regulations. The judge disagreed, saying the rules were doing irreparable harm to the industry.
“The Court finds that the purpose of a temporary injunction is to preserve the last, actual, peaceable, non-contested status that preceded the controversy,” said Lyttle.
Andrew Alvarado, an attorney representing the hemp industry, said Lyttle’s ruling upholds the separation of powers among government entities.
“Frankly, I think it’s a win for all Texans, because fundamentally, the Court confirmed that unelected officials and state agencies cannot impose rules that conflict with the will of the people,” he said.
In a separate decision that could harm the industry’s chances of defeating the overall ban on smokeable hemp products, the Texas Supreme Court on Friday upheld the state health agency’s prohibition on another natural intoxicating hemp compound called delta-8 THC. Delta-8 THC has been off store shelves since 2022 because of the ban, allowing delta-9 THC to proliferate and become the most commonly found intoxicating chemical in hemp products now.
The court’s decision says the delta-8 ban can remain because state law gives the agency overarching authority to protect Texans. The state could invoke this ruling to allow the state health agency to ban any or all consumable hemp products based on its statutory responsibilities to protect Texans, and that can only be undone if the Legislature tells the state agency those products are legal.
“If the legislature desires to legalize powerful drugs, it has every tool it needs to do so—and to do so unmistakably, as we expect for such a major change to social policy. The role of the courts is merely to assess the state of the law as it is,” Texas Supreme Court Justice Evan Young said in his court opinion.
State law defines hemp as containing less than 0.3% levels of intoxicating delta-9 THC. The health agency redefined hemp in accordance with federal law which clarified last November that hemp can’t contain total amounts of any type of THC — not just delta-9 THC — that is more than 0.3% of its dry weight, according to Zachary Berg, an attorney with the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Berg added that the federal government’s new definition doesn’t go into effect until this coming November, but the state wanted to be in compliance early with federal law.
Snell said that by trying to mirror a federal law that isn’t yet in effect, the state clearly overstepped its regulatory authority. He also called on a slew of witnesses, including veterans, suburban mothers, rural store owners, and economists, to testify on how these new regulations are already shuttering businesses and killing off the industry.
Hemp retailers told the court that businesses have lost over 50% of their revenue since the rules went into effect; manufacturers are shutting down production due to increased licensing fees; and farmers are not planting crops because new testing requirements are making hemp flower worthless.
The hemp businesses also asked for a temporary injunction on other rules that increase licensing fees for retailers and manufacturers and prevent businesses from selling smokeable hemp out-of-state. Lyttle last week also temporarily lifted both of these state rules, but the state’s appeal reinstates these rules for now.
The background: Even though Texas law bans marijuana, lawmakers legalized hemp in 2019 with the Texas Farm Bill. State law defines hemp as containing less than 0.3% levels of intoxicating delta-9 THC.
To get around the law’s delta-9 THC restrictions, manufacturers started cultivating hemp plants with another type of THC, called THCA, that, when ignited in a joint or smokeable product, can produce a high. Many lawmakers have said this legal loophole has allowed a recreational THC market to appear overnight without direct approval from the state.
Last year, the Texas Legislature voted to ban the products out of fear that these intoxicating products were consistently getting into the hands of children. But, Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed the decision last summer, before asking the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and DSHS to increase regulations on the industry instead.
The Texas Department of State Health Services released regulations on consumable hemp-derived THC products that went into effect on March 31. These new regulations include child-resistant packaging, a significant increase in licensing fees, new labeling, testing, and bookkeeping requirements. The rules also codify the legal purchasing age to 21, which went into effect last year as an emergency directive.
Why the hemp industry sued: Also under the new rules, laboratories tests now measure the total amount of any THC in a product. If the THC levels exceed the 0.3% threshold, even if it’s only activated upon being smoked, the product will be noncompliant under state regulations. As a result, some of the most popular hemp products, like THCA flower and pre-rolled joints, have been banned.
Hemp businesses caught selling noncompliant products face a range of penalties and fines, including license revocation and up to $10,000 in violation fees for each day these products were sold in stores.
Retailers cannot sell hemp to out-of-state customers either.
Several hemp industry representatives testified on Thursday that smokable products aren’t the only items being removed from shelves due to the new testing requirements. Hair gels, bath bombs, balms, tinctures, dog treats, and much more can no longer be made because the main ingredient is hemp flower.
“It’s like trying to regulate the sale of wine by banning grapes,” said Amanda Taylor, one of the attorneys for the hemp businesses, in court.
The state health agency didn’t conduct a complete economic impact report on the proposed rules and regulations, which the lawyers for the hemp industry called negligence.
