Democrats Move the Goal Post Again on TSA

This is News Radio 740, KTRH, Houston, and I Heart Radio station, guaranteed human. Now, the latest news, weather, and traffic. It's more of what matters to you from the John Moore Services Studios. Here we go on a Thursday. Good morning 5 a.m. on Houston's morning news. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among our top stories this half hour, Democrats. They've moved the goalpost yet again on TSA funding. Why Bush will have even bigger TSA lines today. And coming up at 508, how many businesses are going to be adding a fuel surcharge? Details in the minutes ahead. First, we're checking out that morning drive. You got a fuel surcharge this morning for us, Skymind. You know, I'm kind of fueled on the north side. Man, traffic is a little thicker this morning, and I can't figure out why on some of our freeways. North Freeway is kind of ugly in spots already between the belt and the loop. I'm not going to call just a quick smudge yet, but down to downtown, we're looking at 24 minutes, just a little slower. Hardy toll road, getting kind of busy this morning to your East Decks. Bring it in from the sticks. We're looking at 25 minutes now from the river, Sanchez Center River Bridge into downtown. So far, we're not bumping into each other. Just be ready for a little heavier traffic. Not sure why. I'm in the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center for today. We're looking at some patchy fog early today, then becoming partly cloudy with high temperature right about 84. We'll take a look at the rest of the work week. Weather stays dry, but it cools off, especially on Saturday. We'll talk to Terry Smith about that in about nine minutes. Right now 66 at your official, Severe Weather Station, News Radio 740, KTRH. It's time now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. Good morning. It's coming up on 502, our top story. The Democrats have shut down the Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to... We turn to open borders. President Trump at the National Republican Congressional Committee last night as Democrats for the sixth time now voted against reopening DHS. So that means travel nightmares continue. Airport officials are warning a four-hour wait times today. We're already at three hours. Some are calling for TSA to be privatized so that we don't have to go through this again. That might help travelers in the short term, but some say it doesn't fix the root issue. We also have to look at what's going on with our Senate, what's going on on our congressional side, the Democratic Party that's beholding to keep Capitol Hill shut down. GOP strategist Dwayne Moore says this might be an effective move for the future, but Democrats shouldn't get an easy out. Why will we make this decision under desperation? You should never make a decision under desperation. I think it should be farther sought out, more due diligence to be done. Moore pointed out that this problem would still crop up in other areas if agencies like the country. Post Guard remain unfunded. Ethan Buchanan, News Radio 740, KTRH. Keep something else in mind. Airport security was privatized pretty much until 9-11, which led to the creation of DHS. More than 450 TSA agents have quit during this shutdown. Yesterday, the Houston Police Officers Unit encouraged those agents to join HPD.

ICE agents are trying to help. Borders are Tom Homan told KTRH is Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. They're doing immigration enforcement at the airports as well. Our purpose does help DSA provide security and get people to the checkpoints. However, these HSI officers and the air officers, they see illegal activity. They're going to absolutely take action. So yeah, we're doing a little bit of everything right now. Holman also told the Charlie Kirk show that you could see ICE at polling places. try and stop illegals from voting. And the longer we go without a vote in the Senate, the more likely it is that the Save America Act is going to die. Don't expect House Republicans to give up, though. Some states do it a lot better than others, but it doesn't mean it's not a problem elsewhere in the country, and that's why we continue to advance every election integrity measure that we can. House Speaker Mike Johnson, there. More than 30 states, by the way, require identification to vote. 504 Iran officially rejects the plan offered by President Trump to end Operation Epic Fury. Missouri Senator Josh Holly told Fox it's just a matter of time before the Iranians cave. Victory has been won by all intensive purposes by any measure, any military measure. I mean, it's a question of what terms the Iranians will agree to, and there's no better negotiator than Donald J. Trump. Centcom says we've hit a thousand targets so far. Iran has threatened another straight that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, another waterway for global trade and oil. Oil futures this morning, $93.49 a battle. The Trump administration, as expected, waived rules on summer blend gas to ease your pain at the pump. Oil and gas expert Archie Trevino says the savings will get passed down to the consumer. These needless red tape regulations. They were designed to hurt American consumers of being removed. Reflecting a savings of 5 to 10 cents on average per gallon. Torreino says the price of crude oil dropped from $100 a barrel to 90 this week. I'm Erica Smith. News Radio 740, KTRH. And with Operation Epic Fury ongoing, many on the left are boasting that Trumpism is over. Brianna Lyman with the federalist says that line has never worked. We were told Hillary Clinton had a 92% chance of winning in 2016. She lost. We were told that Donald Trump would never win re-election again in 2024. He won re-election with all swing states and the popular vote. So every time the odds were stacked against him, he somehow managed to come out on top. With plenty of time to do so again before the midterms. Closer to home, a man dead and an officer involved shooting in Southwest used it. Investigators say, that man pulled a gun. From a purse. Confronted him, advising to please put the purse down on the ground. The subject refused to obey the man's, reached into the purse and pulled out a black hangar. The officer suffered a minor graze wound. 506, it's finally here. Baseball season is back.

