Southwest
South Texas police chief pushes for increased border patrol: 'They can obviously use more help’
The southern border crisis has had reverberating effects on his city’s safety and authorities need more help, the Del Rio, Texas chief of police said in an interview.
“One of the things that impacts us the most is human smuggling that comes through here; they have a disregard for life it seems like as they come through,” police chief Frank Ramirez told Fox News Digital.
Ramirez said drivers involved in human smuggling operations often drive very “recklessly”, causing safety concerns for the town.
Ramirez said he joined around the same time of the Haitian migrant surge that occurred in Del Rio in September 2021. Ramirez said since then, they have had “influxes like that,” but believes Customs and Border Patrol is better prepared and working with law enforcement to handle influxes.
Del Rio, Texas Chief of Police Frank Ramirez calls for more border patrol agents to deal with migrant crossings. (Fox News)
“The great part is that we work with DPS, and we have a great relationship with Border Patrol, and we work as one,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez added, “Border Patrol, I know, they’re doing the best they can with the people they have, but, they can obviously use more help.”
Ramirez said it would greatly help their community for Border Patrol to have more manpower.
“They (Border Patrol) do have some pretty good technology, but with the processing, it takes so long to process and … it takes a lot of their agents. And I know that that’s something that they’re really wanting.”
“For the most part, just more manpower for the Border Patrol, I think, would be one of the major things that would help over here,” he added.
Ramirez believes that a lot of people coming across the border are coming for a “better way of life” but that there is also a “bad element” for some of the people crossing as well.
TEXAS BORDER GUN SHOP OWNER SAYS MORE WOMEN PURCHASING GUNS SINCE BIDEN-HARRIS ‘OPENED-UP’ THE BORDER
Texas residents who live along the southern border spoke with Fox News Digital about how the ongoing border crisis has directly affected their lives.
“Personally, I think that we’re going to see something similar to a 9/11 at some point in the future. Biden opened the door, folks,” said Paul Henrich, a rancher in Quemado, Texas.
This comes as 87% of voters say the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border is an emergency (44%) or a major problem (43%). That’s an increase since February, when about 8 in 10 felt it was an emergency (41%) or major problem (37%), according to the latest Fox News national survey.
Fox News Digital also discovered an old, abandoned bus that was filled to the brim with the clothes of men, women and children. Other clothing was found in the brush between various houses.
This photo shows an abandoned bus in Del Rio, Texas filled with the clothing of men, women and children. (Fox News)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office stated in June that crossings along the Mexico-Texas border have decreased by 74% since implementing Operation Lone Star beginning in 2021.
Abbott launched Operation Lone Star to surge resources and law enforcement to the border. As part of that operation, he set up a buoy border barrier in the Rio Grande River, which sparked a lawsuit from the federal government.
Separately, the Biden administration has sued Texas over a recently signed anti-illegal immigration law that allows state and local law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants. The administration says it interferes with the federal government’s authority and frustrates U.S. immigration operations and proceedings, in addition to hurting relations with foreign governments.
“Texas is holding the line at our southern border with miles of additional razor wire and anti-climb barriers to deter and repel the record-high levels of illegal immigration invited by President Biden’s reckless open border policies. Instead of enforcing federal immigration laws, the Biden administration allows unfettered access for Mexican cartels to smuggle people into our country,” Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze told Fox News in January.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, Texas border encounters dropped in June of this year, and in July there were 46,250 encounters; this number does not include any gotaways.
Fiscal year 2023 broke the record for encounters with over 2.4 million, while December had nearly 250,000 encounters in a single month.
At the Democratic National Convention, Harris said she would sign the bipartisan Senate border bill that Trump did not support and which many conservatives have derided as ineffective. The bill would require hundreds of millions of unspent funds to be used on the border wall. However, according to Harris’ advisers, the bill does not provide additional funding for the border wall.
Elizabeth Heckman and Nikolas Lanum reported from Texas.
Read the full article from Here
Southwest
EXCLUSIVE: Red state sues insurer for using customer data to build ‘world’s largest driving behavior database'
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Allstate insurance company for allegedly illegally collecting, using and selling the driving behavior data of over 45 million Americans.
Paxton filed the suit in the District Court for Montgomery County, Texas, on Monday morning. In the suit, he accuses Allstate, and its subsidiary data analytics company “Arity,” of secretly using driving data from over 45 million Americans’ mobile devices, in-car devices and vehicles to build the “world’s largest driving behavior database,” consisting of “trillions of miles” worth of data.
“Our investigation revealed that Allstate and Arity paid millions of dollars to install Allstate’s tracking software,” Paxton said in a Monday statement. “The personal data of millions of Americans was sold to insurance companies without their knowledge or consent in violation of the law. Texans deserve better and we will hold all these companies accountable.”
A representative for Allstate Corporation, however, claims that its data collection system “fully complies with all laws and regulations.” Allstate is one of the largest auto, home and life insurance companies in the U.S. It is headquartered in Glenview, Illinois.
