Texas
Harris in Houston slams Trump as divisive and disrespectful
:focal(0x0:3000x1998)/static.texastribune.org/media/files/76f725c71ac9baf3501aaa4414200a41/Harris%20Houston%20Sorority%20REUTERS.jpg?ssl=1 "Harris in Houston slams Trump as divisive and disrespectful")
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Vice President Kamala Harris decried former President Donald Trump as divisive and disrespectful in response to his recent attacks about her race, as she addressed a historically Black sorority event in Houston on Wednesday.
Speaking to the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority’s Biennial Boule, Harris said: “The American people deserve better.”
“The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth,” Harris continued. “A leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us. It is an essential source of our strength.”
Earlier in the day, Trump ridiculed Harris’ heritage as the first Black and Indian American vice president during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention in Chicago. Trump falsely claimed Harris did not lean into her Black identity until it became politically advantageous to do so.
“She was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black. And now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know. Is she Indian or is she Black? I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t.”
ABC News’ Rachel Scott, who was one of the moderators of the interview, pointed out that Harris has always identified as Black and attended Howard University, a historically Black university. When asked if he felt that Harris was a “DEI hire,” as several of his fellow Republicans have said, Trump said, “I really don’t know. Could be.”
On Wednesday evening in Houston, Harris responded: “It was the same old show. The divisiveness and the disrespect. And let me just say, the American people deserve better.”
Harris’ visit to Houston is part of her third trip to Texas in July. Harris was in Houston earlier last week for a briefing on the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl and to deliver a speech at the American Federal of Teachers’ national convention. Harris also visited Dallas earlier in the month to speak at the Alpha Kappa Alpha annual convention.
Harris will stay in Houston through Thursday to attend the service for U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, who died earlier this month. Harris will deliver a eulogy, along with other prominent national Democratic elected officials.
Harris plans to go on a battleground tour next week, visiting several cities in key states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Arizona and Nevada.
During her speech at the Sigma Gamma Rho event, Harris urged attendees to organize voters and bolster turnout as they did in 2020 when she ran with President Joe Biden.
“Election day is in 97 days, and in this moment once again, our nation is counting on you to energize, to organize and to mobilize,” Harris said. “Because when we organize, mountains move. When we mobilize, nations change. And when we vote, we make history.”
Harris previewed her policy priorities should she get elected president. She vowed to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. The two bills, which have remained stalled in Congress, would increase federal oversight of elections and codify expanded access to voter registration and the ballot.
Harris also addressed gun violence, promising to codify universal background checks, red flag laws and an “assault weapons ban.”
Harris blamed Trump for restrictive abortion laws currently in place across the South, including in Texas, saying he made this happen by appointing a conservative majority to the Supreme Court. She said she would sign into law legislation to “restore reproductive freedoms” that also respects individual religious beliefs.
“One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that the government should not be telling her what to do,” Harris said. “We know faith and freedom can coexist.”
Harris cast a second Trump term as a threat to American democracy, saying that the former president planned to use law enforcement to round up protesters, use the Justice Department to go after political enemies and become dictator from day one.
“In this moment, we face a choice between two very different visions for our nation. One focused on the future, the other focused on the past,” Harris said. “We are working to build up, not tear down.”
“We are not going back,” Harris said. “We all here remember what those four years were like. And today, we were given yet another reminder.”
Harris started her Houston visit Wednesday at a political fundraiser for the Harris Victory Fund just before visiting with Sigma Gamma Rho.
The fundraising event was organized in four days, bringing in $2.5 million, according to a campaign official. The event’s target was $1 million. U.S. Reps. Al Green and Lizzie Fletcher and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo were in attendance. Sima Ladjevardian, chair of the National Women’s Business Council, introduced Harris. Ladjevardian ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw in 2020 and has organized fundraisers for the Biden-Harris campaign this cycle
Harris spoke briefly at the fundraiser, telling the audience of donors that “building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.” She warned that Trump represented a different, darker vision for the country, urging attendees: “we are not fighting against something. We are fighting for something.”
“We know how much is at stake,” Harris said.
Harris also alluded to her past as the California Attorney General and district attorney where she “took on perpetrators of all types.”