for your Houston Astros. The Astros opened the season today at Dyken Park against the LA Angels. Astros radio broadcaster, Steve Sparks, says optimism is high this year for better health and for some fresh faces. Jim Jordan Alvarez only playing 48 games. That's their best hitter. Getting him back in there, he makes everybody else better. As far as some of the new guys, Mike Burroughs, Tatuya, Emai, there's a lot to be excited about because everybody's looked good. And of course, Franchise Cornerstones Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa are back. Hunter Brown takes the... The mound today, the first pitch is at 310 on Sports Talk 790. Corioles, News Radio 740, KTRH. Free game is at two, and among the new features at Diken Park this year include What a Burger where Shake Shack used to be. Also new this year, Brisket No-Nuts. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's News Weather and Traffic Station, News Radio 740, KTRH. World events, national headlines. Houston's Morning News with Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. 507 here in Houston's morning news. All right, here come the fuel surcharges. How long have gas prices been high now? When did, when did, see how quickly I forget. When did we, when did we bomb Iran and send the oil prices up? What was that? Has it been a month yet? It's probably been more than a month. Time goes by so quickly. But we're seeing the fuel surcharges start to come. The airlines are talking about adding a fuel surcharge to your airline ticket, which is already pretty doggone high. We've got the United States Postal Service now. Add them to the list. U.S. Post Office. Oh, by the way, I'm going to have a story about another stolen check at the Sugar Land Post Office. This won for $34,000 coming up here in just a bit. But let's go back to the post office. They want to impose a temporary 8% fuel surcharge. for package and express deliveries to deal with the rising gas prices. The Postal Regulatory Commission would have to approve it. If they do, the surcharge would take effect on April 26th and remain until at least January 17th of next year. Well, how is that right? Fuel surcharge until January 17th of next year? What if we conclude things in Iran in like in the next two, three weeks? Everything's moving to the Strait of Hormuz, the oil tankers, and the price of gasoline comes back down to where it was before. The United States Postal Service didn't ask for a fuel surcharge when gas prices were high during the Biden administration, and they were high because of policy, not because of a conflict. They'd asked for a race back then. 8% fee would apply on postage for all Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS, Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select Products. FedEx and UPS already imposed rolling fuel surcharges. Did you realize that? And they've also spiked since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28th. So you got airline tickets. You've got delivery services. Who else? Who else is going to come up with a fuel surcharge for you? The pizza delivery guy? Maybe so. Grubhub? Probably so. What about your Uber driver? I know we've got a lot of Uber drivers. who listened to our show, feel free to hit that talkback button on the iHeart radio app, KTRH, anybody who is adding or seen added fuel surcharges yet, or if you want to comment, who do you think is justified in adding a fuel surcharge because of the way it impacts the prices and the profits of their business? You can go to the iHeart Radio app.

KTRH, hit the talkback button, and we'll see what you have to think about all this. 5-10, time for traffic and weathered together. Your wedding, DJ. What's that? Your wedding, you're going to charge a fuel surcharge. I'm thinking about it. Let me see if I can add that in there. Now I won't miss with that. Terry, you got the home game, buddy, Jets. I did get the home game. Okay, there were. What are you looking at right now? I'm looking at a lot of lights. Okay, all right. 113. Oh, there we go, Dunlan. Dun, they say the traffic's moving fun at Broadway. That's a go freeway Broadway. And what this is, those of you coming up from Waffle House, northbound from airport. That's where we chint the scunch around because it's right where the loop is. I think we're looking on the howbound. We are. We're looking outbound. Over to the right there on your screen, that's Hobby Airport. Those are the lights from Hobby Airport. And northbound, we'll pack up just a little bit. It's really heavy right as you get to 610, but we're moving. We're moving. We're good. And 24 minutes from Claire Lakehead. Rest of your freeways rock. I'm Scott Mike. It's your generator supercenter.com traffic center. Brov our KTRH. Top tax spenders 24-hour weather, Senator Terry Smith is here. She has the forecast for you. It'll be just like yesterday. It will. And, you know, as we are looking at camera 113, does that look like some fog to you? It sure does. It looks like we got a little visibility going on down there. Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too. So we did have that. Jimmy, you remember yesterday where we had some of that patchy fog that was problematic. Yep. Yep. We got a little bit of it right now. Let's see. Pearlands, the one that's reporting some of the lowest visibility. It's about a half mile. So it's not too bad. But I expect that we'll continue to get some of that. Don't be surprised if you have a few sprinkles on your windshield this morning. It's not rain per se. It's just the clouds that are hanging around on the ground. But we're going to wind up sunny and warm like we did yesterday. We're going to do that today and tomorrow, mid to upper 80s. Then a cold front sneaks in Friday night, early Saturday. So I'm loving the weather Saturday because we are sunny and dry and just have a little less heat and humidity. Mid to upper 70s, it's springtime for one day. Then we start to warm up Sunday and Monday back into the 80s. I saw a report yesterday, Terry. Maybe you can comment on this quickly that. As the Gulf warms up, we get rid of the fog. In other words, some of the fog, especially the coastal fog, it works its way north. It's caused the temperature difference between the warm air and the cooler Gulf waters. Right. That would be, okay, that makes sense. That would be interesting to... I'd be curious to read that article a little bit more. But yeah, you would eliminate something that we call sea fog, which forms when the air at the surface is rather cold and then we get the warm, humid conditions off the Gulf. But I would also suspect that we may have more of an issue with fog in the summer months because of that increased humidity. So I'm not really sure, but very interesting. I'd be curious to see that.

Yeah, explanation was the Gulf temperature is now 73 degrees, and as that continues to warm, that'll level things off between what we're seeing with the air, which is warm and humid right now, unusually so. Yeah, there's different conditions that fog forms, and so, yeah, I want to read that. I'm curious. All right, I'll send it to you. Thanks. Current temperature is 66 at your official, Severe Weather Station, News Radio 740, KTRH. I live in Katie. I live in Edo. Your reliable forecast next on the 10 on 740 KTRH. Little everyday frustrations adding up. Elite checking from NASA Federal can help. Get your paycheck up to two days early. Enjoy cell phone protection, roadside assistance, and identity theft aid for peace of mind. Even earn dividends on your balance. If your checking account isn't working hard for you, switch. to elite checking from NASAFederal at NASAFCU.com slash elite. NASA Federal Credit Union. Smart. NASA Smart. Federally insured by NCUA. So I feel like I wasted yesterday morning on our program here talking about a proposed deal to get TSA funded and everything back up again. Why did I even bother? It's like I shouldn't even bother talking about this anymore because every time they think they've got a deal going on, the Democrats move the goalpost. It's starting to remind me of the old Peanuts cartoon of Lucy holding the ball for Charlie Brown, right? And every time the Republicans come up, in this case it's Chuck Schumer holding the ball. And every time that the Republicans come up to kick the ball to get TSA open again, they, you know. They moved the ball. They removed the ball. So here we go again. The latest on this. Moving of the goalpost, if you will, coming up next. First, though, traffic and weather together as we check out the drive again with Sky Mike. We just cleared a wreck off the Southwest Freeway, Chepard. The backups are gone already just about just to go ahead and stay the course. Lucas from Huntsville's on 45 up north. Morning, Skymike. This one's here for your travelers and your truck drivers coming down 45 south. Just south of Huntsville State Park, 10 Houston State Park. We're creeping traffic. It's not moving. All right, that's a little out of my range. I'll bet we have listeners up there that can tell me a little more about the lineage. 713-212 T-IPS. Right back in a few in the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders 24-hour weather center, patchy fall early, becoming sunny by the hive 84, mostly sunny tomorrow, 87. Sunshine on Saturday and Sunday, much cooler on Saturday, only 75 for the high, than right about 80 on Sunday. Current temperature is 66 at your official severe weather station. News Radio 740, KTRH.

