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Starbase, home to Elon Musk's SpaceX, to officially become a Texas city

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Starbase, home to Elon Musk's SpaceX, to officially become a Texas city

Starbase, the area in Cameron County, Texas, where billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company operates, will soon be an officialcity.

Eligible residents in Starbase, most of whom are SpaceX employees, voted in an election on Saturday in favor of incorporating a patch of land as the new municipality, according to BBC News.

A total of 212 people voted yes to establishing the city while six opposed the effort, according to results published online by Cameron County.

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“Starbase, Texas is now a real city!” Musk, who has a residence in the area, reacted on X.

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Starbase, the area in Cameron County, Texas, where billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company operates, is set to officially become a city after an election by eligible residents of the area over the weekend. (Getty Images)

Some nearby residents have criticized the measure to create a new city and accused SpaceX of harming the local environment. SpaceX was fined nearly $150,000 last year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for dumping waste water.

The possibility of incorporation as a city had been floated for years before a petition in December paved the way for Saturday’s vote, BBC News reported.

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The city government will include a mayor and two commissioners who will have authority over planning, taxation and other local issues. The first mayor will be Bobby Peden, vice president of Texas’ test and launch operations at SpaceX. Peden, and two other residents with SpaceX ties who will fill the two commissioner seats, ran unopposed.

The SpaceX launchpad is seen from Boca Chica Beach in Brownsville, Texas, on May 3, 2025. (Getty Images)

The new city covers about 1.6 sq. miles, which was sparsely populated before SpaceX began purchasing land in 2012. Starbase will be a Type C city, which is a municipality category of under 5,000 people that includes allowing officials to impose a property tax of up to 1.5%, according to the Texas Municipal League.

SpaceX housing and facilities have popped up in the area since the company began purchasing land, as well as a road called Memes Street and a giant bust of Musk himself, which has been vandalized, according to BBC News.

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“Starbase, Texas is now a real city!” Elon Musk said on X after eligible voters in the area decided to establish the Type C municipality.  (Reuters/Kent Nishimura / Reuters)

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A bill currently in the Texas legislature could give Starbase officials the power to close a local highway and limit access to nearby Boca Chica Beach and Boca Chica State Park during rocket launches, a measure opposed by county officials.

As it stands now, closures around SpaceX launches are managed by the county, which includes the nearby city of Brownsville and the resort town of South Padre Island.

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a former Army serviceman they accused of distributing instructions on how to build explosives that were used by a man who conducted a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.

The former serviceman, Jordan A. Derrick, a 40-year-old from Missouri, was charged with one count of engaging in the business of manufacturing explosive materials without a license; one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device; and one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The three charges together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.

Starting in September 2023, the authorities said, Mr. Derrick was using various social media sites to share videos of himself making explosive materials, including detonators. His videos provided step-by-step instructions, and he often engaged with viewers in comments, sometimes answering their questions about the chemistry behind the explosives.

The authorities said that Mr. Derrick’s videos were downloaded by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, who was accused of ramming a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025, in a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens. Mr. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police. Before the attack, Mr. Jabbar had placed two explosives on Bourbon Street, the authorities said, but they did not detonate.

The authorities later recovered two laptops and a USB drive in a house that Mr. Jabbar had rented. The USB drive contained several videos created by Mr. Derrick that provided instructions on making explosives. The authorities said the explosives they recovered were consistent with the ones Mr. Derrick had posted about.

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Mr. Derrick’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Derrick was a combat engineer in the Army, where he provided personnel and vehicle support, the authorities said. He also helped supervise safety personnel during demolitions and various operations. He was honorably discharged in February 2013.

The authorities did not say whether Mr. Derrick had any communication with Mr. Jabbar, or whether the men had known each other. In some of Mr. Derrick’s videos and comments, he indicated that he was aware that his videos could be misused.

“There are a plethora of uh, moral, you know, entanglements with topics, any topic of teaching explosives, right?” he asked in one video, according to the affidavit. “Of course, the wrong people could get it.”

The authorities also said that an explosion occurred at a private residence in Odessa, Mo., on May 4, and the occupant of the residence told investigators that he had manufactured explosives after watching online tutorials from Mr. Derrick.

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Mr. Derrick’s YouTube account had more than 15,000 subscribers and 20 published videos, the affidavit said. He had also posted content on other platforms, including Odysee and Patreon. Some videos were accessible to the public for free, while others required a paid subscription to view.

“My responsibility to my countrymen is to make sure that I serve the function of the Second Amendment to strengthen it,” Mr. Derrick said in one of his videos, according to the affidavit. “This is how I serve my country for real.”

Outside of the income he received through content creation, Mr. Derrick did not have any known employment. He did receive a monthly disability check from Veterans Affairs, the affidavit stated.

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded
Allegations pile up, but Child Protective Services declines to investigate and the school district continues to promote Ronnie Stoner. We include an update at the end of the episode. “The Girls” is a 4-part series from the Louisville Public Media’s investigative podcast, Dig.
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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

A streamer known for hurling racist slurs in public settings under the nickname “Chud the Builder” was charged with attempted murder after a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday, the authorities said.

The streamer, Dalton Eatherly, 28, was involved in a confrontation with an unidentified man that escalated to gunfire outside the Montgomery County Court in Clarksville, about 50 miles northwest of Nashville, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Both men sustained gunshot wounds and were in stable condition, the office said.

In addition to attempted murder, Mr. Eatherly was charged with employing a firearm during dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.

Mr. Eatherly, who is white, has accumulated an online audience by livestreaming confrontations in which he uses racist language toward Black people in public.

Law enforcement did not provide any details about the second man involved in Wednesday’s shooting. Mr. Eatherly posted an audio recording online of paramedics treating his wounds in which he claims he shot the man in self-defense.

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A video posted by the website Clarksville Now shows Mr. Eatherly on a stretcher with a microphone attached to his lapel.

Mr. Eatherly is being held at the Montgomery County Jail, pending arraignment, the sheriff’s office said.

According to court records, Mr. Eatherly was scheduled to appear for a court hearing on Wednesday morning in an unrelated case brought by Midland Credit Management, a collections agency.

A lawyer listed in court records from a separate harassment case in which Mr. Eatherly was a defendant in November did not respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday, three days before the shooting in Clarksville, Mr. Eatherly was arrested in Nashville. According to a police affidavit, Mr. Eatherly live streamed his meal at a restaurant, Bob’s Steak and Chop House, on Saturday even though the restaurant had asked him ahead of time not to do so.

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When he was confronted, Mr. Eatherly “became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene,” according to the affidavit.

He then refused to pay for his $370 meal. Mr. Eatherly was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bond.

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