“I know Donald Trump’s type,” Harris said, alluding to his conviction last May of 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York court.
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Texas is planning its grid around an unprecedented wave of AI-driven power demand that the state’s energy regulator says may not fully materialize on projected timelines.
In a recent filing to the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) projected statewide power demand could surge to nearly 368 GW by 2032 – more than four times the state’s current peak demand record of 85.5 GW. But the filing also contains an unusual warning from the grid operator itself.
“ERCOT has concerns with using the preliminary load forecast values for the Reliability Assessment and any other transmission and resource adequacy analysis,” the organization wrote in its April 2026 long-term load forecast filing.
The organization added that it may seek adjustments to the forecast based on “actual historical realization rates or other objective, credible, independent information.”
ERCOT has already begun adjusting for realization risk internally. In its 2025 long-term load forecast report, the grid operator said the “average peak consumption per site was 49.8% of the requested MW” and applied that factor to projected non-crypto data center load additions in some planning models.
ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas said the forecast reflects “higher-than-expected future load growth” tied to changing large-load planning dynamics.
Texas has emerged as a hotspot for data center growth, with numerous new projects reshaping the energy market and challenging grid capacity. (Image: Alamy)
Texas Developers Race Ahead of Grid Capacity
Texas has emerged as a key data center market, driven by its abundant land, competitive energy prices, and favorable regulatory environment. This combination has positioned the state as a magnet for hyperscale operators and AI infrastructure investments. The state is estimated to account for around 15% of all data center connectivity in the US.
Recent and proposed AI data center campuses tied to OpenAI, Oracle, Meta, Crusoe, CoreWeave, Soluna, and other hyperscale operators are reshaping Texas grid planning. Developers have proposed large campuses across North Texas, Abilene, West Texas, and the Houston corridor, many requiring hundreds of megawatts of capacity and, in some cases, dedicated onsite generation to bypass interconnection delays. That buildout pushed ERCOT’s non-crypto data center forecast above 228 GW by 2032.
Developers are continuing to pursue Texas aggressively because ERCOT still offers faster timelines and more flexible market structures than many competing regions. Several proposed campuses pair AI infrastructure with onsite gas generation, colocated power assets, or flexible-load arrangements to navigate mounting transmission constraints.
Utilities across the US are grappling with AI-driven electricity growth, but ERCOT’s projections stand apart for both scale and uncertainty. PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest grid operator, expects summer peak demand to climb above 241 GW over the next 15 years as data centers and electrification expand. ERCOT, by contrast, projects demand potentially reaching nearly 368 GW by 2032, driven largely by proposed non-crypto data center loads. At the same time, the grid operator openly questions how much of that demand will materialize on schedule.
Bigger Than Texas
Similar pressures are emerging elsewhere. In California, CAISO’s latest transmission plan cited “data center load growth” as a driver of major grid upgrades and described interconnection volumes as “unmanageable” before recent queue reforms.
A recent Grid Strategies report reached a similar conclusion nationally, warning that the “data center portion of utility load forecasts is likely overstated by roughly 25 GW” compared with market-based deployment estimates.
Ihab Osman, an independent strategist specializing in data center and other mission-critical infrastructure, said the distinction is less about “real” versus “fake” AI demand and more about “announced versus deliverable demand.”
“A large share of the current AI/data center planned load should be treated as paper megawatts until it is validated through physical gates,” Osman said, citing factors including site control, transmission deliverability, generation availability, turbine and transformer supply, permitting, financing, and credible energization schedules.
Osman said ERCOT’s forecast is best understood as “a stress-test map, not as a fait accompli build map.”
Separating ’Paper Megawatts’ From Real Demand
The filing shows Texas regulators and grid planners struggling to distinguish operating AI infrastructure from a rapidly expanding pipeline of proposed projects.
“The vast majority” of ERCOT’s projected load growth comes from submissions provided by transmission and distribution utilities, according to the filing. Those requests include hyperscale AI campuses, GPU clusters, and other large industrial loads seeking future grid capacity reservations.
Alison Silverstein, a former senior adviser to the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said “a large proportion” of projects in ERCOT’s large-load interconnection queue have already been canceled, particularly among smaller developers facing long interconnection delays and high turbine and transformer costs.
