How Texas’ voter-approved $3 billion dementia fund will fare in court
In 2023, Texas overcame lawsuits that sought to prevent constitutional amendments from going into effect, but one that voters approved in 2021 is still blocked.
Supreme Court’s map ruling sends Texas Democrats toward potential primaries, retirement or higher office bids
Houston Democrats are barreling toward a primary while North Texas Democrats await Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Senate decision.
Watch: Virtual one-on-one interview with Vicente Fox for Texas Tribune Festival
The former president of Mexico sat down for a virtual interview with Berenice Garcia, Rio Grande Valley reporter for The Texas Tribune.
Texas AG Ken Paxton sues to stop Muslim housing project in North Texas
Paxton began investigating the East Plano Islamic Center in March for potential violations of consumer protection laws.
Kerr County flood victims pleaded for help in newly-released 911 calls
Emergency dispatchers received more than 400 calls in six hours on July 4 as homes and summer camps flooded.
DHS fires back after Dem lawmaker claims she was ‘pushed aside and pepper sprayed’ during ICE raid
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday pushed back against accusations from Arizona Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who claimed she was pepper sprayed during an immigration raid in Tucson. In a post on X, Grijalva said she was “pushed aside and pepper sprayed” after identifying herself as a member of Congress while seeking information from officers during a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) operation near the Taco Giro restaurant. “ICE just conducted a raid by Taco Giro in Tucson — a small mom-and-pop restaurant that has served our community for years,” Grijalva wrote. “When I presented myself as a Member of Congress asking for more information, I was pushed aside and pepper sprayed.” DHS ARRESTS DOZENS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WITHIN 24 HOURS OF LAUNCHING NEW ORLEANS OPERATION In a separate post, Grijalva called ICE a “lawless agency” that is “operating with no transparency, no accountability, and open disregard for basic due process.” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin swiftly fired back at Grijalva’s claims, saying she was never directly sprayed but merely in the “vicinity of someone who was.” “If her claims were true, this would be a medical marvel,” McLaughlin said. “But they’re not true. She wasn’t pepper sprayed. She was in the vicinity of someone who was pepper sprayed as they were obstructing and assaulting law enforcement.” THIRD AFGHAN NATIONAL FROM BIDEN-ERA PROGRAM ARRESTED IN A WEEK BY ICE AGENTS IN VIRGINIA: DHS McLaughlin also said two law enforcement officers were “seriously injured” during the incident. “In fact, 2 law enforcement officers were seriously injured by this mob that [Grijalva] joined,” she added. “Presenting oneself as a ‘member of Congress’ doesn’t give you the right to obstruct law enforcement. More information forthcoming.” The clash also prompted the Congressional Progressive Caucus — which includes nearly 100 Democratic lawmakers — to call for a congressional investigation. DEM-BACKED ‘DIGNITY’ BILL COULD STRIP ICE OF DETENTION POWERS, ERASE IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT, CRITICS WARN Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., a deputy chair of the caucus, denounced the incident as a “disgusting display of violence” against Grijalva and warned that it reflects “a dangerous moment for American democracy.” The dispute unfolded a day after DHS announced it had rounded up at least a dozen criminal illegal immigrants — including “child sex offenders, domestic abusers, and violent gang members” — during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. “No matter when and where, ICE will find, arrest, and deport ALL criminal illegal aliens,” McLaughlin said. DHS and Grijalva did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.
