Running Out: Texas’ water crisis — and the path forward
A growing population, leaking pipes and changing climate threaten the state’s water supply. Texas lawmakers hope a $20 billion investment will help.
Republican U.S. Rep. Morgan Luttrell will not seek third term in Congress
The Houston-area Republican’s departure continues the drain of tenure from Texas’ GOP delegation, which was already poised to add several freshmen in the midterms.
Texas drops lawsuit against doctor accused of illegally providing care to transgender youth
Dr. Hector Granados of El Paso said he wished AG Ken Paxton’s office had let him show he stopped providing gender-affirming care for youths before the law took effect.
Providing basic care to students does not violate Texas’ parental consent law, state guidance to schools says
The guidance comes in response to confusion over a new state law requiring schools to notify parents whenever students need health care services.
Vice President JD Vance escorts Charlie Kirk’s casket before flight on Air Force Two from Utah to Arizona
Vice President JD Vance walked alongside the casket of Charlie Kirk on Thursday evening, marking the beginning of a series of solemn tributes to the conservative figure. Escorted across the tarmac in Salt Lake City, Utah, by a military pallbearer detail, Kirk’s casket will travel aboard Air Force Two, returning him to his home state of Arizona. A video of the moment showed his wife Erika Frantzve visibly emotional as the casket passed before her. WHAT KIRK’S ASSASSINATION MEANS FOR TRUMP’S SECURITY Upon arriving in Phoenix, Frantzve deplaned Air Force Two while holding the hand of second lady Usha Vance. His casket was transported to Hansen Memorial Chapel. Kirk will be buried in Arizona and President Donald Trump said he will attend the funeral. Trump told reporters on Thursday evening that he believed that Kirk’s funeral would be held “next weekend” adding that he would attend. The revelation comes as federal authorities continue to search for the suspect that assassinated Kirk during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday’s event, the first in what was supposed to be a series Turning Point USA’s “American Comeback Tour,” was nothing out of the ordinary. Kirk, the charismatic founder of the nation’s conservative youth activist group, gained recognition for his signature political debates on college campuses. COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CHARLIE KIRK During a press conference on Thursday, authorities say the suspect “blended in well with a college institution.” In a photo later released by law enforcement, the individual is seen wearing a hat, sunglasses, and an American flag T-shirt with an eagle on it. The FBI appealed for more public tips, photos, and videos to help piece together the string of events that led to Kirk’s death. “We truly rely on the public’s help in these types of cases. No tip is too small or too insignificant,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls said Thursday. Individuals with relevant information can submit via an online page on the FBI’s website. The one-page form requests contact details, a description of what was submitted, and the files themselves. People can also call 1-800-CALL-FBI if they have tips. The FBI also announced an award of up to $100,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person responsible.
On 9/11 anniversary, lawmakers warn domestic terrorism now greatest threat
On the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, members of Congress on both sides of the political aisle expressed that they are most worried about rising domestic terrorism harming Americans. Asked whether he was more concerned about domestic or foreign terrorists, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital, “You’ve got to be vigilant on all of it.” Yet, in the wake of the assassination of conservative leader Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, Burchett placed particular blame on the left, saying, “They’ve got blood on their hands on this one, there is no question. “The repercussions, I think, could be monumental at the ballot box.” 24 YEARS AFTER 9/11, A FATHER’S EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM STILL INSPIRES TWO POWERFUL PATHS OF AMERICAN SERVICE Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, responded that “we need a country that respects the rule of law and can actually engage in civil discourse. We don’t have that right now. That’s a problem. “We have threats from all around, overseas and here, but you know we got to start respecting the rule of law again, or we’re not going to have anything left.” In the current climate, Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, responded, “I think domestic. It’s not a matter of if but when. “You can’t let your guard down on either,” added Arrington. “I was in the White House on 9/11 with George W. Bush.” Arrington expressed particular concern about terrorists who were let into the country through the border. “You also can’t allow your border to be wide open where you have people, record numbers of people, on the terrorist watch list over here,” he said. GOP LAWMAKER EXPLAINS UNUSUAL 9/11 EXPERIENCE THAT LED HIM TO ENLIST IN THE MILITARY Another Texas Republican, Rep. Troy Nehls, said he is worried about terrorists let into the country by the Biden administration. “What we have seen with all the terrorism, with the individuals coming across our southern border for the past four years and preying on innocent victims in our country, killing Laken Riley and everyone else. I mean, these individuals coming over here, Tren de Aragua, I consider those terrorists, right? Coming over here and causing harm and impact.” Like Roy, Nehls lamented violence by “American people against American people with a dissenting point of view.” “We can’t have a casual conversation and agree to disagree. We’re going to start raising our fists or start pointing guns and start shooting people,” said Nehls. “It’s gone too far.” