Cayla Harris

DOJ rebuffed Santa Fe victims' request for school shooting investigation

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Thursday that he believes CenterPoint Energy “underestimated” the impact and direction of Hurricane Beryl and could have restored power to more customers in the immediate aftermath of the storm had it been better prepared. “We’ll get back and dissect what happened or didn’t happen,” Patrick said. “But right now, I want every person at CenterPoint to have one job: Get the power back on.” As he spoke, about 1.1 million CenterPoint customers were still without power and a…

Two days after Hurricane Beryl knocked out power for a record 2.26 million CenterPoint customers in the Houston area, Gov. Greg Abbott said he is directing the Public Utility Commission to study why the region has not been able to access electricity “on multiple occasions.” Abbott, who is currently on an economic development trip in Asia, said in two TV interviews on Wednesday that he wants to find out “why this is repeatedly happening in Houston.” He did not specifically mention any other natur…

After Louisiana passed a law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said this week that Texas could have been the first to do so — and should be the next. The state Senate, which Patrick leads, approved legislation last year that instructed public elementary and secondary schools to display a framed copy of the Ten Commandments “in a conspicuous place in each classroom of the school.” The bill, authored by state Sen. Phil King of Weatherford, made it thro…

Six years after authorities say a teenage gunman killed eight students and two teachers at Santa Fe High School, community members will unveil a final design on Saturday for a memorial honoring the victims. Thirteen people were also injured on May 18, 2018. It was the first major school shooting in Texas and came four years before a teenage shooter killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. May 24 will mark two years since that massacre. READ MORE: Judge delay…

A Galveston County judge has pushed back the start of a trial in a civil lawsuit against the parents of the gunman accused of killing eight students and two teachers at Santa Fe High School six years ago. Survivors and family members of the victims allege that the shooter’s parents are partly responsible for the massacre because they did not properly secure their guns, which their then-teenage son used to carry out the murders. Relatives filed suit just days after the shooting occurred on May 18…

Emergency room nurse Molly Cook won a special election Saturday to finish the remaining term of former state Sen. John Whitmire, who stepped down from the state Legislature four months ago to become the mayor of Houston. Cook held an early double-digit lead over state Rep. Jarvis Johnson, also a Democrat, that only grew over the course of the night, according to complete but unofficial returns. SPECIAL ELECTION: It’s election day in low-profile races for Texas Senate seat, county appraisal distr…

Federal officials have charged U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and his wife for allegedly accepting bribes from two foreign entities and money laundering, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which unsealed the indictment on Friday. Investigators allege the longtime congressman and his wife, Imelda, took roughly $600,000 in bribes between 2014 and 2021 from a bank headquartered in Mexico City and an oil and gas company owned and operated by the government of Azerbaijan. In exchange, C…

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is facing a federal campaign finance complaint over payments made from the company distributing his podcast to a political action committee dedicated to reelecting Cruz. End Citizens United and the Campaign Legal Center filed the complaint with the Federal Elections Commission on Tuesday and are seeking a formal investigation. They say Cruz “appears to have brazenly violated” campaign finance laws by soliciting donations to the Truth and Courage PAC from iHeartMedia, which pic…

Brandon Herrera, also known as the ‘AK Guy,’ is facing U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, in the May 28 primary runoff election. Herrera, who moved to San Antonio from North Carolina in 2020, is a gun manufacturer and social media personality who is hoping his online following can propel him to Congress. In the March 5 GOP primary, Herrera came in second place with 24% of the vote to Gonzales’ 45%. READ MORE: San Antonio’s ‘AK Guy’ is famous online. Can that take him to Congress over U.S. R…