Texas AG Paxton sues EPIC City developers after probe finds alleged fraud, misleading Muslim-only marketing
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit on Friday against the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), Community Capital Partners (CCP) and several associated leaders, accusing them of running an illegal securities and land development scheme tied to a proposed 400-acre community known as “EPIC City.” The lawsuit, filed in Collin County, follows a monthslong investigation and a referral from the Texas State Securities Board. The state alleges the defendants raised tens of millions of dollars while violating securities laws, misleading investors about the project’s nature and location, and misrepresenting how funds would be used. “The leaders behind EPIC City have engaged in a radical plot to destroy hundreds of acres of beautiful Texas land and line their own pockets,” Paxton said. “I will relentlessly bring the full force of the law against anyone who thinks they can ignore the rules and hurt Texans.” According to the Verified Petition, CCP sold investment interests for $40,000 to $80,000, despite failing to register the securities or qualify for federal exemptions. MUSLIM DAD, SONS ALLEGEDLY DROWNED TEEN OVER ‘WESTERN’ LIFESTYLE, REFUSING TO WEAR HEADSCARF The state claims the group broadly solicited investors through meetings, social media and online promotions, which is activity not allowed under the exemptions they claimed. Investigators also allege the developers failed to take reasonable steps to verify purchasers were accredited investors, with documentation missing or inadequate for a number of buyers. The petition says the project was advertised as being “in the heart of Josephine, Texas,” even after the city told developers in February 2025 that the land was not within its limits or utility district. Marketing materials allegedly continued to make the claim. FEDERAL JUDGE ALLOWS TEXAS AG TO CHALLENGE HARRIS COUNTY BAIL REFORMS: ‘UNLEASHING CRIMINALS’ The state further points to alleged promotional materials that appeared to target Muslim buyers, including early website language and videos describing EPIC City as the “epicenter of Islam in North America.” Paxton’s office also alleges CEO Imran Chaudhary publicly promised he would take “not a cent” in salary, but later signed a contract paying him $360,000 a year through a separate company, a compensation arrangement not disclosed in written offering materials. Investigators allege more than $1 million in investor funds were withdrawn for general operating expenses, exceeding what offering documents described. Texas Securities Commissioner Travis Iles claims EPIC entities sold securities without meeting registration or exemption requirements and referred the matter to Paxton after identifying “flagrant” violations. Paxton first announced his investigation in March, and sought the referral in October after uncovering additional concerns. FEDERAL JUDGE RULES LAW REQUIRING DISPLAY OF TEN COMMANDMENTS IN TEXAS CLASSROOMS UNCONSTITUTIONAL Paxton is asking the court to halt all fundraising tied to the project, freeze assets, appoint a receiver, correct public statements and impose civil penalties of up to $20,000 per violation. The suit also seeks the return of investor funds. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP EPIC City, since rebranded as “The Meadow,” was marketed as a master-planned development spanning Hunt and Collin counties. Court filings show hundreds of investors purchased units. Fox News Digital has requested comment from EPIC, CCP and Paxton’s office. The full lawsuit can be read here.
Tim Walz slams Trump for calling Minnesota’s Somali community ‘garbage’: ‘Unprecedented’
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday for describing the state’s Somali community as “garbage.” Walz said Trump’s statements of contempt for the state’s Somali community were “unprecedented for a United States president.” “We’ve got little children going to school today who their president called them garbage,” the blue state governor said. Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the country, with about 84,000 people in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area of Somali descent. Nearly 60% of Somalis in the state were born in the U.S., while 87% of the foreign-born Somalis are naturalized U.S. citizens. TREASURY SECRETARY LAUNCHES PROBE INTO MINNESOTA TAX DOLLARS ALLEGEDLY FUNDING AL-SHABAAB TERRORISTS Trump’s comments about Somalis in the state have intensified after the City Journal, a conservative news outlet, claimed last month that taxpayer dollars from defrauded government programs have been sent to the Somali militant group al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaida. The alleged ringleader of the fraud scheme is white, but dozens of people in the Somali community have reportedly been involved. On Thanksgiving, Trump said Minnesota was “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity” and that he was terminating Temporary Protected Status for Somalis in the state. On Tuesday, the president said at a Cabinet meeting that he did not want Somali immigrants to remain in the U.S. “We can go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country,” he said. During the meeting, he also called Somalia-born Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., “garbage” and said Somalia “stinks.” On Wednesday, Trump said Minnesota had become a “hellhole” because of the Somali community. “Somalians should be out of here,” he told reporters. “They’ve destroyed our country.” The Trump administration launched immigration enforcement operations targeting migrants living among Minnesota’s Somali community. “Demonizing an entire group of people by their race and their ethnicity, a very group of people who contribute to the vitality — economic, cultural — of this state is something I was hoping we’d never have to see,” Walz told reporters during a briefing on the state’s budget. “This is on top of all the other vile comments.” Republican legislative leaders have been reluctant to condemn Trump’s remarks, although some did suggest he went too far. They also contended that the dispute would not have happened if Walz had acted more effectively to stop fraud in social service programs. ILHAN OMAR PRESSED TO EXPLAIN HOW FRAUD IN MINNESOTA GOT ‘SO OUT OF CONTROL’ “In no way do I believe any community is all bad. Just like I don’t believe any community is all good. What we need to do is call the fraudsters in any community accountable for their actions and stop it here in the state of Minnesota,” Republican Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who is running for governor and hopes to secure Trump’s endorsement, told reporters. Republican state Sen. Eric Pratt, who is running for the congressional seat being vacated by Democrat U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, also would not defend the president’s comments. “It wasn’t said the way that I would have said it,” Pratt said. “But what I will say is, I share the president’s frustration in the amount of fraud and corruption that’s effectively gone on in the state. I mean, it’s really put a black eye on the state, and we are in the national news for all the wrong reasons.” Trump and Walz have repeatedly hurled insults at each other in the past, including the president hitting the Minnesota Democrat as “grossly incompetent,” a “mess” and “re—-ed” and the governor calling Trump a “wannabe dictator,” a “cruel man” and a “bad human being,” and ICE under the administration a “modern-day Gestapo.”