Check in again with Cliff and get you an update on some of our top stories. As advertised, there are now four-hour wait times at TSA Ed Bush. The new Democrat governor of New Jersey signs a law banning ice from wearing masks. By the way, they've only done that to protect themselves. And a televised report here says NASA is asking industry experts to submit proposals to move space shuttle discovery from Virginia here to Houston. At the latest news anytime at KTRH.com, our next update is at 530. What has happened just yesterday and what's happening today? Happening. Right now what happens. The things are happening. Stop right here. On News Radio 740, KTRH. Yep, every time you think you got to deal with Chuck Schumer, guess what? We don't have a deal. They move the goalpost again. They clearly do not want to open TSA. They love causing this kind of pain. They must love the attention. I can't believe that they're winning the argument, but they must think they are because they're not interested in making a deal. They really, they were given yesterday. In fact, I was complaining. A lot of conservatives were complaining. They were getting everything they wanted. And still not enough. So what do they want now? Here is the report. At least unpartially what went wrong. From Chad Bergram on Fox. Republicans are raging at Democrats right now. They accuse Democrats of saying they want to fund everything at DHS, except ICE, then changing their request. Any momentum toward a possible deal yesterday has now disappeared. It is frustrating because the Senate Democrats are breaking their word. Look, they agreed to the deal that we had. They said they could pass it under the way we sent it to them. As a matter of fact, we sent it to them the way they asked for, and they had agreed to it. So it's hard to negotiate with people that keep breaking their word. And Senate Democrats, they're doing that. Democrats say they sent Republicans a counteroffer, but so far there is no movement on altering the ICE mask policy or changing how ICE handles warrants. We want actual reforms to the way ICE operates and CBP also. That's the whole point. We don't want ICE and CBP murdering people on our streets and bashing down doors. So as long as there's no reforms, I think we're not interested. Some Democratic votes may be necessary to reopen DHS. Democrats and Republicans are now talking past one another. Some lawmakers ask why President Trump isn't working to end the shutdown. On the GOP offer, he said, quote, I'm pretty much not happy with it. I don't think we need to be breaking it apart. And so I think that's what the president is reflecting there. He wants Congress to do its dang job. We have done it. The Republicans have, but the Democrats are refusing to go along on that, even though just a couple of several weeks ago, they were in favor of it. Now they don't think it's politically advantageous for them.

Now, usually the threat of canceling a congressional recess helps get lawmakers to the table. Lawmakers are scheduled to go on recess for two weeks on Friday. And so far, the staggering TSA lines have made no difference toward bridging the impasse. And they are really staggering here in Houston. We have a confluence of all sorts of things, including Sweet 16 basketball from the NCAA tournament. And a whole bunch of other things going on in town. We got opening day. We got all these different events that are going on. And then a huge influx of people. And that's why you already have a four hour late, four hour delay at Bush getting through TSA. It's going to be a really, really bad day. And somehow, despite all this, Houstonians at the airport, they're just, we're just dealing with it. Nobody's all that upset. In fact, the national anchors were shocked at how calm people were at Bush Intercontinental Airport yesterday. More than that story coming up. It's 526 right now. Let's take a look at your money. Good morning. Tensions continue in the Middle East, and that's holding back stocks this morning after yesterday's solid gains. Spiking energy prices have raised the risk of inflation and may weigh on economic growth. Traders focused yesterday on the diplomatic push by Washington to end the conflict, even as Iran rejected the ceasefire proposal. The Dow rose 305 points to finish out the session. I'm Courtney Donahoe, Bloomberg Business on News Radio 740, KTRH.

Houston's, news, weather, traffic, plus breaking news 24-7. This is News Radio 740, KTRH. Live everywhere with the IRRF. More of what's happening now from the John Moore Services Studios. 5.30 our time here on Houston's morning news, I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among our top stories this have hour, Iran is rejected Trump's 15-point plan. Texas will now require proof of immigration status to get a business license. And coming up at 538, nine reasons why some Americans have given up on chain restaurants. Details in the minutes ahead. First, let's check out that drive again with Sky Mike. I see the digital on 45 south of Huntsville, but not sure what the laneage is here. Lucas is on 45 north. John Mike, update. Just got through one right laid open. Traffic is back way up, 45 southbound, just south of Huntsville State Park. All right, grab a hot dog for me, Lucas. I'm in the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. From our KTRH, Generator Super Center, 24-hour weather center, some patchy fog early becoming sunny with a high. temperature today of 84 currently 66 and your official severe weather station news radio 740 kTRH terry stopped by in about nine minutes by the way right now it's time for the news here's cliff saunders good morning it's 531 in our top story president trump dud is not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell iran should not miscalculate again White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, but Iran apparently did just that, rejecting a plan with the U.S. and Israel responding. Sencom releasing more video that they tell us is of strikes against military and regime targets in Tehran and beyond, just as President Trump says the pressure is beginning to tell. Fox is Jonathan Hunt, the Iranian official who commanded the closure of the Strait of Hormuz reportedly. is killed in an Israeli strike. Here at home, an Islamic school in Dallas approved for Texas' school choice program is called out for its connections to Iran. Conservatives like Michael Quinn Dan Sullivan with Texas scorecard wonder why it was approved in the first place. Whether it was Mr. Hancock or someone on his team who just said, I'll find, we'll just approve what comes across. We don't know. One kind of hopes that this is a bureaucratic error that can be fixed. The school in question hasn't commented. Neither is the Comptroller's office. In the meantime, Hancock, Kelly Hancock, reportedly has asked the Attorney General's office to shut down the Houston Quran Academy over its alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The state moves to ban illegal aliens from getting professional licenses and certifications. The rule change made by the Department of Licensing and Regulation. This rule is designed to ensure that the department complies with federal law. Affecting things like a sea repair people and plumbers. On the national front, while President Trump has stopped illegal immigration and slowed down the flow of legal immigration visas or another story.