Forecasts Collide With Physical Infrastructure Limits
ERCOT has also signaled that many projects may not materialize on the timelines shaping transmission planning.
The grid operator said summer 2026 peak demand is likely to land between roughly 90.5 GW and 98 GW – far below the preliminary 112 GW figure embedded in the long-term forecast. ERCOT said it appears “unlikely” that new large-load projects and existing site expansions will ramp quickly enough to push demand that high this year.
The filing suggests uncertainty around AI-related load growth is beginning to influence broader infrastructure planning assumptions. By 2032, ERCOT projects non-crypto data centers reaching 228 GW of demand, compared with just 9 GW from cryptocurrency mining and roughly 3 GW each from hydrogen/e-fuels and oil-and-gas-related industrial growth.
The move also suggests the regulator is no longer simply forecasting AI-driven growth, but also working to determine how much of the proposed boom can actually be financed, supplied, interconnected, and energized before utilities commit billions to long-lived infrastructure.
AUSTIN, Texas — Bravo is developing a new reality series set in the Texas Hill Country, the network announced on Instagram Monday.
“Secrets, Lies, Texas Wives” would follow a group of women in Boerne.
According to the network’s description, the series centers on “a tight-knit circle of glamorous women” navigating family life, ranching, and social obligations in a community rooted in rodeo and tradition. They promise drama with “forbidden romances” and relationship angst.
No premiere date or cast have been announced.
If picked up, the series would join Bravo’s long-running portfolio of region-specific reality franchises, which includes the “Real Housewives” lineup.
AUSTIN, Texas — With the average price of a gallon of gas in Texas topping $4, some leaders from Austin to Washington, D.C., are backing a temporary pause on gas taxes as a way to deliver relief.
Veronica Valdez Rodriguez was pumping gas at a southeast Austin station on Tuesday. She said the rising costs are becoming unmanageable.
“They’re sky high,” Rodriguez said. “I can barely get by, you know? It’s too expensive.”
She said she is spending $40 more every week on gas.
According to AAA Texas, the average cost of a regular gallon of fuel stood at over $4.01 in the Austin area on Tuesday, $1.24 higher than the average one year ago.
President Donald Trump said he is working to pause the federal gas tax, which is 18 cents per gallon.
A reporter asked the president on Monday how long the tax would be suspended.
“Until it’s appropriate. It’s a small percentage, but it’s, you know, it’s still money,” Trump said.
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In Texas, an 18-cent-per-gallon pause could add up to savings of about $2 to $3 on an average tank of gas.
Support for a federal pause is coming from both parties. State Rep. and U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico (D-Austin) backed the idea last month.
“Lowering prices at the pump should be a bipartisan commitment,” Talarico said in a statement Monday.
Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said he didn’t know the details of the president’s plan.
“There’s a difference between a temporary suspension and a permanent suspension,” Cornyn said Monday. “I don’t know exactly what the President has in mind. I think a temporary suspension getting through this sort of bumpy time because of uncertainty about energy prices, I can live with that.”
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa is calling for a state gas tax pause as well. The state tax currently sits at 20 cents per gallon, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
The state pause is also being urged by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who has called on Governor Greg Abbott to act.
“Governors in Indiana, Georgia, and Utah have already stepped up to provide relief for their citizens, and I once again renew my call for Governor Abbott to follow the lead of President Trump and act decisively for Texas families,” Miller wrote on Monday.
The governor’s office, however, said a state gas tax pause is not an option under his executive authority.
In a statement, the governor’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, wrote in response to Miller:
There’s a reason Sid Miller lost his election, it’s because he doesn’t shoot straight with Texans. Any suggestion that the Texas governor is authorized by law to suspend a gas tax is entirely uninformed or purposefully misleading. If the Texas governor could suspend taxes, he would have suspended the property tax years ago.
At the federal level, the Bipartisan Policy Center said a gas tax holiday would require an act of Congress. The group also estimated that a five-month pause could cost as much as $17 billion.
Some drivers, like Rodriguez, said any break would help.
“Pause the taxes!” she said.
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