Texas
Hispanic community leader reveals reason behind Soros' expensive effort to reverse Dems' Texas losing streak
One Hispanic community leader in South Texas has a simple theory on why liberal billionaire George Soros is investing heavily to reverse Democrats’ losing streak in the Lone Star State: “They’re absolutely scared.”
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Mayra Flores, a former Republican congresswoman and the first Mexican-born woman to serve in the House of Representatives, said Soros’ pouring money into the state in a bid to boost Democrat turnout in 2024 was because he didn’t want Republican Hispanic leaders, such as herself, to win over other Hispanics who have traditionally voted blue.
Flores was referencing the Texas Majority PAC, a group being partially bankrolled by Soros working to build up progressive infrastructure across Texas in an attempt to elect more Democrats.
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Liberal billionaire George Soros and former Republican Texas Rep. Mayra Flores. (Getty Images)
“They’re seeing that Hispanics are shifting towards the Republican Party because they’re realizing that we are the party of prosperity, that we want to build a strong economy, that we want to secure the border, that we want to prioritize the people of this country and not prioritize people from outside this country. And I believe that it’s our policies that are winning people over, and the struggle is real,” she said.
“George Soros and the Democratic Party are seeing people like myself that resonate with the Hispanic community. They resonate with me. I resonate with them. We have similar stories. I’m bilingual. I speak Spanish and English. We have similar stories, and we share that bond,” she added.
A recent report by The Texas Tribune said the group is being run by former staffers from Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s failed campaign for governor and that it had raised nearly $2.25 million last year.
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According to a Fox News Digital analysis of Texas Majority PAC’s Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, Soros has given $850,000 as of Dec. 27, $750,000 of which he gave during the first half of 2023 when the group only raised $752,040.
Texas state Capitol in Austin, Texas. (Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images)
In the Tribune’s report, the PAC’s deputy director said that contributions were intended to help local Democrat groups register, contact and turnout voters “on a scale never seen before.”
They have the work cut out for them, as Democrats have tried, but failed, to gain traction in a number of major state-wide races in addition to O’Rourke’s 2022 bid.
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The closest they came was in 2018, when O’Rourke, a former El Paso area congressman, ran for Senate against incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. In a year with high Democrat turnout as a backlash to the presidency of former President Donald Trump, O’Rourke came within three points of beating Cruz.
In 2020, Democrats thought they had another shot at taking out an incumbent Republican, Sen. John Cornyn, with Air Force veteran M.J. Hegar. However, she lost by nearly 10 points.
Now Democrats hope to utilize Texas Majority PAC to try and take out Cruz again, who is up for re-election to a third term this year, but, according to Flores, the shift toward Republicans among Hispanics has only been growing stronger and its putting fear into Democrats’ hearts.
Beto O’Rourke, then-Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Texas, speaks outside a polling location in Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. (Nitashia Johnson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“They’re scared. They’re absolutely scared. And they don’t want Republican Hispanics like myself to win over other Hispanics. And they know that we’re moving that shift every cycle,” Flores, who is running to win back her seat in Texas’ 34th Congressional District, told Fox.
She was ousted following Texas’ redistricting ahead of the 2022 midterms, losing to Democrat Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, but says the shift toward the GOP in the heavily-Hispanic district will bode well for her chances this year.
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“The American people right now are struggling to pay their rent and their mortgage. They’re a paycheck away from being homeless, and they remember what it was like under the Trump administration. They know that when he was in office, they had more money in their pockets,” Flores said.
“Right now they’re not enjoying their money. Their money is going into all the bills and interest rates. They’re not able to enjoy life. And that’s not the American dream,” she added.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Texas
Texas A&M Forward Transfer Seemingly on Visit to See Lady Vols Basketball | Rocky Top Insider

Lady Vols basketball is looking to add more pieces to its 2026-27 roster with high-level experience. After completing her junior season at Texas A&M, Fatmata Janneh has emerged as a Tennessee target for her final year of eligibility. According to her Instagram story on Sunday night, she is in Knoxville.
With the Aggies a year ago, the 6-foot-2 forward averaged 11.4 points per game on 43.3% shooting from the field. She also showed off an ability to hit from range, posting 1.1 makes per game on 33% shooting from three.
Perhaps Janneh’s biggest strength is her rebounding, though. She ripped down 9.7 boards per contest, good for the fifth-most in the SEC. This featured 2.6 rebounds on the offensive end per outing.
Janneh also averaged 1.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.4 blocks per game. She appeared in 27 games, starting in each.
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Janneh started her career with a pair of seasons at St. Peter’s. As a sophomore, she averaged a double-double, posting 18.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game. This made her a sought-after transfer in the portal before landing at Texas A&M as the nation’s leading defensive rebounder. As a freshman, she averaged 11.0 points and 8.0 rebounds.
The forward is from London, England, attending Barking Abbey Sixth Form for her prep ball. She would be the second player from England to join the Tennessee roster if she committed. UT also added the commitment of incoming freshman and former Boston College signee Irene Oboavwoduo this offseason.
So far, Caldwell and the Lady Vols have landed five transfers in this portal cycle. This features Liberty guard Avery Mills, Northern Arizona guard Naomi White, Stanford forward Harper Peterson and Georgia forward Zhen Craft and guard Rylie Theuerkauf.
Tennessee will also roster a pair of incoming freshmen. Four-star recruit and top-50 prospect Gabby Minus is staying true to her signing despite the roster overhaul and assistant coaching changes, along with the addition of Oboavwoduo.