Visa approvals dropped 11% compared to last year, but the reason admissions have gone down is not change in the law, rather a change in the way the law is being enforced. Mark Corcorian of the Center for Immigration Studies says we're getting numbers to where they should be, but truly fixing it means changing the law. The executive branch can only do so much. Congress's job is to write the law, and now we haven't seen a lot of that lately. They can't even fund TSA. He says we need enduring reforms that cannot be reversed later. Andre Parrard News Radio 740, KTRH. 534, the GHS shutdown continues after the Dems for the sixth time in counting vote against reopening the department. They want as many illegal aliens in your community as in mind as they possibly can because whenever we look out and we see illegal aliens, they see voters. Texas Congressman Brandon Gill on Newsmax, we have wait times at Bush this morning of four hours. The head of TSA is now warning that the agency has to consolidate and that could lead to the close. of smaller regional airports. Senate Republicans can't open up DHS and they can't get the Save America Act to President Trump's desk either. Who would believe that you can't get voter ID because all of the Democrats, every single one of them, they stick together. They have lousy policy. They're not good people, but they stick together. Unlike what we have seen with Republicans so far on this bill. We know there's a rhino problem in D.C. maybe in Austin, too. State rep Andy Hopper wrote a bill to end free education for illegal aliens last year. It didn't go anywhere in the legislature. Hopper, a Republican from Decatur, says he was told by fellow Republican Jared Patterson, the bill did not advance because it had an author problem. Let's be really clear. That is nothing but a smoke screen for not passing conservative policy and not saying out loud what we know to be true. That Texas has a rhino problem. We totally have a rhino problem in Texas where leadership makes concessions to Democrats in exchange for support. And hopefully Hopper's bill will get support next session. Jeff Andy Biggs News Radio 740, KTRA. According to reports, the president is considering holding the GOP's midterm convention in Texas, specifically Dallas.

So this is clearly a Republican state. The energy, the enthusiasm, the motivation is on the Republican side, and the Democratic Party is on life support right now in Texas. Jared Woodfield, the conservative Republicans of Texas, the convention would take place right around Labor Day. Quietly this time around, Dallas is the site of this year's CPAC, which is now officially underway. While it's still a relative who's who in the conservative world, for the first time in about a decade, there's no plan for President Trump to attend. A number of administration officials will be there, though, including Borders Tsar Tom Homan, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, CMS director, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and others. A number of influencers and podcasters are on the guest list, too, including journalist Nick Shirley and Javier de Rousseau. That's Jessica Rosenthal reporting. 536, the Rockets, yish, blew a 13-point lead and lost to Minnesota in overtime. 10 to 108. Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament chips off tonight. UT takes on Purdue coverage at 530 on 950 KPRC. UH takes on Illinois at 9. That game, by the way, at Toyota Center, and you can listen to it on Sports Talk 790. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's News Weather and Traffic Station News Radio 740 KTRH. Info at this speed of Houston. Right now, Houston's morning news continues with Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett and the Houston Morning News team. You know, we don't have a lot of Applebee's. There's not an Applebee's close to my house. I got two chilies, but I got no Applebee's, uh, 537 here in Houston's Morning News. Chain restaurants, um, which. I was going to say, I used to frequent quite a bit. I'm trying to think now if there's a chain other than Butterburger that I frequently go to, and there's not a lot of them anymore. And I'm trying to think of why that is. Why do I not go to certain chain restaurants? And I think in my case, because I am trying to eat healthier, that's part of the rationale for me. And evidently, I'm not alone. businesses down at chain restaurants, in particular with younger Americans, but people in general are questioning exactly what their choices are when it comes to chain restaurants. And some of the reasons I think have to do with not really knowing what's in the food. Number one reason given, prices feel inflated. In other words, the prices kept going up. And a lot of people don't think the value is there anymore. Reason number two, it doesn't feel like a deal anymore. They used to run a lot of deals. especially the apple bees and the chilies and those type of things. And they still run some quote-unquote deals, but people don't seem to feel they're as good a deal as they used to be. Reason number three, quality feels inconsistent. The thing that people used to love about chain restaurants is that you would go, if you went to one and you went to another one, they'd be exactly the same. I think the key to Chick-fil-A's success is they're one of the few chains that have actually been able to keep consistent. You go to any Chick-fil-A, I've yet to be to a Chick-fil-A where I had a bad food experience or a bad service experience. They're all good. Cooking at home feels better. When prices go high, sometimes you feel guilty spending the money. Even if you have the money, you feel guilty spending the money. And even though grocery store prices are high, people feel like it's a better value sometimes to just...

