Southwest
When Texas starts acting like California
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The fight over environmental and social governance (ESG) policy has gotten so out of control that Texas is seemingly trying to emulate California. The Lone Star State – a great economic success story – is now trying to engage in the concerning practice of micromanaging private businesses.
This approach is incredibly surprising, when you consider that California and Texas have been almost polar opposites in recent years.
Whereas Texas has created a hospitable economic climate for families and businesses alike, California has followed a disastrous path of exceedingly high taxes and expansive regulations.
Texas Republicans have begun implementing California-style anti ESG restrictions on businesses in the next culture war front.
Case in point, the Lone Star State doesn’t have a state income tax, while California’s top rate of 13.3% is the highest in the nation. More broadly, when it comes to economic freedom, Texas is ranked sixth in the nation, while California sits at 48th, according to the Cato Institute.
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Not coincidentally, the Texas population grew by more than 473,000 last year – the biggest gain of any state. During the same period, California lost more than 75,000 residents and was one of just seven states to lose population.
The contrasting philosophies of the two states couldn’t be much starker. Given the circumstances, one might think that California would steal the Texas playbook and copy it. That could theoretically help the Golden State reverse its outflow of population and begin to get out of its current fiscal disaster – it is now looking at a $68 billion deficit with nothing but more red ink on the horizon.
Surprisingly, it seems the exact opposite is happening. Texas Republicans have begun implementing California-style anti ESG restrictions on businesses in the next culture war front. Some of these efforts look like they were lifted right out of the California playbook.
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Indeed, several years ago, California lawmakers forced its largest pension funds – which manage the retirement savings of teachers and state employees – to divest of tobacco investments. While the elected officials making these decisions might have scored political points by doing so, their actions cost retirees $4.3 billion, according to a report.
Unfortunately, that’s the road Texas is heading down. It’s now blocking certain financial institutions from participating in municipal bond markets in an attempt to push back on ESG policies.
No matter what you think about ESG, this will cost taxpayers millions of dollars, as it will reduce competition and raise the interest costs that taxpayers must shoulder. An analysis from economists at Penn Wharton suggests it could cost Texas residents as much as $532 million in higher interest rates over just an eight-month period.
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Unfortunately for taxpayers, the arms race picked up speed in 2023. Last year, California passed onerous climate disclosure rules that will force enormous regulatory costs on businesses operating in the state. And because most large companies have a presence in California, these costs will be passed down to consumers across the country.
Not to be outdone, Texas passed a law that will regulate insurance companies’ usage of ESG factors when they underwrite policies. That means when it comes to crafting insurance policies, the wisdom of politicians and bureaucrats could supplant that of private insurance and reinsurance companies – a model that sounds very Californian.
It would be bad enough if this ESG war was limited to our two largest states, but of course, others have joined the fray with red states lining up behind Texas while blue states team up with California. Stuck in the middle, as usual, are taxpayers who have to foot the bill for this back-and-forth battle.
This puts us on a concerning trajectory – one that needs a course correction from both Republicans and Democrats.
Simply put, all politicians should stop using taxpayers as their pawns as they duke it out in the culture war. And Texas politicians in particular should know better than to mess with their own state.
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Southwest
Missing 19-year-old Camila Mendoza Olmos believed to be ‘in imminent danger,’ Texas sheriff says
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Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar indicated that authorities believe that Camila Mendoza Olmos, a 19-year-old woman who went missing on Christmas Eve, is “in imminent danger.”
The FBI is supplying technical aid and the Homeland Security Department is keeping an eye on border crossings as well as international travel, Salazar indicated, according to ABC News.
“We definitely don’t want to miss anything,” he said, according to the outlet. “The ground search is somewhat limited to a couple of square miles. We’re also not ruling out that this case may take us outside the borders of the continental United States.”
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Camila Mendoza Olmos, 19, was last seen outside her home in San Antonio, Texas, on Christmas Eve, authorities said. (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office)
The sheriff confirmed to ABC that the young woman had not been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which he verified despite Olmos being an American citizen.
“That was a personal concern. So, I had it checked to make sure that there were no stops, no detentions, and that she’s not somewhere in a federal detention facility. That is something we needed to check,” Salazar noted, according to the outlet.
Fox News Digital reached out to the sheriff’s office for comment.
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Camila Mendoza Olmos was last seen around 6:58 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in northwest Bexar County, Texas. (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office)
A December 24 Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post noted, “Camila was last seen leaving her residence at approximately 6:58 a.m. on Wednesday, December 24, 2025. Video footage from that time shows an unknown individual, believed to be Camila, searching inside her vehicle for an unidentified item. Moments later, the footage ends. It is believed that she left the residence on foot, as her vehicle remained at the location.”
The post notes, “The only items known to be on her person are her car key and possibly her driver’s license. Camila’s mother stated that Camila normally goes for a morning walk; however, she became concerned when Camila did not return within a reasonable period of time.”
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The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said, “It is believed that she left the residence on foot, as her vehicle remained at the location.” (Google Maps)
The sheriff’s office indicated in the post that she had been “Last seen wearing: Baby blue with Black Hoodie, Baby blue Pajama bottoms, White shoes.”