COURT ORDERS BIDEN ADMIN TO STOP SELLING BORDER WALL MATERIALS, WAS ‘ILLEGALLY SUBVERTING’ LAWS: TEXAS AG
Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during a rally featuring former President Trump, Oct. 22, 2022, in Robstown, Texas. (AP Photo/Nick Wagner, File)
The suit said that in 2015, Allstate and Arity developed and integrated software into several third-party apps so that when a consumer downloaded these apps onto their phone, they unwittingly downloaded the tracking software. Once Allstate’s software was downloaded onto a customer’s device, they could monitor the consumer’s location and movement in real time.
According to the suit, the company used the driving data to justify raising customers’ insurance rates and further profited by selling the data to third parties, including other insurance companies.
“Defendants [Allstate and Arity] never informed consumers about their extensive data collection, nor did Defendants obtain consumers’ consent to engage in such data collection,” the suit said. “Finally, Defendants never informed consumers about the myriad of ways Defendants would analyze, use, and monetize their sensitive data.”
TEXAS AG SUES NCAA OVER TRANS INCLUSION IN WOMEN’S SPORTS
Texas state Capitol in Austin, Texas. (Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images)
Paxton said that because tens of millions of Americans, including millions of Texans, were never informed about their driving data being gathered, Allstate’s data-gathering scheme violates the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, the Data Broker Law, and the Texas Insurance Code’s prohibition on unfair and deceptive acts and practices in the insurance business.
He is asking the court to permanently block Allstate from continuing to gather and use customers’ data and to impose thousands of dollars in civil penalties per customer.
KEN PAXTON THREATENS TO SUE AFTER STATE FAIR OF TEXAS BANS GUNS: ‘INFRINGEMENT OF SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS’
Tom Wilson, chairman and chief executive officer of Allstate Corp., listens during the CEO Initiative event in New York, on Sept. 25, 2017. (Misha Friedman/Bloomberg)
Meanwhile, a representative for Allstate Corporation told Fox News Digital that its data collection system is completely legal.
“Arity helps consumers get the most accurate auto insurance price after they consent in a simple and transparent way that fully complies with all laws and regulations,” the representative said.
According to Paxton, this suit is the first enforcement action ever filed by a state attorney general to enforce a comprehensive data privacy law.
Fox News Digital reached out to Allstate but did not immediately receive a response.
Read the full article from Here
LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — Recent wildfires have left a devastating mark on the Los Angeles area, displacing families and exacerbating an already dire housing crisis.
Rents in the region are on the up, with accusations of short-term price gouging by landlords making national headlines. While experts say rents increasing by as much as 20% is unlikely, KTLA 5 consumer reporter David Lazarus noted that the upward trend is undeniable and adds significant stress for displaced residents.
Lazarus spoke with Marco Giacoletti, a housing expert at the University of Southern California, to better understand the crisis.
One potential solution to help with the ongoing housing crisis involves revisiting zoning laws to permit higher-density housing in working-class neighborhoods like Altadena, which was ravaged by the Eaton Fire.
“Rather than putting up single-family residences, we could allow developers to build duplexes and apartments,” Lazarus said.
And while this could increase housing availability, Lazarus says it would undoubtedly “change the character of many neighborhoods,” and would be a tough sell for longtime residents.
“I think it would be highly controversial,” Giacoletti said. “So it’s hard to say whether this is going to happen or not.”
Lazarus pointed out that most major cities globally have adopted higher-density housing to address similar challenges, avoiding long commutes and keeping residents closer to urban centers.
But for residents in Pasadena, Altadena, Malibu and Pacific Palisades, distance from the city center may have been a selling point for laying roots there, not a detriment.
“As with the rest of the world, at some point, L.A. is going to have to perhaps consider these steps, that these neighborhoods, these very homey neighborhoods that we’ve enjoyed for decades now, might not be in step with the times,” he said.
The fires have also renewed calls for a rent freeze in Los Angeles County.
While consumer advocates argue such measures are necessary, Giacoletti warned of potential unintended consequences in the form of landlords taking their properties off the marketplace altogether, further worsening the housing crunch.
For those who lost their homes, rebuilding poses significant hurdles, Lazarus said.
“In Altadena, there’s a number of people who are uninsured. They’re just off the playing field at this point,” Lazarus explained. Even for those with insurance, Laz said, overages and delays could prolong the process for years. “Some estimates say it could take five years or more for many of these residents to rebuild.”
Compounding the difficulty are offers from predatory buyers and lowball settlement offers from insurers. Lazarus says to be very skeptical of any cash offer you might receive.
“If you get such an offer, not saying walk away from it, but get a second opinion first,” Lazarus advised. He emphasized the importance of consulting real estate professionals or other insurers to understand the long-term value of properties.
“The value of the structure, if your house is burned down, is zero,” Lazarus said. “The value of the underlying land can still be profound,” accounting for up to two-thirds of the overall value, according to the Los Angeles County Assessor.
As Los Angeles faces an uncertain future, the path to recovery will require innovative solutions, resilience, and adaptability in the wake of the crisis.