buy their food at the store and cook it at home. Health concerns are stronger. Came in number five. Food choices based on nutrition or the attempt to lose weight. We have a lot of people that are on GLP ones and along with that are trying to do a low carb style lifestyle. And it's hard to find low carb choices at a lot of chain restaurants. Money feels tighter. Came in at number six. Local options feel more appealing. In other words, if I'm going to spend money at a restaurant, I'd rather give my business to a local restaurant. or a mom and pop, that came in number seven. Number eight on the list, dining out feels less worth it. In general, the overall experience of dining out. The service isn't as good or perceived to not be as good. At least some people think it isn't as good. So it does, you know, if I'm going out because I want to be waited on and I don't feel like they're waiting on me anymore, then why bother to go out? And variety. People like more variety. Those are the top ten reasons that are given. Have you noticed that you're going to fewer chain restaurants than you used to? What are the reasons why you don't go? 540. Time for traffic and weathered together. And then there's me. Waffle House one night, Denny's the next, I hop the next. You like the convenience. I love it. And I just, you know, I love talking to people. The Wodeburger that's close to me, though, is right next to the old Greenspoint Mall. And it's like deer corn for me. You know, they laid it out so I can go and get shot. I think the problem I have is I don't know. Deer corn. I don't know exactly how they're making what they're making. And if you're worried about your weight or you're worried about eliminating certain things in your diet, then you worry about how it's being made. They've made. It's fresh. All right, let's go to the north side here. With lots of sugar. Gerald from Conroe's on your north freeway. I'm going to get, you know what? I want to get to Huntsville again before I go to Gerald from Conroe. You want to jump on 75 south of Huntsville. There's some kind of wreck there. I strongly suspect an 18-wheeler, but I've got no eyes up there. So our tip liners, if you can hit us on free I heart radio app, let me know. I've got one lane getting by southbound. I see the scooch. Now, as we get further in, it's Gerald from Conroe on 45. with that dude north freeway and bound right at the rafer sawdust exit there's that one of them teslos pulled over i'm guessing the charges are battery traffic is a little bit heavier than usual but there are no curpuffles all right well said i noticed that it's a little heavier this morning i'm in the ability tree experts traffic center romar kTR h generator super center 24 hour weather center terry's here she's got a little patchy fog for us this morning just like yesterday but it'll burn off probably by mid morning That's right. The visibilities aren't too bad at the moment, though we still have another hour or two with the sun, before the sun comes up and the wind start to pick up and we'll mix this all out. But we do have a little bit of reduced visibility around Hobby, which may be slowing the planes ever so slightly, maybe. And Pearland and Navasota too, seeing some fog. So whatever clouds we have this morning, not to worry. Today and tomorrow, mainly sunshine, mainly warm temperatures, mid to upper 80s, both afternoons. Coalfront.

cools us off for Saturday. Saturday and Sunday are actually cooler, but Saturday is like noticeably cooler in the mid-to- Upper 70s, and there's a little less humidity as well Saturday. Sunday, we're in the low to mid-80s. Monday, we start to warm back up, mid-to- Upper 80s, and... We may get some rain next week. That would be kind of nice, but it looks like it'll be like maybe Wednesday or Thursday next week before we see some rain. Okay. Right now 65 in your official severe weather station, U.S. News Radio, News Radio 740 KTRH. I live in the woodlands. Your best ways around Houston next on the 10 on 740 KTRH. Five-50s are time now here in Houston's More News. I promised to a report earlier this hour. I'm going to get to it coming up next. Another stolen check in Sugar Land. This one to the tune of $34,000. More in that story coming up next. First, though, let's do traffic and weathered together. Oops, looks like you've got a report there, SkyMike. A report on the canyon. I'm just having a lot of fun this morning. Just keep pushing those buttons. Let's keep slugging away. All right, so far, all that we've got is this north side deal, I-45. That's a wreck at Huntsville, south of Huntsville. We do have one lane open. I know that Southwest Freeway, Northbound at Kirby, new wreck just pulled up on the inbound. I'll have you some laneage in a few. And Mark from spring is in the canyon. Scott Lock. Dude. North end of where 288 and 69 joined together. There is a guy in the right-hand side. Tell me he's got his clothes on. On the shoulder. Okay. So watch out for that guy. So it's a stall, not a zombie. Thank God. I'm Skymarking the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. From our KTRH Generator Super Center, 24-hour weather center, patchy ball early, becoming sunny 84 today, mostly sunny 87 tomorrow, mostly sunny and cooler 75 on Saturday, lots of sunshine high around 80 on Sunday. Please note, no rain. Current temperature 65 in your official severe weather station, News Radio 740KTRH. 552, let's head back to our newsroom where Cliff has an update on some of our top stories. Another top Iranian commander is taken out apparently by an Israeli airstrike. Outrage after a trans illegal alien got a light sentence after being convicted of raping a child in New York. And Southwest Airlines is opening up a new crew base in Austin. That could create more than 2,000 jobs. At the latest news anytime at KTRH.com, our next updates at 6. I live in Clear Lake. Humble. Reliable. KTRH. Traffic and weather. Next on the 10. More about stealing people's checks. This story from KHU, KH. I feel like my battery's not operating correctly this morning. Did I? I plugged myself in last night. Didn't I recharge? Anyway, the report is from KHOU 11.

And it's another Sherlockland Post Office story. And this is a big check this time, and this check was being made out to the Internal Revenue Service before it got washed. To hide his face, but he came to this post office back in January to drop off that check for the IRS. Once it was washed, he had to pay his tax bill again. So now he's out $68,000 and at the mercy of the bank to get half of that money back. This is more widespread than people may imagine. Eric says he got a call in February from bank. of America, letting him know this $34,000 check he wrote from his Fidelity account to the IRS was turned into this check, similar, but not to the IRS, instead for an estate sale. He says it was cashed at Bank of America. The account name and the bank and all the handwriting on it were different. The only things that were the same. were the OCR characters for the routing account number and the amount. Once he got off the phone with BOA, he filed a police report with Sugarland Police, but he still owed the IRS his taxes, so he paid electronically another $34,000 and is anticipating a late penalty fee. That's $68,000 in counting. How long did they say it could take until you maybe got your money back? Well, the agent on the phone told me months, maybe as much as six months. Are you confident you're going to get your money back? No. Attorney Leah Graham says in Texas, the bank is responsible for verifying checks. So in most cases, fraud victims should be refunded. Typically, the bank will be liable unless they can show that the customer was negligent, either by leaving. checks in the mail for too long, or failing to report it on time. In Eric's case, he took swift action, but Graham says that doesn't mean the bank has to. That process can take a long time depending on the bank's policies and the circumstances of each case, which is important, why it's so important to make sure that you act quickly, preserve everything so that you have your best shot of getting your money back. In other words... The money comes out of your account quickly. Going back in is a different story. And like with most things, the burden is on you as the victim to prove what went wrong or what happened to you and how the bank made a mistake and shouldn't pay down that check, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And even when you do get your money back, you've spent months working on this. You've been without your funds all this time. and you've been panicked and worried and a whole bunch of other things. In other words, none of this is worth it. I have learned my lesson from all these stories coming out of the Shirkland Post Office. I am never sending another check through the mail. I'm just, I'm not going to do it. I'm just, you know, I owe taxes. I'm paying electronically. I used to pay my check. No more. No reason, no reason for me to write any checks. It's 556 here on News Radio 740KTRH.