Texas
Texas needs at least $174 billion to avoid water crisis, state says
AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) — Texas communities will need to spend $174 billion in the next 50 years to avert a severe water crisis, a new state analysis revealed Thursday. That’s more than double the $80 billion projected four years ago, when the Texas Water Development Board last passed a state water plan.
The three-member board presiding over the agency authorized the highly anticipated draft blueprint Thursday, the first administrative step toward adopting the water development board’s plans for the next 50 years. The plan, released every five years, encompasses the projects that 16 regional water planning groups in Texas said are the most urgent, water development board officials said.
The board’s latest estimates come as the state’s water supply faces numerous threats. Growing communities across Texas are scrambling to secure water, keep up with construction costs and cope with a yearslong drought. This week, Corpus Christi officials said the city may be just months away from declaring a water emergency. Meanwhile, other rural cities by the Coastal Bend are rapidly drilling wells to avoid a crisis. Residents in North Texas have also been bracing for groundwater shortages.
In an effort to restrain the crisis, lawmakers last year called an election in which voters approved a $20 billion boost for communities to use on water-related expenses. The water development board’s estimate shows that what lawmakers proposed on the ballot falls dramatically short of the needed cash, experts said.
“What this number tells me at the end of the day is if we don’t get serious about (funding water projects), there are going to be serious consequences for Texas,” said Perry Fowler, executive director of the Texas Water Infrastructure Network. “Even with the billion-dollar-a-year plan kicking in, it’s not going to be enough to offset the costs of the projects that are going to have to be executed.”
The new estimate accounts for 3,000 projects, from regional infrastructure upgrades to smaller endeavors such as drilling new water wells. Texas’ water supplies are expected to drop by roughly 10% between 2030 and 2080, according to the water plan. In that same time frame, the maximum amount of water communities can draw is also expected to decline by 9%.
The 80-page plan notes approximately 6,700 recommended strategies that would add water to the state’s dwindling portfolio. The recommendations — which are not accounted for in the cost — include developing new supplies from aquifer storage and recovery, brackish groundwater, desalination and recycled water. It also calls for water conservation.
The report suggested that if Texas does not implement the plans and recommendations, the state is one severe drought away from an estimated $91 billion in economic damages in 2030.
The state’s plan attributes a variety of reasons for the bigger price tag, such as higher costs of construction due to inflation, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains, and a growing backlog of water supply projects.
“There’s a plan that can meet our needs,” said Matt Nelson, deputy executive administrator for the Office of Planning at the water development board, adding that they take their cues from the regional planning groups. “These are local projects that folks need to implement; they’re needed regardless of how they’re funded. It’s important to remember these are not top-down projects or state projects.”
Experts told The Texas Tribune that the board’s estimate is only a fraction of what Texas communities will need to ensure they have water in 50 years’ time, saying growth and development are outpacing the state’s ability to keep up.
“This is a bigger water plan in terms of volume strategies and capital costs compared to anything we’ve ever seen before,” said Jeremy Mazur, the director of infrastructure and natural resources policy at think tank Texas 2036.
Mazur suggested that the $174 billion only covers water supply projects and does not account for updating aging infrastructure, adding that the actual price could amount to a quarter of a trillion dollars.
“There’s a substantial magnitude with regard to the capital investment needed to both fix our aging and current systems and potentially develop the water infrastructure, water supply projects that we need.“
The report largely confirmed what many water experts have warned regarding threats to the state’s water supply, said Sarah Kirkle, director of policy at the Texas Water Association.
“Population growth, extreme weather, and economic development needs are all increasing demands on our infrastructure, and the state is going to need more water, sooner,” Kirkle said. “This is all while water projects are becoming more costly and complex because the easiest and cheapest local projects have already been developed.”
Fowler, with the infrastructure network, said he expects the Texas Legislature to take up the issue next year, when lawmakers meet for the 90th legislative session. He said the state should take a bigger role in ensuring that communities can afford their respective water projects.
“It’s going to have to be a top-down priority, there’s no way around it,” he said. “The challenges are so immense that it’s going to take all hands on deck.”
Texas residents have until the end of May to comment on the proposal. Water development board officials must adopt it by January 2027.
Alejandra Martinez contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at www.texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans – and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas
Co‑worker confesses to killing missing North Texas man and stealing his car, police say
A North Texas man reported missing earlier this week was found dead Friday, and police say a co‑worker has confessed to fatally shooting him and stealing his car.
The suspect, Gregory D. Lewis, 34, remains in custody and faces a forthcoming capital murder charge, according to the Fort Worth Police Department.
Lewis is accused of killing 31‑year‑old Thomas King, who had been last seen in his Taco Casa work uniform. King was reported missing on Tuesday after failing to return home Monday from the fast‑food restaurant in the 1100 block of Bridgewood Drive.
Car found at Arlington motel
Police said King’s car was found at the Quality Inn on I‑20 in Arlington, and surveillance video showed Lewis arriving in King’s vehicle shortly after King left work.
Detectives identified the man in the video and arrested him on unrelated charges.
Body discovered on Fort Worth’s East Side
King’s body was located on Friday in an open field on Fort Worth’s East Side, authorities said.
According to police, Lewis confessed to shooting the victim and stealing his car.
Medical examiner review pending
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death.
CBS News Texas has reached out to Taco Casa for comment.
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