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said that though the international terrorist threat is “still there,” he believes “we do have an increased domestic problem because we’ve lost our moorings a little bit spiritually. “A lot of folks don’t have hope or purpose, a spiritual hope or purpose. And then you have all this demonization, and people get caught up in it. You get caught up in your own little websites. Social media, your own cable, and then these guys feed on anger.” TRUMP RELEASES OVAL OFFICE MESSAGE ON CHARLIE KIRK’S ASSASSINATION: ‘HE’S A MARTYR FOR TRUTH AND FREEDOM’ Democrats, too, said they are worried about domestic terrorism threats. “Domestic terrorism keeps me up at night,” said Rep. André Carson, D-Ind. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “I want to work with my Republican colleagues and the law enforcement community and activists and people of goodwill in keeping our community safe.” Rep. Ritchie Torres, R-N.Y., said, “I worry in the age of social media. I think we’re witnessing the rise of violent extremism and domestic terrorism both at home and abroad.” Torres added that “the safety of public figures can no longer be taken for granted.” “I have lost an incentive to do public events without extensive safety precautions,” he shared. “I suspect that anxiety is weighing heavily on every member of Congress.”
Fox News Politics Newsletter: From Pentagon Ceremony to Yankees Game, Trump Observes 9/11 Anniversary
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening… -Charlie Kirk’s assassination only the latest in increasing political violence across the country -Ryan Routh chastised during opening statements in federal trial of attempted Trump assassination for ‘making a mockery’ -What is a bolt action rifle? What we know about the gun used to kill Charlie Kirk President Donald Trump announced earlier this month that he will attend the New York Yankees game against the Detroit Tigers on the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Trump has attended numerous sporting events over the years but has not attended a baseball game during his second term. In 2019, Trump, then in his first term as president, attended Game 5 of the World Series between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros in the nation’s capital. He also attended the World Series between the Astros and Atlanta Braves in 2021, roughly a year after losing the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden…Read more JURY LOCKED IN: Ryan Routh trial begins after jury seated in Trump assassination attempt case PATRIOT DOWN: Trump to award Charlie Kirk Medal of Freedom after campus assassination GULF STRAINS: Israel’s strike in Qatar triggers rare US rebuke, tests Trump’s Gulf diplomacy HONOR TO ACTION: Lawmakers mark 9/11 at Ground Zero as New York remains a bullseye for terror threats ‘TENDER-HEARTED LEADER’: Pastor recalls last moments with Charlie Kirk: an ‘American martyr’ POLS SPEAK OUT: Boys suspended in transgender locker room controversy spark GOP backlash in Virginia INSERT KICKER HERE: Charlotte mayor sidesteps Trump’s death penalty demand in stabbing case VISA CRACKDOWN: State Department warns it will revoke visas of foreigners who ‘glorify violence’ after Kirk shooting TRUMP’S ‘AVATAR’: Architect of LA ICE raids reportedly arrives in Chicago as focus shifts to Windy City, agent’s history Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
What to know about Utah Valley University’s Losee Center, the shooter’s possible perch in Charlie Kirk killing
OREM, Utah — Utah State Police blocked the perimeter of the Losee Center at Utah Valley University Thursday morning as the manhunt continues for the assassin of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. Authorities confirmed Wednesday the shot that killed Kirk came from the roof of a campus building about 200 yards away from where Kirk was delivering his remarks. While authorities have not confirmed the shots came from the Losee Center Wednesday, state police cars blocked incoming traffic outside the Losee Center Thursday as authorities investigated in and around the school building. Videos captured by eyewitnesses Wednesday showed a person in dark clothing running on a campus building. PERSON OF INTEREST IN CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION PICTURED IN PHOTOS RELEASED BY FBI “We have tracked his movements onto the campus through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof to a shooting location,” Beau Mason, Utah Department of Public Safety commissioner, told reporters Thursday. CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION: DISPATCH AUDIO REVEALS SUSPECT IN BLACK TACTICAL GEAR, CARRYING LONG GUN “After the shooting, we were able to track his movements as he moved to the other side of the building, jumped off of the building and fled off of