Paragonia! This is News Radio 740, KTRH, Houston, and I Heart Radio Station, guaranteed human. Now, the latest news, weather, and traffic. It's more of what matters to you from the John Moore Services Studios. It is 6 a.m. now here in Houston's morning news. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among our top stories this half hour, the Bush lines will be even longer today at TSA. Democrats. Well, they changed their minds again on TSA funding. And coming up at 608. No, not problems in the canyon. That's coming up in the minute. Coming up at 608. Jimmy reads his own writing. Jimmy reads his own writing, which says that there are people who would rather spend money on their honeymoon trip than buy an engagement ring. Details in the minutes ahead. Did you know two of my honeymoons were in the same hotel? Yes, I did. And that should have told you something about what was going to happen the second time around. All right. Let's go to another fun place. 146, the Kima Boardwalk. I've got a wreck right here. We're southbound, northbound, right at the Kema Bridge. Not good. I'll zoom that at the 610 break. I got time for me from Kimmel. She's fast. Morning, Mikey. Hey, love. Sam Houston entrance, disabled vehicle in the right lane with a tow truck ninja. It's going to start getting nasty if people don't watch what's going on. All right, that's your Gulf Freeway, northbound at the belt. If we'll just look where we're going, we'll not have a wreck. I'm Skymike. It's your ability tree experts, traffic center. Robar, KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center, patchy, fall early, becoming sunny with a high right about 84 for today. Terry Smith joins us with the forecast in detail in about nine minutes. Right now, 65, and your official severe weather station, news, radio 740, KTRH. Time now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. Sponsored by Allied siding and windows. As bad as air travel is now, prepared to have it get a lot worse because airports are reporting TSA callout rates of 40%. Laura Ingram on Fox in this morning, as advertised, we have four-hour waits at the big airport. Now, there's been talk of privatizing the TSA as the Democrat DHS shutdown continues. Many, though, are hesitant to go that far. I think there's a lot of pros. I think there's a lot of cons. I have looked into the screening partnership programs, the K2 security screening group. Everything is only up and up with that agency. GOP strategist, Dwayne, more there. But remember, most airports used private security, and then 9-11 happened. Hundreds of TSA agents already have quit over the shutdown, the Houston Police Officers Union. seize opportunity. Posting on social media that those agents should join HPD. That would be one way to deal with the shortage we've seen for the last several years. Now, ICE agents are trying to help those travelers stuck in line and Borders Art Tom Homan told KTRH is Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. It's also an opportunity for them to do their main jobs.

We're going to work with our brothers and sisters in TSA to keep that airport safe. And someone's conversion to that airport that's not in the country where we find out about it. And we have reasonable suspicion. We're going to take an apportion action. We're absolutely going to do that. And in an interview on the Charlie Kirk Show, Holman also said ICE agents just might show up at polling locations for the midterms, which brings us to the Save America Act. And more lies from the left, specifically Whippy Goldberg of the view. You have to present your ID when you go to vote. I always have to give them my driver's license. Yeah, so they can make sure that it's me. Her own co-hosts, this was such a big whopper. They had to call her out. New York does not have voter ID. Staying on Capitol Hill, the House Intelligence Committee votes to fulfill the DOJ's request for classified transcript related to former CIA Director John Brennan's investigation into Russian interference 10 years ago. They changed the intelligence community assessment from December of 2016 when it said there was no conspiracy, no collusion between Trump and Russia to influence the election. One month later, they changed it and they did it at the urging of John Brennan, and he lied to us about it. Ohio Republican Jim Jordan on Fox. The Trump administration reportedly has made new criminal referrals to the DOJ. Targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James, this time over potential insurance fraud. 604 Iran officially rejects the olive branch offered by President Trump to end Operation Epic Fury. Pennsylvania Democrat Senator John Fetterman says time is running out. On what's left of the regime. All those, what those cowards can do, they fire off some random drones at civilians. They can't engage our traditional military capabilities. That's the fact that's all they can do. Now, the Iranian official who commanded the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, apparently Israel took him out overnight. Oil futures. up to $93.35 a barrel. Now, President Trump and the EPA did issue an emergency waiver on summer blend gasoline rules to try and keep prices in check. What does this mean for you? Consumers a product may see a 5 to 10 cent change. Our treat Trevino there. Gasoline price is still way lower than the five bucks we saw four years ago, you know, when Joe Biden was president. Operation Epic Fury is affecting the global market for fertilizer, much of which also comes through the straits. That's kind of clogged up right now, so it's driving up. Fertilizer prices are up about 30%. Texas ad commissioner Sid Miller says this could not come at a worse time. Many crops are now being planted. And the military operation in Iran has been going on for less than a month.

