HOUSTON, Texas — President Joe Biden heard firsthand from Texans clobbered by this month’s brutal winter weather on Friday and pledged to stick with them “for the long haul” as he made his first trip to a major disaster area since he took office. Biden was briefed by emergency officials and thanked workers for doing
Continue Reading HOUSTON, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Thursday ruled that the federal moratorium on evictions is unconstitutional, according to court documents. US District Judge John Barker, who was appointed by then-President Donald Trump to the court in the Eastern District of Texas, stopped short of issuing a preliminary injunction, but said he expected
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state officials said at a briefing Thursday that they have a plan to boost Covid-19 vaccinations among older people and other vulnerable populations. Health Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins indicated the plan calls for increasing shots among seniors by 10% over the next two weeks. The
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AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday that Texas is looking at when it will be able to lift all statewide orders related to the coronavirus pandemic and that an announcement is forthcoming. Abbott made the comments at a Corpus Christi news conference where he was asked when the statewide mask mandate would end
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AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott, speaking Wednesday evening in a rare statewide televised address, sought to reassure Texans that the state was moving aggressively to get to the bottom of the power grid failure that left millions of them in the cold and dark last week. “Tragic does not even begin to describe” the suffering
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima delivered his annual State of the City Address on Wednesday afternoon. The speech highlighted Las Cruces’ accomplishments during the past year and will touch on the goals of city government for the coming year. Below’s a transcript of the mayor’s remarks… “Good afternoon everyone. Bienvenidos todos. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.As always, I
Continue Reading HOUSTON, Texas — A federal judge has indefinitely banned President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations. U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton has issued a preliminary injunction sought by Texas, which argued the moratorium violated federal law and risked imposing additional costs on the state. Biden proposed the 100-day pause on deportations
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Five board members of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas — the entity that manages and operates the electricity grid that covers much of Texas — will resign on Wednesday, according to a notice to the Public Utility Commission. A sixth has withdrawn his application to the board. All six live outside
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, left Texas and traveled to Utah last week while the state was being rocked by severe winter storms. Paxton’s campaign spokesperson, Ian Prior, would not tell CNN when the couple had departed or returned but said the attorney general “did
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HOUSTON, Texas — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Houston on Friday as the state of Texas works to recover from major winter storms and power outages. “The President will meet with local leaders to discuss the winter storm, relief efforts, progress toward recovery and the incredible resilience shown by
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EL PASO, Texas — The Kemp Smith law office has drafted a letter to downtown El Paso property owners, who are located in a proposed historic district, accusing El Paso County of not being transparent with the public in their efforts to create the historic district. The letter states, “the County, or some of its
Continue Reading SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday that the Texas Public Utilities Commission is ordering a moratorium for energy companies to ban electricity disconnections due to non-payment as many Texans face high electricity bills after a week of sub-freezing temperatures. Abbott made the announcement during a briefing at Port San Antonio on
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Texas GOP Rep. Michael McCaul on Sunday delivered a pointed rebuke of Sen. Ted Cruz following his much-criticized trip to Cancun, Mexico, as a winter disaster rocked Texas last week. “Look, when a crisis hits my state, I’m there. I’m not going to go on some vacation,” McCaul, the top Republican on
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had amassed $4.7 million in her fundraising efforts to help Texans hard hit by last week’s winter storm as of Sunday evening, her press secretary Ivet Contreras confirmed to CNN. The New York Democrat launched her fundraiser Thursday after extreme cold weather, ice and snow caused the power
Continue Reading Federal emergency funds meant to help Texans recover from a deep freeze will also be used to help some residents pay exorbitantly high energy bills they were charged as a result of the recent snow storm, a Republican congressman from the state said Sunday. “Yes, that’s the current plan with the federal assistance — be
Continue Reading In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Bill Gates said deaths during Texas’ winter freeze were preventable, caused by the state’s decision not to weatherize its energy. Gates pushed back on Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s claim that frozen wind turbines were to blame for the massive power failure. Gates said America’s dependence on renewable energy
Continue Reading “Saturday Night Live” felt like a lot of people needed to apologize this week, so on Saturday’s episode that’s what happened. The NBC variety show opened with Britney Spears, played by Chloe Fineman, hosting a show called “Oops… You Did It Again,” which provided people a platform to apologize for things they did wrong. This
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says she regrets discretionary spending of taxpayer money that included $6,500 on groceries and alcohol. Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, over a six-month period in 2020 spent almost $13,500 from a taxpayer-funded expense account is appropriated by the state Legislature for the governor to spend on functions,
Continue Reading DALLAS, Texas — Dallas resident DeAndre Upshaw said it was “very shocking” when he opened his latest electricity bill. “While I’m trying to get gas and groceries and make sure that my pipes don’t explode, the last thing I’m thinking about is a $7,000 bill from my utility company,” Upshaw told CNN via Skype Saturday.
