ESPN’s “College GameDay” won’t be the only out-of-towners in attendance for Saturday’s top-15 matchup between Texas and Tennessee at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.
According to Adam Sparks of The Knoxville New Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, President Donald Trump is expected to be in attendance to watch No. 1 Longhorns and No. 13 Volunteers clash in the SEC opener for both teams.
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A person close to the situation told Knoxville News that Tennessee is working under the assumption the president will attend the game. The person requested anonymity because no official announcement has been made.
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Saturday’s game at Neyland Stadium will be the first college football game that Trump will attend since Indiana’s win over Miami in the College Football Playoff national championship last January at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Texas and Tennessee are set for a noon ET kickoff on Saturday, Sept. 25 in Knoxville.
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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday rejected a lower court’s finding that death row inmate Melissa Lucio is innocent of the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter.
Lucio has spent 18 years on death row after being convicted of killing her daughter, Mariah Alvarez. But questions about Lucio’s possible innocence have lingered for years, stemming from questions on the origin of Mariah’s fatal head trauma: abuse or an accidental fall down the stairs.
The appeals court stayed Lucio’s execution in 2022 to allow a lower court to review four claims that suppressed evidence had contributed to her conviction. After reviewing her appeal, a district judge recommended overturning her sentence and declared Lucio “actually innocent” in two separate rulings in 2024.
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In Wednesday’s ruling, the Court of Criminal Appeals cast doubt on her claims and said the lower-court rulings relied too heavily on Lucio’s interpretation of events and not the prosecution’s case.
“We decline to adopt any of the habeas court’s findings and conclusions, which exclusively reflect Applicant’s interpretation of the evidence and are often unsupported,” the court’s order said.
Any appeal on the court’s ruling would go to the U.S. Supreme Court. If her exoneration holds, Lucio would be the first woman declared innocent from Texas death row, joining 18 exonerated men since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1976.
This is a developing story.
Ayden Runnels is the afternoon/evening reporter. Previously, they were a breaking news reporter for the Las Vegas Sun. A graduate of the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas, Ayden…
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CALDWELL COUNTY, Texas — Nearly six years after Texas State University student Jason Landry disappeared, investigators said they have identified his remains.
Landry’s crashed and abandoned car was found near Luling in 2020. A memorial now sits at that location.
RELATED | Remains found near Luling are those of missing Texas State student Jason Landry
Now, investigators said they have identified his remains, ending years of uncertainty for his family and the community.
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Landry was 21 years old when he disappeared on December 13, 2020.
Human remains found in Caldwell County near Luling have been identified as belonging to Jason Landry, a Texas State University student who went missing nearly six years ago while driving home for the holidays.
According to the Texas Attorney General’s Office, he was driving from San Marcos to his family’s home in Missouri City when his vehicle was found on Salt Flat Road near Luling.
Several of his belongings, including clothing, were scattered near the crash site. Despite extensive searches by law enforcement, search teams, and volunteers, Landry was never found.
ALSO | Caldwell County deputies investigate skeletal remains found outside Luling
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Investigators said a resident found human remains on September 8 east of Salt Flat Road, between Soda Springs and Biggs Road.
The Attorney General’s Office said DNA testing by the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification confirmed the remains belonged to Landry.
According to sources, remains that may have been found along Salt Flat Road have renewed attention on the 2020 disappearance of Texas State University student Jason Landry. (Photo: CBS Austin)
The agency said the skeletal remains do not provide additional insight into how he died, and investigators have found no indication of foul play.
CBS Austin spoke with several people in the community who all said they hope this can bring some closure to Landry’s family and friends.
RELATED | Skeletal remains found near road where Texas State student Jason Landry vanished
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Nearly six years after Texas State University student Jason Landry disappeared, investigators said they have identified his remains. (Photo: Rhonda Hissey)
Over the years, the Attorney General’s Cold Case Unit worked with the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and Texas Search and Rescue to conduct repeated ground and aerial searches, review leads, and reexamine the case.
The Attorney General’s Office said the case remains open and under investigation. Agencies are asking the public to respect Landry’s family’s privacy during this difficult time.
Ella Langley credited her hit song “Choosin’ Texas” for “changing her life” after she broke Mariah Carey’s record for the longest run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“I’m genuinely trying to find the words to help explain what’s going on in my brain today,” Langley, 27, said on Tuesday in an Instagram video posted from beside her pool just hours after the record was announced.
“Choosin’ Texas” has spent 23 weeks atop the chart since February, surpassing Carey’s 1994 hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which held the record at 22 weeks, accumulated across the holiday seasons from 2019 through 2026.
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Ella Langley broke Mariah Carey’s Billboard Hot 100 record with “Choosin’ Texas,” hitting 23 weeks at No. 1.
“Thank you so much. Thank you for loving this song. For listening to it. I don’t even know what to say at this point. I’m running out of hyperboles to describe how I feel, so I will just let my dog in the background show you his excitement,” Langley continued.
The country star joked she was waiting to be pranked.
“It’s changing my life. It’s changing the lives of the writers of this song. It’s changing the lives of my family and it is truly growing in atmosphere for something I’m going to be able to do for the rest of my life,” she said.
“It doesn’t feel like a real thing. It feels fake and somebody is going to come and say, ‘Haha, we’re kidding the whole time.’”
Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” held the record for longest-running No. 1 of all time at 22 weeks. CBS via Getty Images
“I’m going to go out and celebrate tonight and I’m really excited to just experience a moment like this in my life,” she added.
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“Choosin’ Texas” debuted on the Hot 100 in November 2025 and became Langley’s first top 10 hit in January before reaching No. 1 in February. The song has now spent 48 weeks on the chart overall, Billboard reported.
The Hot 100 combines US streaming, radio airplay and sales data across all genres.
The song, which Langley co-wrote alongside Luke Dick, Miranda Lambert and Joybeth Taylor, collected 21.8 million official streams in the latest tracking week, down 9 percent from the previous week, while its radio audience rose 2 percent to 58.3 million impressions.
It is also in the top 10 on the pop airplay, adult-pop airplay and adult contemporary charts.
But Langley’s record could face a challenge from Carey when Christmas arrives.
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“All I Want for Christmas Is You,” released in 1994, has returned to No. 1 during the holiday season every year since it first topped the Hot 100 in 2019.
Langley credited “Choosin’ Texas” for “changing her life” and joked she was waiting to be pranked. Columbia Records
The closest songs to Langley and Carey on the all-time Hot 100 leaderboard are Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” from 2024 and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, from 2019, which each spent 19 weeks at No. 1.
Langley also appeared to take a stab at Doja Cat last month after the rapper was asked during an appearance on the “Sundae Conversation” podcast if she was a fan of Langley.
“I don’t know what that is,” Doja said, to which Langley later posted, “Ella Langley? What is that?”