Attorneys for the state said the health agency either couldn’t find or verify the data needed to confirm the economic impact of these rules or wasn’t required to do so because the well-being of Texans takes priority over industry concerns.
Beau Whitney, the founder and chief economist at Whitney Economics, a cannabis economic research firm, told the court that his own impact report done earlier this year found that the new rules and regulations will have a $7.2 billion negative impact on the Texas economy due to job losses and reduced tax revenue from hemp retail closures. He said the process of preparing the economic report on the Texas hemp industry was simple and well within the state health agency’s reach in both economic and time terms.
The rules also increase licensing fees for manufacturers of hemp-derived THC from $258 to $10,000 per facility and retail registrations from $155 to $5,000, which industry leaders say will fulfill the ban by forcing businesses to close. The state’s attorney said the state needs the fees to build a system to regulate the hemp industry, despite the health agency stating in its rules that it didn’t have any plans to hire additional DSHS employees for this effort.
The hemp business community’s lawsuit is not challenging the other new regulations, including the age verification or ones they say protect consumers.
What the state says: Concerns about the safety of these high-THC products among youth led lawmakers to attempt to ban hemp-derived THC products outright last year. While the overall ban didn’t succeed, lawmakers successfully banned vape pens containing THC and other hemp-derived intoxicating chemicals.
Berg said in court that the state has received reports of hemp products containing 100 times the recommended amount of THCA being sold in these stores, and customers weren’t using it for wellness reasons but to get intoxicated.
“Many are consuming recreationally and not just adults,” said Berg.
Data provided from the Texas Poison Center Network confirms a sharp increase in cannabis-related poisoning calls starting in 2019, a year after hemp-derived THC was legalized by the federal government, from 923 to a 10-year high of 2,592 in 2024. Calls climbed to 2,669 last year. The majority of these calls involve suspected poisoning of children under the age of five and teenagers.
Drug policy experts said these numbers seem alarming, but it is natural for poisoning calls to increase when a drug has become legalized, and the data needs additional context before making conclusions from it.
What’s next: It’s not clear if Friday’s Texas Supreme Court ruling on delta-8 could affect the court case involving the smokeable hemp ban.
The state health agency added delta-8 to the controlled substance list, making it illegal in 2021. The Texas Supreme Court’s ruling upheld that, giving the agency broad authority over drugs on the list. However, Katharine Neill Harris, a drug policy fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said that doesn’t give the state agency authority to prohibit any substance it wants.
However, if the state agency ever wanted to put any THC found in consumable hemp on the controlled substance list, the ruling could be invoked to justify making consumable hemp illegal.
“While the Texas Farm Bill legalized hemp and its derivatives, it did not explicitly legalize or remove from scheduling all THC compounds. The delta-8 issue was not directly addressed in that legislation, and DSHS clarified back in 2021 that delta-8 was considered a controlled substance,” Harris said.
David Sergi, an attorney representing the hemp industry, has broader legal concerns about the Texas Supreme Court’s decision, as it places the state’s health agency on the same level as lawmakers in terms of authority to make industry-shifting decisions.
“There are some very large constitutional concerns that, I think, a result-driven case like this, an opinion like this, causes us. But those are the conversations that the legal team is having right now,” Sergi said, adding they have been speaking with lawyers around the country about the Texas Supreme Court decision and what it might mean legally.
Separate from the Texas Supreme Court’s ruling, the federal government passed restrictions that redefined hemp so that only 0.3% of any type of THC is allowable, which effectively bans smokeable hemp nationally starting this November. There are ongoing efforts in Congress to alter the ban or allow states to opt out of following this new definition.
To see this article in its original form, go to The Texas Tribune.
COLLEGE STATION (AP) – Regents on Wednesday unanimously appointed Susan Ballabina as president of Texas A&M, putting her in charge of the state’s largest public university as it continues to deal with the fallout from its last president’s resignation.
Ballabina, who assumes the role on May 11, most recently served as executive vice chancellor for the Texas A&M University System, overseeing day-to-day operations across its 12 universities and eight state agencies. Prior to that, she was former Texas A&M President Mark A. Welsh III’s chief of staff.
Regents named Ballabina the sole finalist April 13. State law required them to wait 21 days before finalizing the hire. She initially served on the presidential search committee before recusing herself to apply for the job.
“I was a reluctant applicant. I wasn’t sure that this was something I wanted to do, but after going through the process and preparing for the various interviews, I got more and more excited,” Ballabina said during the regents’ meeting after their vote.
The decision follows months of upheaval at the flagship campus after Welsh resigned amid political backlash over a secretly recorded classroom discussion of gender identity that was posted online.
