Republican meddling roils Senate Democratic primary in final days
A super PAC supporting James Talarico is running ads online warning that the GOP is “boosting” Jasmine Crockett. Her spokesperson said Republicans “who underestimate her do so at their own peril.”
Texas law bans state-licensed mental health providers from giving gender-transitioning care to minors, AG Ken Paxton says
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion that says that a 2023 law that bans gender-transitioning medical care to minors also applies to mental health care.
Texas House Republicans ask Congress to halt all immigration after Austin shooting
More than 70 GOP House members signed a letter asking Congress to stop legal immigration until “proper vetting protocols” are in place.
Anti-Muslim backlash shadows Austin after downtown shooting
After a deadly downtown shooting, Texas Muslims report fear and backlash as political rhetoric intensifies and Austin’s first Muslim city council member responds.
Business owners sue comptroller after their removal from state minority business program
Women- and minority-owned businesses were removed from the Historically Underutilized Business Program in December by acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock, who argued he was ending a DEI program.
Third victim of downtown Austin shooting dies
The three people killed by the suspected gunman were identified Monday. Thirteen people were injured in the Sunday shooting that the FBI called a “potential act of terrorism.”
Austin downtown shooting: What we know about the gunman, victims and motive
Three people were killed and 13 wounded in a West Sixth Street attack. Police say the shooter fired from an SUV before getting out and continuing on foot.
Supreme Court blocks California ban on notifying students’ parents about gender transitions
The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for California schools to notify parents if their children want to change their gender identity without approval from the student amid a challenge against the Golden State’s ban on so-called forced outing of transgender students. The court granted an emergency appeal from a conservative legal group, the Thomas More Society, blocking, at least for now, a state law that prohibited automatic parental notification requirements if students change their gender expression or pronouns at school. The Thomas More Society praised the decision as “the most significant parental rights ruling in a generation.” Two sets of Catholic parents represented by the legal group argued that the state law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2024, caused schools to mislead them and secretly facilitate the students’ gender transitions. CATHOLIC GROUP ASKS SCOTUS TO BLOCK CALIFORNIA LAW AGAINST REVEALING STUDENTS’ GENDER IDENTITIES TO PARENTS But California contended that students have the right to privacy about their gender expression, particularly if they fear rejection from their families who may not support their decision to adopt a new gender identity. The state also said school policies and state law sought to balance student privacy with parental rights. Last year, state education officials told school districts that the state’s policy “does not mandate nondisclosure.” Newsom’s office also previously said that “parents continue to have full, guaranteed access to their student’s education records as required by federal law.” The Supreme Court sided with the parents on Monday and reinstated a lower-court order blocking the law and school policies while the case continues. “The parents who assert a free exercise claim have sincere religious beliefs about sex and gender, and they feel a religious obligation to raise their children in accordance with those beliefs. California’s policies violate those beliefs,” the majority wrote in an unsigned order, adding that state policies also burden the free exercise of religion. Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas also said they would have gone a step further and granted the teachers’ appeal to lift restrictions for them. The three liberal justices dissented, saying the case is still working its way through lower courts and there was no need to take action now. “If nothing else, this Court owes it to a sovereign State to avoid throwing over its policies in a slapdash way, if the Court can provide normal procedures. And throwing over a State’s policy is what the Court does today,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote. A federal judge ruled in December 2025 that schools cannot prevent teachers from sharing information about a student’s gender identity with their parents, but an appeals court blocked that ruling last month, leading the plaintiffs to ask the nation’s highest court to step in. TRUMP ADMIN FINDS CALIFORNIA BAN ON NOTIFYING PARENTS OF GENDER TRANSITIONS VIOLATED FEDERAL LAW The high court has been weighing whether to hear arguments in cases out of other states such as Massachusetts and Florida filed by parents who say schools facilitated gender transitions without notifying them. The U.S. Department of Education also announced last month that the California law violates federal law. The findings of the federal investigation could put at risk the nearly $8 billion in education funding the federal government gives the state each year if state officials do not work with the Trump administration to resolve the violations. The Trump administration is also pursuing legal action against California and threatening to withhold funding over a policy allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Trump sends official notification to Congress on strikes against Iran