the campus and into a neighborhood,” Mason added. Mason said authorities have “good video footage” of the shooter on the roof where shots were fired they are using to identify the suspect. According to UVU’s website, the campus is closed until Monday, Sept. 15. While students have been advised to stay away from campus, media and law enforcement have remained on campus with the investigation still underway. Journalists were allowed to drive through campus on Thursday. However, there were several Utah State Police vehicles parked outside the Losee Center, marking a perimeter where authorities said the investigation was ongoing. State troopers did not provide a timeline for when the building would reopen to the media. “Items left in the Courtyard and Losee Center are not available to be picked up at this time due to the investigation,” according to the message on the school’s website. Losee Center for Student Success, known as the Losee Center or “LC” for short, is a student resource center. Students can seek personal and professional guidance at the center from school specialists, coordinators and other counselors, according to UVU’s website. Utah’s Department of Public Safety indicated Thursday afternoon that the investigation is “fast-moving and constantly evolving.” According to the latest media advisory, as of Thursday afternoon, law enforcement is investigating multiple leads, but no suspect is in custody. “A high-powered bolt-action rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled. Experts from the FBI are analyzing the weapon. There are reportedly photos of a weapon and various details about that firearm and ammunition, including inscriptions and symbols,” the department shared, painting a picture of the suspected shooter’s escape route. Investigators have also collected a footwear impression, a palm print and forearm imprints for analysis, according to the media release. Mason told reporters Thursday morning investigators have searched nearby neighborhoods, “contacting anybody they can with doorbell cameras, witnesses and thoroughly worked through those communities, trying to identify any leads.” The FBI is offering up to a $100,000 reward for information leading to the shooter’s identification and arrest. Earlier on Thursday, authorities canceled a press conference scheduled for 12:45 p.m. MT, citing “rapid developments in our investigation.”
Chicago-area mayor, congressional candidate brags about lengths he’s gone to flummox ICE
A Chicago-area mayor and congressional candidate stood by his actions to thwart even passive cooperation with federal immigration enforcement operations as DHS launches “Operation Midway Blitz“ in the area. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, a Democrat who is running to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., in 2026, told CNN he is “in the dark” as to DHS’ plans for Illinois in the coming days. He also said he informed residents Tuesday about his concerns and what actions he took in response. “The Trump administration wants to keep us guessing, wants to use our uncertainty to keep us afraid, but the reason that we communicated with our residents this morning is that I got information from a senior state official last night indicating that they had good intel that it was likely that ICE would be coming to Evanston in today and in the coming days.” CHICAGO MAYOR CONCLUDES COUNCIL-DEMANDED PROBE OF CITY POLICE’S ROLE DURING RECENT ICE RAID Biss said he did so for residents to “protect themselves” from federal law enforcement. “We’ve been doing everything we can to protect our residents from before Donald Trump took office, passing strong sanctuary laws to make sure police are not cooperating with federal civil immigration enforcement,” he added. Biss explained he ordered Evanston’s license plate cameras turned off after learning the data was being shared. Unlike red light cameras, which issue tickets, license plate readers are often used to collect and store vehicle data for later retrieval. In some cases, state or federal law enforcement might use the data to track a suspect’s known vehicle, finding that it navigated a certain interchange at a specific time. CHICAGO MAYOR CALLS ICE RAIDS ‘TERRORISM’, SAYS TRUMP’S AMERICA APPEARS ‘AS IF THE CONFEDERACY HAD WON’ Fox News Digital reached out to Biss for further comment but did not hear back by press time. In a separate video Biss recorded while leaving a Mexican Independence Day parade in Chicago, he said he used his “rapid response training to keep an eye out for potential ICE personnel” during the event and “if possible, keep people safe from attack.” “My responsibility was to see which masked individual might, with no warning, just grab people off the street [or] which uniformed personnel might, without warning, attack our people.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “We’re going to remember for a long time what we did in this moment. Let’s do the right thing,” Biss said. When an X account linked to the Republican National Committee accused Biss of wrongly obstructing federal procedure, he offered a veiled slam at President Donald Trump in return. “Hey, speaking of obstructing things, how’s it going with releasing the Epstein files?” he wrote. Separately, Biss added that authoritarianism is not creeping into society, it “is here.” “History will remember how Chicago stood in solidarity in this moment. Stay strong, stay safe,” he said.