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Southwest
DAVID MARCUS: At AmericaFest, two legacies hang in the balance, Charlie Kirk’s and Donald Trump’s
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There are two legacies hanging in the balance this weekend in Phoenix as Turning Point USA puts on its annual AmericaFest conference, first is its late founder, Charlie Kirk’s and the other is President Donald Trump’s.
At the convention center here in Arizona, as many as 25,000 attendees are expected to gather to celebrate the life of Kirk, who was tragically murdered just months ago, but also to try to chart a course forward for the movement he marshaled.
Arriving a bit late on Thursday, I was greeted by Lucas, a TPUSA employee from Detroit in his mid-twenties. He was a picture-perfect ambassador, a clean-cut kid who is eschewing his generation’s almost epic bout of despair and instead leaning in to create positive change.
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“The energy has been amazing,” he told me, referring to the huge upswing in interest in TPUSA since Kirk’s horrible murder.
“Not the way you’d want it to happen,” I somewhat darkly noted, but Lucas said, “You have to find the silver lining, I guess.”
Lucas and the hundreds like him are honestly an inspiration, while so many of their generation are out of shape from toe to top, they see a bright future for America that so many of us in advanced years have long ago forgotten.
But do not get the impression that at AmFest this year all is hugs and kumbaya. Iin fact, what you will find here are the early stages of a war to define what Donald Trump’s legacy, and the legacy of his MAGA movement will be.
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Thursday night’s lineup on the big stage was a potent mix, featuring both Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire and Tucker Carlson, whose current feud over Israel has become a bit more than nasty.
I won’t litigate the feud here, it’s all on video after all, but the broader point is that some lines are being drawn ahead of the first presidential race in a while, in 2028, that presumably will not include the name Trump on the ballot.
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At Amfest, we finally have more than tea leaves to tell us what the conservative movement after Trump and Kirk will look like — we have the actual tea, and a few stains to boot.
The factions are becoming clear, Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika, in her speech Thursday enthusiastically endorsed Vice President JD Vance for president, while Shapiro said, more moderately, that Vance would have to build his own coalition.
Is Shapiro lining up a movement behind a potential candidate like Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz who has not been a member of Donald Trump’s, let’s face it, somewhat obsequious court of the Oval Office, and if so, can Erika Kirk’s power thwart such a play?
This weekend in Phoenix has assembled the people with the strongest claim to the MAGA movement — a once disparate band of misfits whose allegiance to the “orange man” who kept winning put them at the forefront of American power and politics.
Many of the grave and profound conservative voices and pundits of old, who give no truck to the New Right have fled ship for think tanks or psuedo-right-wing journals that exist only to destroy Trump and his movement, but they are not the vanguard. The real fight is here.
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What plays out over this weekend in Phoenix will have profound implications not just for next year’s midterms, but for the presidential race in 2028.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Charlie Kirk, founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, during a panel discussion at the Generation Next Summit at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on March 22, 2018, in Washington. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Legacies are matters of the future, and it is only the young attendees at Amfest who will see the longest lasting fruits of the American conservative movement — a movement still firmly shaped by Charlie Kirk.
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It is both remarkable and stark to see the myriad and often giant images of their Charlie around the convention center amid his earthly absence. Each image is a reminder both of his life’s great success and its tragic end.
But Charlie Kirk’s legacy will not be a statue, or a plaque. His legacy will live in the hearts of the young kids assembled in Phoenix this weekend. Maybe they are naïve. Maybe they are not withered and weathered by life’s brutal storms. God bless them for their hope. We could use a bit more of it.
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Southwest
Two riders trapped more than 100 feet in air after Texas roller coaster malfunctions
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Two theme parkgoers were trapped more than 100 feet in the air for more than 30 minutes this week after a roller coaster in Texas malfunctioned.
The Circuit Breaker roller coaster at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin unexpectedly stopped at the first drop, leaving Matthew Cantu, 24, and Nicholas Sanchez, 20, dangling at a 90-degree angle Wednesday night, KXAN-TV reported, citing a publicist representing the two men.
“For more than 30 minutes after the ride stopped, family members reported receiving no clear updates, while witnesses said staff provided conflicting explanations, including comments that the riders ‘weren’t strapped in currently,’” the publicist’s news release said, People magazine reported.
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Construction continues on the Circuit Breaker, the first tilt roller coaster in Texas. (Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)
“A sensor triggered a ride delay,” the Circuit of the Americas told Fox News Digital in a statement Saturday. “It was resolved, and the ride proceeded without incident.
“As with all amusement attractions of this sort, delays occasionally occur. We regret the inconvenience and are glad that out of the 25,000 people that have ridden the coaster, only two have this badge of courage.”
The Circuit Breaker is Texas’ first “tilt” roller coaster, which means the track tilts 90 degrees for a nearly vertical drop during the ride.
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The ride opened as a preview in October and will officially open next year, according to KVUE-TV.
Austin-Travis County EMS responded to the incident before 10 p.m. Wednesday, evaluating one of the men who refused medical attention, KVUE reported.
Cedar Point in Ohio opened its new Siren’s Curse roller coaster this summer. (Akron Beacon Journal/Imagn)
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Austin-Travis County EMS for comment.
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Another tilt roller coaster, known as the Siren’s Curse at Cedar Point in Ohio, has similarly malfunctioned multiple times since it opened this summer.
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