Southwest
Abbott orders flags at full-staff for Trump's inauguration despite one month order to honor Carter
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced that flags at the state Capitol building in Austin and at all state office buildings will be raised to full-staff next Monday, Jan. 20, to mark President-elect Trump’s inauguration.
The move comes despite the official order by President Biden after the Dec. 29 death of former President Jimmy Carter that flags across the country would fly at half-staff for a 30-day mourning period.
Abbott said in his announcement that “on January 20, our great nation will celebrate our democratic tradition of transferring power to a new President by inaugurating the 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. As we unite our country and usher in this new era of leadership, I have ordered all flags to be raised to full-staff at the Texas Capitol and all state buildings for the inauguration of President Trump.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE TRUMP TRANSITION AND INAUGURATION
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former President Trump attend a briefing with state officials and law enforcement before touring the U.S.-Mexico border wall on June 30, 2021, in Weslaco, Texas. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
“While we honor the service of a former President, we must also celebrate the service of an incoming President and the bright future ahead for the United States of America,” added the conservative three-term Texas governor.
CHECK OUT TRUMP’S PICKS FOR TOP CABINET AND ADMINISTRATION POSITIONS
An Abbott adviser told Fox News that flags at the Texas Capitol and at state offices would resume flying at half-staff on Jan. 21.
The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter is carried into the National Cathedral for a funeral service, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
“Texas continues to mourn with our fellow Americans across the country over the passing of former President Jimmy Carter,” Abbott said in his statement. “President Carter’s steadfast leadership left a lasting legacy that will be felt for generations to come, which together as a nation we honor by displaying flags at half-staff for 30 days.”
FIRST ON FOX: TOP CONSERVATIVE GROUP LAUNCHS MAJOR PUSH TO PROTECT, EXTEND TRUMP TAX CUTS
According to the U.S. flag code, U.S. flags are flown at half-staff for a 30-day period to mark the passing of a current or former president, at federal government buildings, military installations and vessels, and at U.S. embassies and other facilities around the world.
Flags fly at half-staff in honor of former President Jimmy Carter at Union Station in Washington, D.C., Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Since the U.S. flag code dictates that no flag should fly higher than the American flag on the same or nearby poles, state flags also are lowered during such mourning periods.
Trump earlier this month claimed on social media that “Democrats are all ‘giddy’” about flags being flown at half-staff during his inauguration.
“Nobody wants to see this,” Trump argued. “No American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The U.S. flag code isn’t mandatory, which means that Trump could technically override it once he’s inaugurated as president.
The U.S. flag is shown at the Mar-a-Lago compound in Palm Beach, Fla., while a U.S. Coast Guard boat patrols around the vicinity, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. U.S. flags at President-elect Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club are back to flying at full height. Flags are supposed to fly at half-staff through the end of January out of respect for former President Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The Associated Press observed that a flag at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida was flying at full height on Monday.
The flag had been flying at half-staff, but had been raised in the days after Carter’s funeral service at National Cathedral in Washington D.C. and burial in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, both of which took place on Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Read the full article from Here
Oklahoma State’s bid for massive comeback from first half deficit at BYU runs out of gas
Unpacking Future Packers: No. 96, Oregon State OL Joshua Gray
Group weighs potential and peril of performance funding for Pa. universities • Pennsylvania Capital-Star
RI Lottery Mega Millions, Lucky For Life winning numbers for Jan. 14, 2025
South Carolina Democrat Proposes Income Tax Elimination – FITSNews
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
Video: Fires Continue to Burn One Week Later in California
Biden says he's been carrying out ‘most aggressive climate agenda’ in history as he designates CA monuments
Looking for a job in IT? These countries are desperate for new hires
SEC sues Elon Musk, says he didn't disclose Twitter ownership on time before purchase
Palisades and Eaton Fires May Not Be Fully Extinguished for Weeks
-
Health1 week agoOzempic ‘microdosing’ is the new weight-loss trend: Should you try it?
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25822586/STK169_ZUCKERBERG_MAGA_STKS491_CVIRGINIA_A.jpg "Meta is highlighting a splintering global approach to online speech")
Technology6 days agoMeta is highlighting a splintering global approach to online speech
-
Science3 days agoMetro will offer free rides in L.A. through Sunday due to fires
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25821992/videoframe_720397.png "Las Vegas police release ChatGPT logs from the suspect in the Cybertruck explosion")
Technology1 week agoLas Vegas police release ChatGPT logs from the suspect in the Cybertruck explosion
-
Movie Reviews1 week ago‘How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies’ Review: Thai Oscar Entry Is a Disarmingly Sentimental Tear-Jerker
-
Health1 week agoMichael J. Fox honored with Presidential Medal of Freedom for Parkinson’s research efforts
-
Movie Reviews1 week agoMovie Review: Millennials try to buy-in or opt-out of the “American Meltdown”
-
News1 week agoPhotos: Pacific Palisades Wildfire Engulfs Homes in an L.A. Neighborhood