Texas
2 baby bald eagles hatch near Dallas during Texas Winter Storm
KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas – Two bald eagle chicks were born this week at the John Bunker Sands Wetlands Center in North Texas, hatching amid a winter storm as their parents sheltered the nest from rain, cold and high winds.
What we know:
The eaglets hatched from eggs laid on Dec. 18 and Dec. 21, according to the wetlands center. The hatching came as a winter storm moved through the area, dumping rain and ushering in freezing temperatures. The nest is located near Combine, Texas, about 30 minutes southeast of Dallas.
Executive Director of the John Bunker Sands Wetlands Center, Kayleigh Bucur, said staff could do little more than observe the bald eagles. It has become a focal point for eagle watchers across the region as staff members and thousands of online viewers have been closely monitoring the nest through a YouTube live-stream, as the incubation period reached its final days.
The female eagle, referred to as Mom, is noticeably larger than the male, referred to as Dad. As Mom handled most of the incubation duties, Dad hunted and brought food back to the nest. Bucur tells The Post that they do not name the baby eagles but number them based on the number they were hatched. The two newborns are JBS 24 and JBS 25.
With the two new hatchlings, the John Bunker Sands Wetlands Center has now recorded 25 eaglets since monitoring began in 2014. Of those, 20 have successfully fledged.
Courtesy: John Bunker Sands Wetlands Center
Dig deeper:
On Jan. 25, 2026, shortly after the birth of JBS 24, Dad flies in to meet his new offspring and check on the family and Mom finally allows him to take charge and leaves to grab a meal and get some rest. Mom has been on the nest since early Friday morning, steadfast in the frightful, frigid weather.
Mom and Dad’s second chick hatched in the early morning of Jan. 26. Mom had her attempts at the first feeding of both chicks.
JBS 25 is described to still have a few damp feathers from hatching and generally has its back to the camera in the video. JBS 24 is described as a bit more mobile, it can sit up and is starting to have some control of its bobbing head.
Mom manages to connect JBS 24 with a little food, while JBS 25 still has plenty of nutrients from absorbing the egg yolk during the hatching process.
It won’t be long before the chick can grab at the morsels Mom offers, according to the center.
During the process of hatching, the chicks absorb the nutritious egg yolk and can go without being fed for a day or two. The chicks will rest and dry off after hatching and will sit up and chirp to the parents when they’re ready for their first meal outside the shell.
What they’re saying:
“We’ve been on what we call ‘PIP watch,’” said Bucur. “That’s when the chick starts breaking into the air sac inside the egg and mom can actually hear chirping. From there, hatching is entirely up to the chick.”
Bucur described the organization’s inability to intervene with the birth of the baby eagles.
“They’re federally protected, and truly, you just have to trust the eagles. They’re seasoned parents, and they know what they’re doing.”
Winter Storm Warning, Eagle Egg Watch | The Post
We’re in the final hours to prepare for this weekend’s winter storm, as multiple counties in North Texas are under a winter storm warning. Meanwhile, two bald eagles are expected to welcome babies during the winter storm. A livestream is available to watch the eggs hatch.
The backstory:
The nest itself has a unique history, originally built on an energized electrical tower that supplied power to Dallas. In 2014, utility crews and wildlife agencies worked together to relocate the nest without disturbing it, lifting it by crane and securing it to a replica tower about a quarter mile away. That partnership included Mica Steelworks, The Chapman Group, Oncor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and several private contractors. The replica tower still stands about 100 feet tall.
Bald eagles’ mate for life, and this same pair has returned year after year. Since the relocation, the new nest has grown to nearly 700 pounds and spans about nine feet across.
What’s next:
The chicks are expected to remain in the nest for several weeks and could begin attempting flight by April.
The John Bunker Sands Wetlands Center offers public programs, eagle walks and live-stream access to the nest, allowing visitors to follow the young birds’ progress as they grow.
The Source: Information in this article was provided by an interview conducted by FOX 4’s Lauren Przyby and Shannon Murray. Additional information was provided by the John Bunker Sands Wetlands Center.
Texas
North Texas middle school closes after a norovirus outbreak
A middle school in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD is closed Friday after an outbreak of norovirus.
According to the school district, they closed Creekview Middle School in Fort Worth on Friday to sanitize and clean the building. The district said they plan on reopening the school on Monday.
The district said children started to get sick on Tuesday with what appeared to be a stomach virus and that on Wednesday it spread to a larger group.
EMSISD said they reached out to the Tarrant County Public Health Department and that they recommended disinfecting and cleaning the school on Wednesday night and reopening the next day.
More cases continued to be reported on Thursday, so the public health department then recommended that they clean again and close the campus on Friday.
Parents were notified of the district’s decision on Thursday afternoon.
The district has not said how many students and staff were sickened in the outbreak.
Officials with Children’s Medical Center said that because norovirus is highly contagious and resistant to many common hand sanitizers, it presents a unique challenge for families.
The hospital says hand sanitizer isn’t enough and recommends thorough hand washing with soap and water. They also recommend parents keep their children home for a full 48 hours after symptoms stop to prevent further outbreaks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are approximately 2,500 norovirus outbreaks in the United States each year and that they are most common from November through April. For further tips on preventing the spread of norovirus, visit the CDC.
Texas
Trump heads to Texas, where 3 friends are battling it out in the Senate Republican primary
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump just can’t seem to choose among friends in the Texas Senate Republican primary.