President Donald Trump on Monday sent an official notification to Congress about the U.S. strikes against Iran, in which he attempted to justify the military action in the now expanding conflict in the Middle East. In a letter obtained by FOX News, Trump told Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that “no U.S. ground forces were used in these strikes” and that the mission “was planned and executed in a manner designed to minimize civilian casualties, deter future attacks, and neutralize Iran’s malign activities.” This comes after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran on Saturday as part of Operation Epic Fury, triggering a response from Tehran and a wider conflict in the region. The strikes killed the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other military leaders. TRUMP ADMIN WARNED LAWMAKERS ISRAEL WAS ‘DETERMINED TO ACT WITH OR WITHOUT US’ BEFORE MASSIVE IRAN STRIKES Trump wrote that it is not yet possible to know the full scope of military operations against Iran and that U.S. forces are prepared to take potential further action. “Although the United States desires a quick and enduring peace, not possible at this time to know the full scope and duration of military operations that may be necessary,” Trump wrote. “As such, United States forces remain postured to take further action, as necessary and appropriate, to address further threats and attacks upon the United States or its allies and partners, and ensure the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ceases being a threat to the United States, its allies, and the international community.” “I directed this military action consistent with my responsibility to protect Americans and United States interests both at home and abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests,” he added. “I acted pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive to conduct United States foreign relations.” Trump said he was “providing this report as part of my efforts to keep the Congress fully informed, consistent with the War Powers Resolution,” as some Republican and Democrat lawmakers attempt to restrain the president’s military action, which they affirm is unconstitutional without congressional approval. The president also accused Iran of being among the largest state sponsors of terrorism in the world and purported that the “Iranian regime continues to seek the means to possess and employ nuclear weapons,” even after the White House said in June that precision strikes at the time “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. US SURGES FORCES TO MIDDLE EAST AS PENTAGON WARNS IRAN FIGHT ‘WILL TAKE SOME TIME’ “As I previously communicated to the Congress, Iran remains one of the largest, if not the largest, state-sponsors of terrorism in the world,” Trump said in the letter on Monday. “Despite the success of Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER, the Iranian regime continues to seek the means to possess and employ nuclear weapons. Its array of ballistic, cruise, anti-ship, and other missiles pose a direct threat to and are attacking United States forces, commercial vessels, and civilians, as well as those of our allies and partners.” “Despite my Administration’s repeated efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution to Iran’s malign behavior, the threat to the United States and its allies and partners became untenable,” he continued. Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
Musk, xAI tout newest Grok update as only ‘non-woke’ platform: ‘Doesn’t equivocate”
X’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok has begun rolling out its first beta version of Grok 4.20, which Elon Musk and X say will provide not only better performance and new features but also the least “politically correct” platform in terms of liberal bias. Over the past week, users on X, including Musk, have been touting search results from Grok showing “non woke” answers to questions about popular cultural issues and figures compared to results from Anthropic’s Claude, Open AI’s ChatGPT, and Google’s Gemini. “Grok 4.20 is BASED,” Musk also posted on X last week. “The only AI that doesn’t equivocate when asked if America is on stolen land. The others are weak sauce.” Musk’s post included screenshots of ChatGPT saying the “short answer” is “yes”, Claude ultimately saying “yes” and Gemini saying the answer is “complex” while Grok responds with “No.” TRUMP SAYS HE PLANS TO ORDER FEDERAL BAN ON ANTHROPIC AI AFTER COMPANY REFUSES PENTAGON DEMANDS In another post shared by Musk, the AI platforms are asked for a “yes” or “no” if President Donald Trump is “racist.” Grok responded with “No” while Gemini responded by saying the answer is not as simple as “yes” or “no.” Claude and ChatGPT also declined to respond with a “yes” or “no”: arguing it’s a more nuanced issue. ELON MUSK POURS A STAGGERING $10M INTO KENTUCKY SENATE RACE, BACKING PRO-TRUMP BUSINESS OUTSIDER “Grok 4.20 is the only non-woke AI in existence, engineered to pursue maximum truth, and deliver unfiltered, evidence-based answers where every other major model has been lobotomized by the woke mind virus,” an xAI spokesperson told Fox News Digital. The recent attack on Iran by the United States and Israel also provided examples on social media of Grok results appearing less “biased” than other platforms, including a post showing what happened when each platform was asked a “yes” or “no” question about whether Trump was “right” to authorize the strike. Grok responded with “yes” while ChatGPT said “no” and both Gemini and Claude argued that the situation was too nuanced to respond definitively one way or the other. “In times of split second decision making by our nation’s top leaders — it’s clear which AI our military should be using,” ‘The Katie Miller Show’ host and former DOGE adviser Katie Miller posted on X. “Truth-seeking is @grok’s best feature.” Various websites have attempted to track the political leanings of artificial intelligence platforms, including Dartmouth College’s Polarization Research Lab, last updated in 2025, which ranked Gemini as the least political. In early 2025, a Manhattan Institute report concluded Grok was a close second to Gemini in terms of political bias. An OpenAI spokesperson pointed Fox News Digital to its public ModelSpec which defines how ChatGPT should behave and “assume an objective point of view” and said “we actively test and measure political bias in ways that mirror real-world use and publish our findings, including evaluations across hundreds of prompts and real production traffic, where detectable political bias is rare (fewer than 0.01% of responses show any detectable political bias) and continues to decline with newer models.” Fox News Digital reached out to Anthropic and Google for comment.