A federal judge preserved Harris County’s misdemeanor bail agreement. An appeal is underway.

Four voters say eliminating 92 Tarrant County polling places will disproportionately burden Black and Hispanic voters.

A preliminary injunction blocks border-barrier construction in Big Bend National Park while an environmental lawsuit proceeds.

More than 20 million Medicare Part B enrollees are expected to receive a one-time $90 payment.

The Supreme Court is considering whether federal law blocks Boulder’s state-law climate claims against Exxon and Suncor.

October 5 was the registration deadline for Texas’ November 3 election; voters should verify records and keep documentation.

A judge ordered Galveston ISD to display donated Ten Commandments posters while a constitutional fight continues.

Dallas began the fiscal year with 3,410 sworn officers—590 below the City Charter minimum.

Aqua RichJo / October 5,2026 Somebody reportedly picked up the phone. Texas authorities say a credible tip warned them about an alleged plan to attack the Texas Capitol on October 1. Less than a day before the alleged target date, Texas DPS SWAT arrested Benny Caldera Jr., 40, at his home in Converse. He was initially charged by the state with making a terroristic threat against a public servant. Then things escalated. After Caldera posted bond on the state charge— THE FBI TO

Aqua RichJo | September 29, 2026 Singer-songwriter JMSN says the government used his music without permission in a taxpayer-funded television advertisement featuring President Donald Trump. Attorneys for the artist, whose legal name is Christian Berishaj, sent the White House a cease-and-desist letter demanding that it stop using “Love Me.” JMSN also disavowed association with a political agenda. The dispute puts two questions in front of the public: Who authorized the music,

Aqua RichJo | September 26, 2026 The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily cleared the way for states to use the federal SAVE database to check voter eligibility while a lawsuit continues. The September 25 emergency order pauses a lower court’s restrictions on the revamped system. It does not finally decide whether the system is lawful, and states are not required to use it. The Court’s three liberal justices dissented. The ruling lands as Texas counties are already processing a

Aqua RichJo | September 26, 2026 The known backlog of delayed Texas voter-registration records has reached at least 200,000. Applications and updates submitted through the Department of Public Safety’s online driver’s license portal were not sent to counties as expected. DPS now says the problem was connected to an October 2025 software update by a third-party vendor. People using the portal had no warning that their information had stalled. Counties must now process those de

Aqua Jones | September 25, 2026 Dallas County has received more than 68,000 voter-registration records that were delayed by a state transmission error. Collin County received about 40,000. Across seven counties that have reported figures, the known total exceeds 178,000 records—and Texas still has not said exactly what caused the failure. Let’s get the number right: 178,000 records does not necessarily mean 178,000 people lost their right to vote. The files include applicatio

Aqua RichJo| September 24, 2026 More than 40,000 voter registration records have landed in Collin County for review. That does not mean 40,000 people were left unregistered—but with Texas’ October 5 deadline approaching, voters deserve to know whether their own records made it through. The records came from a backlog of applications and updates submitted through the Texas Department of Public Safety’s online driver’s-license portal. Some records were never sent to county vote

Aqua RichJo | September 24, 2026 The Texas U.S. Senate race has a North Texas question: What happens if voters who usually back Republicans decide they cannot support Republican nominee Ken Paxton? In reporting published Thursday, The Texas Tribune spoke with Republicans across the Dallas–Fort Worth area who said they were considering leaving the Senate contest blank or voting for Democrat James Talarico. Former Southlake Mayor Laura Hill said she plans to skip that race. Oth

Those questions come from two separate stories. One is a national lawsuit about alleged voter intimidation. The other is a Texas registration backlog. There is no evidence that the two are connected. Together, they show why voters need clear answers before Election Day. On September 18, the NAACP, National Urban League and seven other organizations filed a federal lawsuit over administration statements and policy changes involving armed federal officers at or near voting sit

Texas county election offices are receiving a backlog of voter registration records that the Department of Public Safety did not previously transmit from its online driver’s-license services. The discovery comes less than two weeks before October 5, the deadline to register for the November 3 election.