The search unfolded as regents took a more assertive role in responding to controversy and shaping what can be taught, part of a broader political remaking of Texas colleges under new state laws.
Ballabina holds a bachelor’s degree from Tarleton State University, a master’s degree from Stephen F. Austin State University and a doctorate in public affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Ballabina has worked in the system for more than three decades, holding senior leadership roles at both the university and Texas A&M Agrilife. She helped cultivate partnerships such as the Aplin Center, a new campus hub for hospitality, retail and food-and-nutrition education, and coordinated statewide disaster recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey, according to the system.
Chancellor Glenn Hegar said she stood out among a pool of strong national candidates.
Board Chair Robert L. Albritton said, “This unified decision sends a strong signal that Texas A&M is aligned, confident and moving forward with momentum.”
“Absolutely,” regent James R. “Randy” Brooks added. “We are looking forward to some peace in this organization, and we’re confident you can provide it.”
Texas A&M has cycled through leaders in recent years.
In 2023, M. Katherine Banks resigned as president after the failed hiring of Kathleen McElroy, an experienced Black journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin whom Texas A&M recruited to revive its program. McElroy walked away from an offer that university officials watered down after vocal groups outside the university criticized her past work for the New York Times and support for diversity.
Welsh followed as president, working to rebuild trust with faculty by reversing some of Banks’ unpopular changes and promising not to micromanage. But that approach later put him at odds with regents who wanted a leader who would respond more quickly to political controversy. His downfall came in September 2025 after he initially told a student he would not fire lecturer Melissa McCoul for discussing gender identity in a children’s literature course. He ultimately fired McCoul.
Two months later, Texas A&M regents approved systemwide restrictions on classroom discussion of race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity unless the course and relevant materials are approved in advance by a university president. They also prohibited faculty from teaching material inconsistent with an approved syllabus.
Leonard Bright, president of the Texas A&M chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said Ballabina’s selection brought “some level of relief” because faculty feared regents might choose a politician. However, he said her lack of classroom and research experience raises questions.
“Is she going to stand up for faculty when there are political attacks?” he asked.
B. Don Russell, a Texas A&M professor and chair of the university’s distinguished professors group, offered a more supportive view, saying Ballabina was “among the most open for discussions with faculty” of the administrators he has worked with. He said her broad experience across the university system and in state politics will serve A&M well. He did not see her lack of traditional classroom background as a major limitation.
Since Welsh’s resignation, Tommy Williams — a former Texas lawmaker, Texas A&M alum and one-time top government relations official for the system — has served as interim president.
Texas has seen a broader political remaking of higher education since 2023.
Lawmakers banned diversity, equity and inclusion offices, programs and training; expanded regents’ authority over curriculum; and imposed rules limiting protesting on campus, including bans on encampments and overnight demonstrations. Supporters of these new laws say they keep universities focused on their core mission of providing degrees that lead to profitable careers. Opponents say they undercut universities’ mission to be spaces for open inquiry.
Ballabina takes over as Texas A&M, which enrolled 72,289 students in fall 2025, wraps up the spring semester. Final exams ended Tuesday, commencement began Wednesday and ceremonies in College Station continue through Saturday, according to the university’s academic calendar.
“This is an important moment for us,” Ballabina said, after choking up. “We’re going to celebrate 150 years. We’re going to roll out a new strategic plan. And how lucky am I to get the opportunity to lead us through that and help everyone get focused on what matters — and that’s our students; that is our life-changing research; and that is our staff who help us do everything.”
AUSTIN (AP) — The gunman who killed three people and wounded more than a dozen others in a mass shooting at a downtown Austin, Texas, bar in March was a “lone actor” and there is no evidence he was supported or directed by a foreign terrorist group, FBI investigators said Thursday.
The agency released a two-page update of its investigation into the attack on Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden in the early morning hours of March 1 that ended when gunman, Ndiaga Diagne, was killed by police.
The shooting happened after the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran. Diagne was wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and the words “Property of Allah.”
Despite lacking direct evidence of a motive for the shooting, investigators said Diagne was likely triggered into violent behavior by the war against Iran, “culminating in a violent, impulsive attack” at the bar, the report said.
Investigators determined Diagne admired Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had been killed. His affinity for Iran and its former leader were likely factors in the attack Diagne perpetrated on his own, investigators said.
“The investigation to date indicates Diagne was a lone actor,” the report said. He had never been the subject of an FBI investigation prior to the shooting.
Diagne, 53, was born in Senegal. He first entered the U.S in 2000 on a B-2 tourist visa and became a lawful permanent resident six years later after marrying a U.S. citizen, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“There is no evidence at this time that he was associated with a Foreign Terrorist Organization or that he received any direction, funding, or operational support for his attack,’ the report said.