ICE operation in Minneapolis arrests seven ‘worst of the worst’ criminal illegal aliens
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrested seven more criminal illegal immigrants, including “pedophiles, gang members and drug traffickers” during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday announced its latest “worst of the worst” list, with offenders coming from Somalia, Venezuela, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala. “Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey protected these criminals at the expense of the safety of Americans,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “President Trump and Secretary Noem have a clear message for criminal illegal aliens: LEAVE NOW. If you don’t, we will find you, arrest you, and deport you.” The arrests included Abdi Gelle Mohamed and Sahal Osman Shidane of Somalia, who DHS said were convicted of sexual abuse of a minor and sexual conduct of a victim aged 13–15 years old, respectively. ICE ARRESTS MULTIPLE AFGHAN NATIONALS WITH CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS RELEASED INTO US BY BIDEN-ERA PROGRAMS: DHS Mukhtar Mohamed Ali, also from Somalia, was convicted of robbery and domestic assault, the DHS said. DHS said Andriu Javier Padron-Chacare from Venezuela is a Tren de Aragua gang member convicted of theft who was previously deported. Job Catani Cardenas of Ecuador was convicted of domestic assault, and Humberto Disla Sarita of from the Dominican Republic was convicted of conspiracy to import at least 50 kilograms of cocaine, the DHS said. ICE NABS CHILD RAPISTS, GUN-TOTING ROBBERS AS ASSAULTS ON OFFICERS RISE 1,153% An illegal immigrant from Guatemala, Ernesto Vides-Cabrera, was convicted of driving under the influence and assault, according to DHS. The arrests came after DHS said Thursday it rounded up at least a dozen illegal immigrants in Minneapolis, including five Somali nationals, six from Mexico and one from El Salvador. The Justice Department also filed federal charges this week against Abdimahat Bille Mohamed, 28, a convicted sex offender in Minnesota who allegedly kidnapped and raped a woman he met on Snapchat in September. He had been sentenced in May in two unrelated sexual assault cases, but a judge allowed him to serve no prison time under a plea agreement. Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.
FAA investigates airlines for potential flight cut compliance violations during government shutdown
The Federal Aviation Administration this week told airlines it will investigate whether they complied with orders from the Trump administration during the record-long government shutdown to cut flights. The orders came in November after the shutdown had been going for a month and airports were facing shortages of air traffic control workers. The emergency order affected 40 major airports in the U.S. and fluctuated between cuts of 3% to 6% for each airline before the shutdown ended on Nov. 12. NATION’S ‘MOST STRESSFUL’ AIRPORT CALLED OUT IN STUDY FOR POOR CHECK-IN TIMES, DEPARTURE DELAYS In a letter sent Monday to U.S. airlines, the FAA warned that they could face $75,000 fines for each flight over the allotted limit during the shutdown. Airlines have 30 days to prove they complied with the required cuts. Air traffic controllers, like most other government workers, weren’t paid during the 43-day shutdown, and many missed work, sparking safety concerns. The FAA lifted the restrictions Nov. 16, four days after the shutdown ended. Despite the shutdown still being in effect Nov. 14 — when 6% flight cuts were required — only 2% of flights were actually cut, according to Cirium, a flight analytics firm. The cuts also had a major financial impact on airlines, with Delta reporting that it lost $200 million between Nov. 7 and Nov. 16 when the order was in effect. More than 10,000 flights were canceled in the U.S. during the nine-day period. The Associated Press contributed to this report.