Charlie Kirk warned ‘assassination culture is spreading on the left’ in eerie online post months before murder
Several months prior to Wednesday’s tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, the slain 31-year-old conservative activist warned his followers on social media that “assassination culture is spreading on the left.” Kirk shared a post April 7 on X.com that cited a Fox News Digital article about a nationally representative study from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) that found 38% of respondents said it would be at least “somewhat justified” to murder President Donald Trump, and 31% said the same about Elon Musk. But the numbers jump even higher, to 55% for Trump and 48% for Musk, when counting just the left-leaning survey respondents. “Assassination culture is spreading on the left. Forty-eight percent of liberals say it would be at least somewhat justified to murder Elon Musk. Fifty-five percent said the same about Donald Trump,” Kirk wrote in his post on X, citing the NCRI report. “The left is being whipped into a violent frenzy. Any setback, whether losing an election or losing a court case, justifies a maximally violent response.” LIVE UPDATES: MANHUNT FOR CHARLIE KIRK SHOOTER CONTINUES Kirk called the violent momentum a “natural outgrowth of left-wing protest culture.” He accused the culture of tolerating “violence and mayhem,” while also slamming “the cowardice” of local prosecutors and school officials for their complicity in promoting the trend of violent attitudes. “The cowardice of local prosecutors and school officials have turned the left into a ticking time bomb,” Kirk wrote in his post. In Kirk’s post, he also pointed to the fact that voters in California were effectively eulogizing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s murderer Luigi Mangione by naming a state ballot measure after him. It was called the Luigi Mangione Access to Health Care Act, which sought to make it more difficult for medical insurance companies to deny claims for treatments or medications. Wednesday’s assassination of Kirk, who founded the grassroots conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA in 2012, is just the latest incident of conservative figures and institutions being targeted with violence. The fatal shooting comes amid a record over the past four years of conservatives and Republicans encountering violence, a Fox News Digital review found, including two assassination attempts on Trump within about a two-month period in 2024. CHARLIE KIRK PAINTED AS ‘CONTROVERSIAL,’ ‘PROVOCATIVE’ IN MEDIA’S ASSASSINATION COVERAGE Earlier this year, the New Mexico Republican Party’s headquarters faced an arson attack that destroyed the entrance to its Albuquerque headquarters, and graffiti that said “ICE=KKK” was scrawled on the building. The suspect in that case also allegedly attacked a Tesla Albuquerque showroom and was hit with federal charges. The spate of violent incidents at the beginning of this year targeting Tesla car owners, dealerships, charging stations and Republicans in general compelled some GOP lawmakers to cancel public events. GOP Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman was one of those lawmakers. Her decision came after an incident in which an attendee of one of her town halls followed Hageman as she left and initiated a physical confrontation with her staff, eventually requiring police to intervene. ANTI-TRUMP VOICES PRAISE CHARLIE KIRK’S LEGACY AFTER ASSASSINATION, SAY HE WAS DOING POLITICS ‘THE RIGHT WAY’ A handful of pro-life activists were also physically attacked this year, including a pro-life journalist who was punched by an interviewee mid-discussion. TPUSA chapters around the nation have faced other incidents of violence this year as well, including when a group of students with Turning Point USA were attacked by masked individuals at University of California, Davis in April, Fox News previously reported. The conservative group was hosting one of its frequently held Prove Me Wrong events on the campus when protesters destroyed camera gear, a tentand signs at the event. They also flipped tables and assaulted TPUSA staff, the group said after the incident happened. Going back to 2023, former NCAA swimmer and conservative political activist Riley Gaines was attacked and barricaded by protesters in a room at San Francisco State University after she went to campus to speak to students about banning biological males who identify as transgender from competing in women’s sports. The event was part of a Turning Point USA and Leadership Institute forum that was taking place on the university’s campus. Meanwhile, churches and pro-life groups have faced dozens upon dozens of attacks dating back to 2022 after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which effectively ended the recognition of abortion as a constitutional right. The attacks included a “firebombed” pro-life center in Buffalo, New York, in 2022, vandalized Catholic churches that were targets of arson attacks and pro-choice protesters interrupting faith services. The attacks came after a far-left pro-choice group declared in a public letter that it was “open season” on pro-lifers. Notably, in 2017, then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., was shot along with three others when James Hodgkinson, a deranged Bernie Sanders supporter, fired upon an Alexandria, Virginia, baseball field as Republican lawmakers practiced for the annual Congressional Baseball Game. Scalise, who nearly died but ultimately recovered, remains in office and is the House Majority Leader for the Republicans.