US News

The highest-ranking elected executive in charge of Texas' largest county stormed out of a budget meeting in apparent rage over the proceedings on Sept. 9 — but according to the Houston Chronicle, text messages suggest she was planning the early departure ahead of time to attend a Hans Zimmer concert.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, in charge of the county that includes Houston, "apparently frustrated with commissioners’ refusal to fund several early childcare programs on the chopping block as part of the county’s annual budget process, left the meeting around 6:50 p.m. — 40 minutes before a Hans Zimmer concert was scheduled to begin at the Toyota Center," said the report. Before leaving, she said, “I don't know what we're doing here for not standing up for children. Shame on you."

Republicans are flocking to Florida after previously running for Congress from other states, annoying one GOP strategist enough to complain the Sunshine State isn't a vehicle for them to "rehab" their images.

Axios reported Thursday night that a whopping five Republican candidates are running in Florida to replace Rep. Byron Donalds (R), who is mounting a campaign for governor.

Journalists and media observers on Thursday harshly criticized Paramount Network's deal to purchase The Free Press, a pro-Israel conservative website run by former New York Times editor Bari Weiss.

The New York Post reported that Paramount, which owns CBS News, agreed to pay Weiss around $150 million for The Free Press in a mix of cash and stock. The deal has been in the works for several months, with initial estimates suggesting Paramount might purchase the outlet for as high as $250 million.

Former D.C. Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone, who was injured defending the Capitol on Jan. 6, had nothing but contempt for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for his use of the National Guard to take over U.S. cities.

He unloaded on the former Fox News personality turned Pentagon chief on Thursday's edition of MSNBC's "The Weeknight," taking offense as well at Hegseth's comments to generals at his Quantico speech that "We ... don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common sense, maximum lethality, and authority for warfighters."

FBI Director Kash Patel fired a trainee who displayed a Pride flag on their desk while working in a California field office last year, according to a new report.

MSNBC reported on Thursday that Patel dismissed the trainee for displaying an improper "political" message, citing a copy of the trainee's dismissal letter shared with the outlet. Patel also cited President Donald Trump's Article II powers as justification for the trainee's dismissal, although that authority has been challenged in court numerous times.

Journalist Mario Guevara’s family and lawyers said Thursday that the award-winning Spanish-language journalist is set to be deported from the United States to his native El Salvador on Friday morning.

The announcement comes after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday declined to block a final order of removal from the Board of Immigration Appeals. The ACLU said in a statement that Guevara’s wife and three children were not allowed to say goodbye to the journalist, who was transferred to a Louisiana facility ahead of his deportation after being held in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in Georgia for over 100 days.

Conservative former presidential speechwriter Peggy Noonan penned a blistering critique of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's recent speech before the military's top leaders.

Noonan, who was a speechwriter in the George H.W. Bush administration, argued in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that Hegseth's speech was an "unprecedented extravaganza" that made America's military look small and the country look weak. Her comments come two days after Hegseth assembled America's top military leaders to listen to him talk about ending diversity programs and instituting a height requirement for military service, a message that Noonan said he could have sent in an email or video.

A woman in Maine says that her latest Amazon package came with hundreds of blank ballots for the upcoming state election.

According to ABC News, "The Newburgh woman, who asked not to be identified, said she ordered coffee, rice and paper plates from the virtual shopping giant, but when she opened her package this week, she found hundreds of blank state ballots for the upcoming elections next month, state officials confirmed to ABC News."

Tech billionaire Elon Musk uncorked an eyebrow-raising social media post Thursday, accusing a prominent nonprofit legal advocacy group of inciting the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Kirk was shot dead on Sept. 10 while speaking at a Turning Point USA event on the campus of Utah Valley University. He was shot in the neck by a sniper perched on the roof of a nearby building. Authorities have charged 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson with murder in the killing, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Cuba's foreign minister accused Secretary of State Marco Rubio of being corrupt and said the Cuban American "knows nothing about Cuba," The Hill reports.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said Rubio, whose parents are Cuban immigrants, said he has made it his mission to carry out a "maximum pressure" campaign against the island nation.

The White House downplayed assertions that it has declared war on drug cartels, according to a new report.

The comments come after the New York Times reported on a memo President Donald Trump sent to Congress saying the U.S. is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels. The language was designed to give Trump extraordinary powers to combat the cartel's activities, including using military force, according to a new report by Politico.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann refused to mince words on MSNBC in warning about the dangers of President Donald Trump's aggressive use of the military for law enforcement, from ordering summary strikes on boats in international waters believed to be running drugs, to sending in forces to keep order in U.S. cities around the country.

These actions are illegal, he said — and wildly dangerous for American rights.

The CEO of a Northeast grocery chain lamented to CNN viewers that he's had to raise some prices significantly on certain items, and blamed the policies of President Donald Trump.

Stew Leonard Jr., the president and CEO of Stew Leonard’s grocery chain, joined CNN on Thursday to discuss prices, as grocery prices have climbed during Trump's second term, with the sharpest single-month jump in the last three years happening between July and August. Leonard initially shared what he called "good news," saying he's lowered prices on some staples, including eggs, chicken breasts, butter and flour, noting the market has a lot to do with that.