So when he travels to the state on Friday for his first post- State of the Union trip, where he plans to promote his energy and economic policies, Trump will have all three candidates in the competitive race join him — just days before his party casts ballots in the primary race.
Sen. John Cornyn is battling for his fifth term and is being challenged by state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt in a primary fight that has become viciously personal. And all three men, missing the coveted endorsement from Trump, have been trying to highlight their ties to him as they ramp up their campaigning ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
For his part, Trump will be seeking to ride the message of his State of the Union address from Tuesday, where he declared a return to economic prosperity and a more secure America — two centerpiece arguments for Republicans as they campaign to keep their congressional majorities this fall.
Trump’s hesitation to endorse in the Texas Senate primary speaks to the tricky dynamics of the race.
Cornyn is unpopular with a segment of Texas’ GOP base, in part for his early dismissiveness of Trump’s 2024 comeback campaign and for his role in authoring tougher restrictions on guns after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. But Senate GOP leadership and allied groups see Cornyn as the stronger general election candidate, in light of a series of troubles that have shadowed Paxton.
Paxton beat impeachment on fraud charges in 2023, and has faced allegations of marital infidelity by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, right, is joined by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, left, during a campaign stop in Austin, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. Credit: AP/Eric Gay
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have urged Trump to endorse Cornyn. They and allied campaign groups argue that the seat would cost the party hundreds of millions more to defend with Paxton as the candidate.
“It is a strong possibility we cannot hold Texas if John Cornyn is not our nominee,” Scott told Fox News on Wednesday.
Hunt, a second-term Houston-area representative, was a later entry to the race, but claims a kinship with Trump, having endorsed him early in the 2024 race. Hunt campaigned regularly for Trump and earned a prime-time speaking slot at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
If no candidate reaches 50% in Tuesday’s primary, the top two finishers will advance to a May 26 runoff.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, arrive before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. Credit: AP/Allison Robbert
Cornyn’s campaign and a half-dozen allied groups have poured more than $63 million into the race since last fall, chiefly trying to slow Paxton but recently attacking Hunt in an effort to keep him from making it to the runoff.
Earlier this month, Trump feinted toward weighing in on the race when he said he was taking “a serious look” at endorsing in the Texas primary. He has since reaffirmed his neutrality.
Still, you wouldn’t know it from watching TV in Texas. Cornyn has been airing ads since last year touting his support for Trump’s agenda, even though his relationship with the president has been cool at times. Paxton and Hunt both have ads airing now featuring them standing with Trump.
“I like all three of them, actually. Those are the toughest races. They’ve all supported me. They’re all good. You’re supposed to pick one, so we’ll see what happens. But I support all three,” Trump said earlier this month.
The GOP battle comes as Democrats have a contested primary of their own in Texas between state Rep. James Talarico, a self-described policy wonk who regularly quotes the Bible, and progressive favorite U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
Trump hasn’t been shy about wading into other contested Republican primaries in the state. Parts of Corpus Christi fall within Texas’ 34th congressional district, where former Rep. Mayra Flores is fighting to reclaim her seat against the Trump-endorsed Eric Flores. (The two are not related.) The winner of the primary will face off against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, long a target of the GOP, whose district was redrawn to make it easier for a Republican to win.
Eric Flores will be at the Trump event at the Port of Corpus Christi, which technically is located in a neighboring district.
Elsewhere in the state, the president has also endorsed Rep. Tony Gonzales, who is fighting calls from his own party to resign from Congress after reports of an alleged affair with a former staffer who later died after she set herself on fire. Gonzales is refusing to step down and has said that there will be “opportunities for all of the details and facts to come out” and that the stories about the situation do not represent “all the facts.”
Gonzales is facing a primary challenge from Brandon Herrera, a gun manufacturer and gun rights influencer who Gonzales defeated by fewer than 400 votes in their 2024 runoff. The White House did not return a request for comment on Thursday on whether Trump stands by his endorsement of Gonzales.
Texas
Man sentenced to 15 years in Texas crash that killed founding member of The Chicks
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after admitting his reckless driving caused a head-on collision in rural West Texas that killed Laura Lynch, a founding member of the country music group now known as The Chicks, prosecutors said.
Domenick Chavez, 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Dec. 22, 2023, crash in Hudspeth County, according to a news release Tuesday from El Paso County District James Montoya, who also oversees nearby Hudspeth County.
The news release said Chavez was driving a truck westbound when he tried to pass four vehicles on a two-way undivided highway and collided head-on with Lynch’s eastbound truck. Lynch, 65, of Dell City, was trapped in her vehicle and died. Prosecutors said Chavez was traveling between 106 mph and 114 mph.
Prosecutors said alcohol wasn’t a factor in the crash but that Chavez was driving on a suspended license, which had been revoked due to his failure to comply with DWI-related surcharges and penalties from convictions in 2014 and 2017.
Lynch, along with Robin Lynn Macy and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer, formed The Dixie Chicks in the late 1980s. Lynch and Macy eventually left the band and Natalie Maines joined the sisters. The trio hit commercial fame with their breakthrough album “Wide Open Spaces” in 1998 and have won 13 Grammys. In 2020, the band changed its name to The Chicks.
In a social media post after Lynch’s death, The Chicks said Lynch had “infectious energy and humor” and was “instrumental” in the band’s early success.
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