The bar is located in the city’s popular hub of bars and nightclubs. Police said the gunman drove past the bar before circling back and firing the first shots from his SUV at people on the sidewalk and inside. He then parked, got out with a rifle and began shooting at people walking along the street before officers rushed to the intersection and shot him.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis has said officers arrived within 56 seconds of the first 911 call and killed the shooter after he fired at police.
Killed in the attack were 21-year-old Savitha Shan, 19-year-old Ryder Harrington and 30-year-old Jorge Pederson.
The FBI said the investigation into the attack remains open.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republicans in several Southern states pressed ahead with an aggressive election-year redistricting effort Wednesday, undeterred by demonstrations and objections to their plans to reshape majority-Black congressional districts that have suddenly become vulnerable because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
In Tennessee, protesters repeatedly interrupted legislative hearings on the redistricting plans, yet Republicans advanced them for a potential final vote Thursday.
Despite passionate pleas from Black Democratic lawmakers, Republicans in the Alabama House approved a measure to upend the state’s congressional primaries if courts allow them to switch their U.S. House districts. In South Carolina, Democrats chided Republican colleagues for abiding by President Donald Trump’s desires as they took an initial step toward redrawing a district long held by a Black Democratic lawmaker.
The stakes are high for minority voters who stand to lose their preferred representatives and for any Republican lawmakers reluctant to follow Trump’s wishes. In Republican primary elections Tuesday, Trump-endorsed challengers defeated at least five of the seven Indiana state lawmakers targeted by the president’s allies for refusing to support a congressional redistricting effort last year.
The Supreme Court ruled last week that Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district as it attempted to comply with the Voting Rights Act. The ruling significantly altered a decades-old understanding of the law, giving Republicans in Louisiana and elsewhere grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats.
The ruling intensified an already fierce national redistricting battle ahead of a November midterm election that will determine control of the closely divided House.
Since Trump prodded Texas to redraw its U.S. House districts last year, eight states have adopted new congressional districts. From that, Republicans think they could gain as many as 13 seats while Democrats think they could gain up to 10. But some of the new districts could be competitive in November, meaning the parties may not get all they sought.
Tennessee plan splits up Memphis district
Republicans on Wednesday proposed a new U.S. House map that would split Memphis’ home of Shelby County into three districts, instead of the current two. The map would break up Tennessee’s lone Democratic-held district, centered on the majority-Black city, creating a ripple effect of alterations to districts throughout the western and central parts of the state.
“Tennessee is a conservative state, and our congressional delegation should reflect that. This bill ensures it does,” Republican state Sen. John Stevens said.
Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton said the proposed districts were drawn based on population and politics, not racial data.
To adopt new House districts, Tennessee lawmakers also are seeking to repeal a state law prohibiting mid-decade redistricting.
Democrats and civil rights activists denounced the efforts during Wednesday’s committee hearings.
The proposal “is Black vote dilution at an industrial scale,” said Sekou Franklin, a political science professor at Middle Tennessee State University who is part of the Tennessee branch of the NAACP.
Protesters interrupted a Senate committee meeting, loudly chanting “Hands off our vote!” After senators suspended the hearing, state troopers cleared people from the room. Senators resumed their work elsewhere, advancing the legislation.
Later Wednesday, protesters in the hallway beat on the walls and doors of a committee room where senators were meeting. A House committee also paused its work as state troopers escorted chanting protesters from the room.
The candidate qualifying period in Tennessee ended in March, but legislation would reopen it to allow new candidates to join the races and existing candidates to switch districts. The primary election is Aug. 6.
Democrats noted that the state Supreme Court in April 2022 rejected a challenge to the current congressional map, finding it was too close to the election to make changes. This year, there’s even less time before the primary elections, raising the potential of confusion for both candidates and voters, Democrats said.
Alabama House backs a new primary
The Republican-led Alabama House on Wednesday passed legislation authorizing special congressional primaries as Republicans eye the possibility of getting a different congressional map in place for the November elections. The bill now moves to the state Senate.
Alabama is seeking to lift a federal court order that created a second congressional district with a near-majority of Black voters. That map led to the 2024 election of Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. Republicans want instead to use a 2023 map drawn by state lawmakers that would give the GOP an opportunity to reclaim Figures’ south Alabama district.
The legislation won House approval on a party-line vote after four hours of fiery debate during which Black legislators said the moment calls back to the state’s shameful Jim Crow-era history.
“It’s a tragic step backward for Black Alabama voters. But we’ve been here before, and we will not give up this fight,” Democratic state Rep. Adline Clarke said.