You're already hearing the left declaring that this is, quote, the end of Trumpism. And as Breonna Lyman notes in the federalist, that's not a smart bet. I think they overlook the most important part of Donald Trump, which is that he has a very unique ability to come out on top. Something that has been happening for a long time. President Trump has defied every single odd every single time. And I think that Donald Trump still has plenty of time before the midterm to turn everything around and win back the base. She says Maga should expect it. Jeff Andy Biggs News Radio 740. Kay Teary. It's one of the best days of the year. Opening day for baseball, the Astros host the Angels this afternoon. Broadcaster Steve Sparks says there's a different tone after last year's injury-filled season ended without a playoff appearance. Carlos Correa kind of set the tone before spring training even started talking about they need to do whatever they can to stay on the field. You know, this team is good enough to get to the playoffs, but they've got to stay healthy and they've got to make a commitment. Pregame is a two on Sports Talk 790. If you're going, there's a new Waterburger in center field. And you can also take the 9-99 challenge that we talked about. We now know the price. It's between 55 and 60 bucks. Bad night for the rockets. They blew a 13-point lead. Lost in overtime to Minnesota, 110 to 108. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's News Weather and Traffic Station, News Radio 740, KTRH. I live in the Heights. I live in spring. Kingwood. Next on the 10. Your faster commute. On 740 KTRH. Well, evidently putting a ring on it is not as important as it used to be 607 here in Houston's morning news. According to a new report, 65% of Americans say that engagement rings have, quote, evolved from a traditional symbol of love to a financial burden. Huh. On average, people think an engagement ring should cost about $10,600, which for some is actually less than the old. What was the old rule used to be? Be prepared to spend three months of salary. Whatever you make a month for three months is what you should spend on a ring. Why would that dictate what you spend on a ring? Well, I understand the affordability part, but at the end of the day, you know, what would they rather do with the money? Turns out they'd rather take a kick-ass trip. They'd rather use the money to take a trip. Now, I've wondered, oftentimes wondered about the whole logic of experiences. That's how they describe it. We'd rather have it. We want to do an adventure. We want to have an experience. And I understand going somewhere exotic or somewhere you've never been before just to see it. But at the end of the day, it's a trip. That lasts, what, four or five days, maybe a week, maybe a little bit more than a week. And that's it. Whatever money you spend on it, it's over, it's done, but it's gone. At least with the engagement ring, you've got an heirloom to hang on to. I wonder if the fact that the divorce rate still pretty high, maybe not as high as it was there for a while, but still pretty doggone high.

Maybe that has something to do with the attitude. I would understand if this is your second marriage or your third marriage, I can understand why you don't want to drop a bunch of money on an engagement ring. Because after all, you've already done that and it didn't turn out to be a worthwhile investment as it turned out. So I would understand that attitude. But this is mainly younger people who are saying this, that they'd rather spend the money on a trip. instead. And if they're going to do something to quote unquote symbolize their love, how about we just tattoo a ring on that finger? Or how about we just get a band made out of silicone or wood or titanium? They're kind of, because of the high price, they're kind of running away from the gold and the silver and the diamond thing. 6-10, time for traffic and weather together. How many engagement rings have you bought it? Four. Four. Now, was the second ring bigger than the first ring or was it about the same? Much smaller. Smaller. And then one was big, depending on what she did for a living. We're not going there. But those are horrible ideas. You should get a big ring, have a big wedding, have a big marriage. You hire a good DJ. I hire a great DJ slash coordinate. And I will tell you this, seriously, dead serious. I think I will put money on this. People that go. through the trouble to have a real wedding. They'll have a better chance to stay in together. Put money on it. All right in front of the chema boardwalk. I got a wreck on the flyover. Whatever's going on there is not pretty. Look at all this twisted, whatever. This is southbound. There's rubbernecking northbound. And all of a sudden, 146 is not the way to go. If you could slip over to Egret Bay or just suck it up and do the Gulf Freeway, it'll be worth it. I think this problem is going to get worse before it gets better. We'll keep zooming that. 610 north. That's squeeze westbound 45. Just a whole lot of breaks now. Southbound, A-ha, I-45. We got a back order slip. This one is outbound, not inbound, between Parker and Tyndwell and Jimbo from Tomball, 45 North. Skymike, coming in from Cold Spring. Go Trojans. Go Trojans. Your kerfuffle on I-45 is not apparent. 45 southbound, northbound, flying like there's no tomorrow. All right, clear Huntsville, the new Waverly. Terry, we'll do some fog at the 40 break. I'm Skymike in the generator, supercenter.com. I'm driving center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders 24-hour weather center. Terry is here. She's got the forecast for you, and it's pretty similar. We're kind of, as I said yesterday, we're stuck in a run. We are stuck on repeat for sure. at least for today and tomorrow and then a subtle change over the weekend. And I'll take a subtle change. I'm also looking for some rain, but I don't see any of that right now through Monday. I think Wednesday next week might be our first shot of some rain. We'll turn out partly cloudy today, but we are dealing with a little bit of fog and spot, some drizzle at times. But dry and then heating up into the mid to upper 80s today and tomorrow. Saturday is slightly cooler. We'll get the northerly breeze.

