Texas
Texas has the tools to stop Temu, a Chinese app
Texans don’t shy away from a fight.
The Lone Star State leads the nation in protecting our citizens and assets against malign foreign influence. With today’s digitized economy, one of the most critical layers of protection is for our data and privacy.
Washington has moved too slowly on data and privacy protection. That’s why our state legislators took matters into their own hands by enacting the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, which passed Texas’ House and Senate unanimously and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2023. The TXDPSA is a bipartisan, good-government win.
The TXDPSA went into full effect on July 1, just in time to protect Texans against threats from China’s government. The law ensures that Texans have rights over their own personal data, along with privacy protections against corporations, both foreign and domestic, that do business in the Lone Star State.
As we enter into a new era of cyberwarfare and espionage, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is America’s most comprehensive foreign threat. The party views digital applications as espionage tools to seize as much American data as possible for Beijing’s use. Unbeknownst to many Texans, Temu, the Chinese e-commerce giant that has spent billions of dollars marketing to Americans, is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s arsenal of such tools.
While Temu is not explicitly mentioned in China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law, as a company based in the People’s Republic of China, Temu and its parent company are subject to the law’s requirement to turn over consumers’ data to the Chinese government, as outlined in a Department of Homeland Security report: “A PRC intelligence agency may request that any PRC firm or entity secretly share access to a U.S. business or individual’s data, or otherwise face penalties.”
Like TikTok, Temu is another Trojan horse for the Chinese.
Temu is part of a long-term, comprehensive strategy that China has been implementing in the United States for the better part of the last decade, using social media, advertising and e-commerce platforms to gain access to our data. The Temu app has infiltrated our homes, schools, military bases and hospitals, and that’s just the beginning.
As of May 2024, Temu had approximately 50 million users in the U.S. — approximately one third of all users across the globe, according to Sensor Tower.
To be blunt: The Chinese won’t stop unless we stop them.
The good news is that Americans are beginning to take notice and take legal action. According to a high-profile class-action lawsuit filed in Illinois, Temu has “wiretapped the electronic communications of its website visitors and failed to alert customers of a data breach.” The lawsuit continues saying that Temu “is purposefully and intentionally loaded with dangerous malware and spyware activities on user devices … all while going to great efforts to intentionally hide the malicious intent and intrusiveness of the software.”
It’s time for Texas to get in the fight.
Gov. Abbott has led the fight against China’s technological influence by enacting a Model Security Plan for Prohibited Technologies, which has become a national blueprint. Abbott banned TikTok and a series of other applications on official state devices and broadband. Abbott should add Temu to this prohibited list. In fact, the app should be banned as broadly as possible in any interaction with Texas’ government, which the security plan allows.
Next, Texas should eliminate its financial exposure to Temu and other adversary companies. For example, Texas’ ERS pension fund holds shares of PDD Holdings, which owns Temu.
Recently, Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a Data Privacy and Security Initiative to protect Texans from foreign companies attempting to harvest American data. Paxton should immediately use his authority to launch a consumer protection investigation into Temu and its ties to Beijing. If evidence justifies it, Temu’s activities should be broadly curtailed within the Lone Star State to protect Texas consumers. Giving China’s government access to our cellphone data provides seamless access to our biometrics, home addresses, credit card information and more.
In addition to investigating Temu, Paxton should also lead the charge against China’s infiltration by rallying other states’ attorneys general into taking a stronger stance against Temu. Turning a blind eye to China’s proxies puts all states in danger.
Texas must make it unequivocally clear that if China wants to launch a spy campaign in the Lone Star State, they’ll be met with the full force of our government. Unlike Washington, D.C., here in Texas, we know how to quickly and decisively recognize and eliminate threats. With a crystal-clear Chinese threat in our state, it’s time to act.
Michael Lucci is the Founder and CEO of State Armor, a research nonprofit focusing on state policy solutions to global security threats.
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com
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.
-
World2 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts2 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Montana1 week ago2026 MHSA Montana Wrestling State Championship Brackets And Results – FloWrestling
-
Oklahoma1 week agoWildfires rage in Oklahoma as thousands urged to evacuate a small city
-
Louisiana5 days agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Technology6 days agoYouTube TV billing scam emails are hitting inboxes
-
Denver, CO2 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Technology6 days agoStellantis is in a crisis of its own making