Democratic state Rep. Juandalynn Givan likened the legislation to poll taxes and counting jelly beans in a jar — a virtually impossible task that was used to suppress Black voters during the Jim Crow era.
“It is a calculated political maneuver born out of fear, a fear that is of Black people and most importantly Black political power,” Givan said.
Tensions rose later Wednesday as dozens of protesters temporarily blocked a hallway outside the Senate, singing “We Shall Overcome” and shouting “we’re not going back” as security officers tried to get them to leave.
Alabama’s legislation hinges on the U.S. Supreme Court or a district court agreeing to lift the injunction.
“We’re going to be ready if the court hands down a favorable ruling,” said Republican state Rep. Chris Pringle, who sponsored the bill.
Alabama’s primaries are May 19. If a court grants the state’s request, the legislation would ignore the results for congressional seats and direct the governor to schedule a new primary under the revised districts.
South Carolina moves toward redistricting
The South Carolina House on Wednesday approved a resolution giving lawmakers permission to return later, after their regular work ends, to redraw congressional districts that could eliminate the state’s only Democratic-held district. The proposal now goes to the Senate, where it would need a two-thirds vote.
Republican House leaders said after the vote that they plan to introduce a new map Thursday and hold committee meetings on Friday. But during debate Wednesday, Republicans fended off specific questions from Democrats, including why they were willing to stop the June 9 U.S. House primary elections well after candidates filed and how much a rescheduled primary could cost.
Democratic Rep. Justin Bamberg said he felt sorry for Republicans who he said were giving up their principles to follow the whims of Trump.
“The president of the United States is a very powerful man. Wields a heavy, heavy thumb — Truth Social, X, Meta, Instagram. To be honest I don’t envy our Republican colleagues,” Bamberg said.
Democratic Rep. Leon Stavrinakis said democracy will die if lawmakers redraw voting districts for political reasons every time power changes or to protect someone in office.
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Chandler reported from Montgomery, Alabama; Collins from Columbia, South Carolina; and Lieb from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press reporter Kristin M. Hall contributed.
SULPHUR SPRINGS (KETK) — An ongoing narcotics investigation in Hopkins County has resulted in the arrest of several people, the seizure of a large amount of illegal substances and over $70,000, officials said on Wednesday. According to our news partner KETK and the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office, investigators executed a search warrant at an apartment complex on Sulphur Springs. Three people were arrested at the scene.
During the search, the following illegal substances and contraband were recovered:
*309 grams of cocaine
*1,677.5 grams of THC vape pens
*73 grams of psilocybin
*15 pounds of marijuana
*Two AR-platform rifles
*One pistol
*$73,294.02
“The Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office remains vigilant and proactive in its mission to protect the citizens of Hopkins County and will continue to take decisive action against illegal activity,” the sheriff’s office said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man accused of firing a gun at law enforcement officers near the Washington Monument this week was following the path of Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade before the shooting and made a vulgar remark about the White House after the confrontation, according to a court filing Wednesday.
The suspect, Michael Marx, was shot multiple times during Monday’s confrontation and was in the back of an ambulance on his way to a hospital when he said, “‘F(asterisk)(asterisk)k the White House’ and “Kill me, kill me, kill me,’” a Secret Service agent said in an affidavit.
The sworn statement does not specify whether investigators believe Marx had a particular target.
Marx was walking along the path of Vance’s motorcade when officers spotted him near the intersection of 15th Street and Independence Avenue. The officers were responding to a Secret Service agent’s report that Marx was seen near with White House complex with a firearm concealed on the right side of his body, the affidavit says.
Marx pulled a firearm from his waistband as he ran away from Secret Service officers and fired at one of them, but a bystander behind the officer was shot in the leg, the affidavit says. Officers returned fire and struck Marx in his abdomen, a hand and his left arm, according to the filing. It says Marx spit at officers as they provided him with aid after the shooting.
The teenage bystander was not seriously injured and has been released from a hospital, ABC News reported. ABC was first to report what the suspect allegedly said after the shooting.
Marx, who had a Texas driver’s license, was charged in a complaint with assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon, discharging a firearm during a violent crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The shooting came just over a week after a California man tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner while armed with guns and knives. Cole Tomas Allen has been charged in that incident with attempting to assassinate the president and firing a gun at a Secret Service officer.
Around the time of Monday’s shooting, President Donald Trump was holding a small business event at the White House, which was briefly locked down as authorities investigated.
Online court records did not immediately list the name of a lawyer representing Marx.