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AUSTIN, Texas — Warmer temperatures spread across the southern United States on Saturday, bringing some relief to a winter weary region that faces a challenging clean-up and expensive repairs from days of extreme cold and widespread power outages. In hard-hit Texas, where millions were warned to boil tap water before drinking it, the warm-up was
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WASHINGTON, DC — The extreme winter weather that left residents of Texas and other Southern states shivering through an unseasonal cold spell is testing President Joe Biden’s disaster management skills. The White House announced Saturday that Biden had declared a major disaster in Texas, and he’s asked federal agencies to identify additional resources to address the
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas — The Texas Legislature is considering two bills related to transgender medical and healthcare that propose potential bans. House Bill 1399 discourages doctors by prohibiting professional liability insurance from covering transition related care. While House Bill 68 proposes that any medical or mental health professional that performs transition related health care would
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — A Democrat-led Legislature in New Mexico pushed forward Friday to ensure future access to abortions by voting to repeal a dormant ban on most abortion procedures, marking a defiant counterpoint to efforts in some conservative states. House legislators voted to approve the repeal of the 1969 statute that has gone
Continue Reading HOUSTON, Texas — While Sen. Ted Cruz was dealing with the fallout from his trip to Cancun, two of his Democratic political nemeses — Beto O’Rourke and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — raised money and offered resources to Texans hit hard by this week’s winter storm. Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic congresswoman from New York who has frequently
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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is facing widespread criticism and mockery for taking a trip to Cancun, Mexico, as his constituents suffered through a winter storm disaster. But Cruz is also being criticized and mocked over two things he did not actually say. A fake tweet A screenshot that is being shared on social media purports
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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas’ power grid operator said Friday that rolling outages were no longer needed to balance supply and demand and the state’s electrical system was back in normal operation. But many Texans are still without power, and millions of people across the state have had their water service disrupted in the aftermath of this week’s
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AUSTIN, Texas — The state’s power grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), on Friday said “operations have returned to normal” after a winter storm left millions freezing in the dark for days. ERCOT, in a tweet, said while the system is back up and fully running – it still encouraged energy conservation efforts to reduce
Continue Reading CANCUN, Mexico — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas traveled to Mexico for a family vacation as his home state struggled with a powerful winter storm that left many residents without power or safe drinking water, saying Thursday that he made the trip to “be a good dad.” The high-profile Republican lawmaker said in a statement to
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AUSTIN, Texas — As the state’s power grid operator works to restore power to hundreds of thousands of Texas households in the wake of a massive winter storm, Gov. Greg Abbott called on lawmakers to mandate the weatherization of the state’s power plants and provide funding for it. The governor made the plea Thursday during a
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WASHINGTON, DC — The Biden administration has authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide generators and supplies to Texas and other states amid severe winter weather. “I’ve declared states of emergency, authorized FEMA to provide generators and supplies, and am ready to fulfill additional requests,” President Biden wrote on Twitter Thursday. Homeland Security advisor
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