Marx has used aliases, including Michael Patrick and Michael Zavici, according to the affidavit. It says Marx had a 2011 drug trafficking conviction in Florida that made it illegal for him to possess a firearm.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An election year redistricting movement has spread to South Carolina as Republicans attempt to redraw majority-Black congressional districts that have suddenly become susceptible because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upending protections for minority voters.
Urged on by President Donald Trump, South Carolina Republicans are attempting to redraw a district long held by a Black Democratic lawmaker in their quest for a clean sweep of the state’s seven congressional seats.
Lawmakers already are meeting in special sessions in Alabama and Tennessee in a bid to change their U.S. House districts. And Louisiana lawmakers are making plans for new congressional districts after the Supreme Court last week struck down the state’s current map.
The stakes are high for minority voters who stand to lose their preferred representatives and for any Republican lawmakers reluctant to follow Trump’s wishes. In Republican primary elections Tuesday, Trump-endorsed challengers defeated at least five of the seven Indiana state lawmakers targeted by Trump’s allies for refusing to support a congressional redistricting effort last year.
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling said Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district as it attempted to comply with the Voting Rights Act. The ruling significantly altered a decades-old understanding of the law, giving Republicans grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats.
The ruling revved up an already intense national redistricting battle ahead of a November midterm election that will determine control of the closely divided House.
Since Trump prodded Texas to redraw its U.S. House districts last year, a total of eight states have adopted new congressional districts. From that, Republicans think they could gain as many as 13 seats while Democrats think they could gain up to 10 seats. But some of the new districts could be competitive in November, meaning the parties may not get all they sought.
South Carolina to test its will for redistricting
Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn has represented South Carolina’s 6th Congressional District since it was redrawn to favor minority voters in 1992. He’s running for an 18th term. But it could get harder for him to win reelection if Republicans redraw his district.
A committee on Wednesday easily passed a proposal that could allow South Carolina lawmakers to consider drawing new congressional districts, setting up a showdown on the state House floor later in the day.
The resolution would require a two-thirds vote to pass. Republicans have a supermajority, but some are concerned that an attempt to redraw the map to get rid of the state’s lone Democratic representative could backfire and create up to two districts where Democrats are competitive.
Democratic state Rep. Spencer Wetmore said the redistricting effort reveals cynical politics focused more on winning for a narrow group than on helping all people.
“Daddy Trump calls and needs to grasp at some power, and once again we jump,” she said.
The state’s primaries are June 9 and early voting starts in three weeks.
Tennessee plan targets Memphis district
Republicans on Wednesday released a proposed new U.S. House map that would split Memphis’ home of Shelby County among three districts, instead of the current two. The map would break up the state’s lone Democratic-held U.S. House district, centered on the majority-Black city of Memphis, creating a ripple effect of alterations to districts throughout the western and central parts of the state.
“Tennessee is a conservative state and our congressional delegation should reflect that. This bill ensures it does,” said Republican state Sen. John Stevens, who is spearheading the legislation.
The plan was being presented Wednesday in legislative committees, with the expectation that both chambers could vote on it Thursday.
Democrats and civil rights activists have denounced the redistricting effort. When the state Senate began work Tuesday, shouts of “shame, shame, shame” could be heard inside the chamber from protesters gathered in the hallways.
On the chamber floor, state Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Black Democrat from Memphis, called the redistricting “an act of hate.”
The candidate qualifying period in Tennessee ended in March. The primary election is scheduled for Aug. 6.
Alabama looks at setting a new primary
The state House on Wednesday could debate legislation that would allow Alabama to hold a special congressional primary, if the Supreme Court clears the way for the state to change its U.S. House districts.
In light of the court’s ruling on Louisiana’s districts, Alabama officials have asked courts to set aside a judicial order to use a U.S. House map that includes two districts with a substantial number of Black voters. Republicans instead want to use a map passed in 2023 by the Legislature that could help the GOP win at least one of those two seats currently held by Democrats.
Alabama’s primaries are scheduled for May 19. If the Supreme Court grants the state’s request after or too close to the primary, the legislation under consideration would ignore the results of that primary and direct the governor to schedule a new primary under the revised districts.
Democrats denounced the legislation as a Republican power grab that harkens back to the state’s shameful history of denying Black residents equal rights and representation.
Republicans are “working to secure an electoral victory by taking Alabama back to the Jim Crow era, and we won’t go back,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell told a crowd gathered outside the Alabama Statehouse.
Thousands had already voted in Louisiana
After last week’s Supreme Court decision, Republican Gov. Mike Landry postponed the state’s May 16 congressional primary to allow time for lawmakers to approve new U.S. House districts. State Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, a Republican, said a redistricting committee he leads plans to hold a public hearing Friday.
Louisiana voters had already sent in more than 41,000 absentee ballots by last Thursday, when Landry suspended the House primaries, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. That’s about a third of all the absentee ballots sent out to voters. Around 19,000 were from registered Democrats, 17,000 from registered Republicans and the remainder belonged to neither party.
Democrats and civil rights groups have filed several lawsuits challenging the suspension of Louisiana’s congressional primary.
CARROLLTON (AP) — A man shot five people, killing two, in back-to-back shootings Tuesday at a shopping center and then an apartment building because he was angry over business dealings, police said.
The first shooting happened just before 10 a.m. at a shopping center in a Koreatown neighborhood in a suburb north of Dallas, the Carrollton Police Department said. When police arrived, they found four adults who had been shot. While they were investigating, another shooting was reported at an apartment complex roughly 4 miles (6 kilometers) away, and responding officers found a dead man inside one of the apartments.
Investigators determined the suspect, 69-year-old Seung Ho Han, carried out both of the shootings, police said. He was arrested at a nearby grocery store after a short chase on foot. Police say Ho Han acknowledged he was the shooter in an interview with detectives and said he was angry at the people he shot because of financial disagreements over their business dealings.
It was not a random act of violence and the attacker knew both of the people who were fatally shot, Carrollton Police Chief Roberto Arredondo said.
“It was a known business relationship. We’re still trying to work to identify what caused his actions,” Arredondo said.
The three people injured in the shooting were in stable condition, Arredondo said. The names of the victims were not released.
Shortly after the shooting, officers with their guns drawn walked past doors at K Towne Plaza in an area of Carrollton known as Koreatown. Agents from the FBI were among law enforcement collecting evidence in the parking lot.
Carrollton — population 130,000 — is 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Dallas. More than 4,000 residents are of Korean descent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“We’re shocked,” said John Jun, who’s active in the Korean American community. “We’re not immune to something like this happening, but we are very generally a peaceful community that works hard.”
In the last 20 years, it has grown into a thriving Koreatown for the metro Dallas area, thanks to Korean investors. It’s anchored by big-box businesses like H Mart as well as dozens of restaurants serving everything from Korean fried chicken to shaved ice desserts.
The city is also home to multiple Korean churches from Baptist to Presbyterian congregations.
DALLAS (AP) — A former FedEx driver was sentenced to death on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to killing a 7-year-old girl he took from her Texas home while delivering a Christmas gift.
Jurors in a Fort Worth courtroom decided on Tanner Horner’s punishment after hearing about a month of testimony and evidence that included audio of Athena Strand’s last moments from inside his delivery van. Horner, 34, pleaded guilty to capital murder last month in the 2022 killing just as his trial began. Athena’s body was found two days after she was reported missing from her home in the rural town of Paradise, near Fort Worth.
Horner didn’t visibly react when the judge read the sentence, according to a livestream of the court proceedings.
Jurors found there was a probability Horner would commit criminal violence and be a continuing threat to society. They said there was nothing in the commission of the crime or in Horner’s background to warrant life without parole instead of death.
Prosecutor James Stainton told jurors in opening statements that Horner had told, “lie upon lie upon lie upon lie” in the case, including telling authorities that he accidentally struck Athena with his van while making the delivery and then killed her in a fit of panic.
Several jurors cried as they were shown video and heard audio from inside the van after Athena was taken. He could be seen lifting her into the van, and then driving away, telling her not to scream or he’d hurt her.
Horner then covered the camera, but the audio continued recording. Horner asks Athena questions, including how old she is and where she goes to school, before stopping the van and telling her they are going to “hang out.” Horner tells her to take off her shirt and she begins crying, and asks whether he’s a kidnapper.
She asks him: “Why are you doing this?” He replies, “Because you are pretty.”
“My mom says I can’t do that to somebody,” she tells him. “And you can’t do that to me either.”
As the recording, which lasts over an hour, continues, Athena’s screams can be heard. At one point he tells her: “If you don’t shut up, I will hurt you worse.”
A medical examiner testified that Athena died of blunt force injuries with smothering and strangulation.
While acknowledging during opening statements that the evidence against Horner was “overwhelming” and “terrible,” Horner’s attorney, Steven Goble, told jurors that Horner’s mother drank while she was pregnant, that he has autism and suffered from “various mental illnesses throughout his life” in addition to being exposed to a “massive amount of lead.”
Goble had asked jurors to sentence Horner to life in prison.
Athena’s family has said that the package Horner had dropped off was a Christmas present for her — a box of “You Can Be Anything” Barbies.
The trial was moved from rural Wise County to Fort Worth after Horner’s attorneys argued that he would not have received a fair trial.
FORT WORTH – A Tarrant County jury sentenced Tanner Horner, who confessed to killing 7-year-old Athena Strand in November 2023, to death on Tuesday. Before Horner’s capital murder trial began almost a month ago, he entered a guilty plea and acknowledged that he had abducted and killed Strand, moving the case forward to the sentencing stage.
A terrifying audio recording of Strand’s kidnapping and murder, taken from inside Horner’s delivery van, was played for the jury during the trial. The microphone captured everything that transpired inside the van even though Horner covered it before assaulting the girl. The investigators who spoke with Horner in the days following the girl’s disappearance, as well as the search and recovery of her body, provided the jury with graphic testimony.
Horner’s defense team discussed the defendant’s upbringing with the jury, emphasizing his own abuse and mental health issues. Both sides rested their cases on Monday and made closing arguments on Tuesday morning following 19 days of testimony. The jury started deliberating just after 11 a.m. and took roughly three hours to reach its verdict. Horner was sentenced to either life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty after entering a guilty plea to capital murder.
NEW YORK (AP) – Lawyers for Spirit Airlines returned to a U.S. bankruptcy court in New York on Tuesday to seek approval for dismantling the once-busy budget carrier and turning its parts into cash for creditors.
The liquidation marks a dramatic turn for Spirit, which filed for bankruptcy protection in August 2025 hoping to escape financial ruin. The airline’s parent company was attempting to restructure the business for the second time since November 2024 when it abruptly stopped operating flights over the weekend.
Since the going-out-of-business announcement early Saturday, lawyers filed a series of court motions laying out a rapid wind-down plan centered on selling off every possible Spirit asset, from airplanes and engines to spare parts — and limiting additional payroll, leasing and other costs.
The shutdown itself was tightly choreographed. The company, Spirit Aviation Holdings Inc., said it made its announcement in the middle of the night to ensure the jetliners making their final runs for the airline were safely on the ground and their crews accounted for.
Spirit attorney Marshall Huebner said during a Tuesday court hearing that rising jet fuel costs since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran “engulfed Spirit entirely.”
The airline’s fuel expenses grew by oughly $100 million “in March and April alone,” and rapidly drained Spirit’s liquidity and derailed its restructuring efforts,” Huebner said.
He apologized directly to Spirit’s employees and customers, especially passengers who he said may now be completely “priced out” of certain routes without the ultra low-cost carrier.
Huebner described a swift effort by other airlines and other segments of the aviation industry to assist Spirit’s employees and customers once the airline’s end looked inevitable.
“The entire industry sprang into action to get our people home,” Huebner said. Spirit employed about 17,000 people and carried about 50,000 passengers on its final day of operations. The final flight, which traveled from Detroit to Dallas, landed after midnight Saturday.
With its planes grounded, Spirit said it planned to keep a skeleton crew of about 150 employees initially, eventually shrinking to roughly 40. The group, largely made up of veteran staff and executives, including some “senior management employees,” will be responsible for securing aircraft, coordinating logistics and overseeing the liquidation process.
The company also was seeking Judge Sean Lane’s approval to provide retention incentives to keep those workers in place through the liquidation.
In the last two weeks, Spirit was in discussions with the Trump administration about a hoped-for rescue deal that fell through, eliminating what the company described as its last viable path forward. Of the potential bailout, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Saturday, “We oftentimes don’t have half a billion dollars laying around.”
Duffy said other U.S. airlines, including United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest, were offering $200 one-way fares for a limited time to travelers holding Spirit confirmation numbers and proof of purchase.
Airlines also stepped in to assist stranded Spirit crew members, he said, with some offering a preferential hiring process for former Spirit employees looking for work.
CROCKETT (KETK) – A man was arrested in Crockett on Saturday evening after a stolen firearm and illegal drugs were found inside his vehicle during a traffic stop.
According to our news partner KETK and the Crockett Police Department, at around 10 p.m., an officer initiated a traffic stop of 25-year-old Jeremy Frizzell after police said he was seen recklessly driving his Dodge Charger on East Loop 304, across from Los Ranchos Mexican Restaurant.
During the traffic stop, Frizzell was taken into custody and charged with reckless driving. Following the arrest, a probable cause search of Frizzell’s car was conducted and officers said they discovered multiple firearms, one of which was confirmed to be stolen from a recent burglary in Houston County.
Officers also discovered what is suspected to be meth and marijuana inside the vehicle, along with drug paraphernalia.
Frizzell now faces the following charges after the search of his vehicle, including: Unlawful carrying of a weapon with a felony conviction, possession of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and theft of a firearm.
Frizzell is currently being held in the Houston County Jail and the investigation remains ongoing.