a little less heat and humidity. Mid-to- Upper 70s Saturday, Sunday, low to mid-80s, and Mondays in the mid-to-Upper 80s. Temperature right now, 65 at your official, Severe Weather Station, News Radio 740KTRH. Our 59 inbound at the loop is always a problem. KTRH time saving traffic. Next on the 10. You know, summertime's not that far away, but based on what's going on with Iran right now, what's going on with gas prices right now, oil and gas prices, the president is talking about no summer blend, easing the rules on summer gasoline in order to be able to try to keep prices down because, you know, the price always goes up and the summer blends come into play. We'll talk to oil and gas expert, Ray Trevino about that and also about all these businesses talking about fuel surcharges. That's coming up next. But first, we've got traffic and weathered together. Aha! What you got, Skymike? Oh, we found it. I-45. It's I-45 north between Tedwell and Parker. That's an outbound wreck. Looks like one, two left lanes blocked here. And it's a solid wood, made an America back order slip from the loop. This is outbound, not inbound. I'm Skymike and the Ability Tree Experts. Traffic Center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center, patchy fall early, then becoming sunny, 84 today, mostly sunny 87 tomorrow, sunshine cooler on Saturday, 75, Sunday, sunshine with a high temperature right about 80. Current temperature 65 and your official, severe weather station, News Radio 740, KTRH. Douglas Harry has an update on some of our top Thursday morning stories. Sponsored by Republic Grand Ranch, hurry up and wait. Four-hour wait times now at Bush. The city of Houston will rename Caesar Chavez Boulevard after sexual abuse allegations against the liberal icon, and an astronaut on the International Space Station has gone viral for a picture of an object with tentacles. That seemed to be growing. Turns out to be a purple potato. But decide for yourself. We have it on Facebook and X. Get the latest news anytime at KTRH.com. Our next update is at 6.30. Let's begin. So good morning and welcome. We're following the events of the day. We'll cover a lot of topics today. Throughout the day. As things evolve, pick up the conversation on News Radio 740. KTRA. Yeah, I played the original. The original's better version, don't you think? 622 is our time here in Houston's morning news. All right, while you're driving down that highway of life this summer, you may get, well, depending on what happens with fuel prices going forward, you may get a little shock, sticker shock when you fill up. I don't notice the price per gallon so much. That little bellwether gas station I go by all the time, still 3.49 a gallon. But I filled up the truck for the first time. Since the price got that high. And when they went north of $60, I went, okay, you've got my attention now. No, no, I see. It's a little pricey out there. Joyce to talk about gas prices, what the president's going to try to do, evidently by curtailing the summer blends, at least for a while. Ray Trevino, oil and gas expert, Ray. How much gets added to the cost of the price of a gallon of gasoline here in Texas based on having to switch over to the summer blend?

Oh, thank you. Good morning. And thank you all for having me. It really all depends. But on average, every additive that goes into, whether it's a summer blend or winter blend, has certain additives that do raise the cost. However, what the president is actually trying to do is remove the requirement of using one specific. style of additive that cost more than the normal additives that go into the summer blend. When we use the summer blend, it's designed so it doesn't get super hot, obviously, in the Texas heat. And what the EPA was requiring was to use a very specific additive that cost more money, which then in the long run. sent that extra cost to the consumer. So this should help bring down the price a little bit and what's going on and believing that shock is real for everyone. So we're still going to switch over to a summer blend. It's just there's no requirement to add that specific additive that there was before. Yes, that's correct. That is what he's trying to exactly do. We still have a summer blend. Fortunately, most of the refineries have already finished getting ready for the summer blend, and now they will not be using a specific additive, or they'll have the choice not to use that specific additive. Which, of course, gives you a choice. And that's why you may see, depending upon which additives, certain... companies decide to use, you may see at least some sort of a difference in the price at the pump, depending upon which added that they got in there. Okay. All right. That's good to know. And we could see anywhere between, you know, possibly a little less than 10 cents a gallon is what we could see at the pump for the consumer. Okay. You know, a difference. Now, we got so used to that, especially here in Houston of that, you know, 225 or less per gallon that knocking it down by 5 or 10 cents probably isn't a big attention to get her. What we need to do, of course, is we need to wrap things up with Iran and we need to get the straight of Hormuz working again to get the price of oil down. But I think people are generally, Ray, a little surprised. that's had that big of an impact, considering how much oil we're pumping here in the United States? We're actually seemingly pumping almost enough now to take care of our own needs. So I know it's a global commodity, but why is it having that big of an impact on us? You know, that's a good question. We are the number one producer, as I've discussed before. We're producing almost 14 million barrels of oil a day. However, the United States uses 21 million barrels of oil a day. So we still got another $7 million that we have to make up. And the majority of our refineries here in America actually refine the imported oil that we have rather than all the sweet crude that we have here across America. And that is why this new refinery into Brownsville is so important because it's going to be able to actually refine that sweet.

Texas crude of the Permian Basin, and they're probably even going to be putting a pipeline from the Permian Basin to that new refinery down there in Brownsville. That is just one step to true energy independence. And one more thing, all the hardworking men and women that are in the oil and gas industry, I want to say thank you to, because of that 14 million barrels of oil a day, the price of oil is not exuberantly higher than it is right now. Okay, Ray. Thank you. Appreciate it. That is oil and gas expert, Ray Trevino. By the way, question of the day. You go to the iHeart Radio app, KTRH, has to do with fuel surcharges. U.S. Post Office is asking for a fuel surcharge. You've got delivery services that are talking about adding fuel surcharges, your pizza delivery, your grubhub, that kind of stuff. Uber drivers, any of you Uber drivers out there, are you thinking of adding a fuel surcharge? You know, the IHeart Radio app, KTRH. Are fuel charges at this point, are they justified in your mind or not? Go the IHeart Radio app KTRH, first name where you're calling from of your thoughts on a fuel surcharge. It's 627, and time to take a look at your money. Good morning. Iran's rejection of America's push for talks to end the war in the Middle East, descending world prices higher and weighing on stocks this morning. Optimism is fading on a quick resolution to the conflict. I'm Courtney Donahoe. Bloomberg Business on News Radio 740, KTRH.

Houston's news weather traffic plus breaking news 24 7 this is news 740 KTRH live everywhere with the I have more of what's happening now from the John Moore Services Studios 630 our time here on Houston's morning news I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett among our top stories this half hour Texas now requiring proof of immigration status in order to get a business license Iran has rejected the president's 15-point plan, and coming up at 638, an immigration attorney weighs in on that Texas business license change. Details in the minutes ahead. First, let's check out that morning drive again, Ms. Sky Mike. Clear, chemo, 146, the suckage has gone, too. 290. Non-human sources are saying there's a wreck still there. It's not. It cleared about a minute ago, inbound, and North Freeway outbound, that's still a big back-order slip. Tidwell, two left lines, pretty sticky stuff coming up from the loot. This is outbound, not inbound. Skymike and the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. From our KTRH, January Super Center, 24-hour weather centers in patchy fall early becoming sunny with a height today right about 84. Complete forecast coming up from Terry Smith at the Weather Channel in 8 minutes. Currently 65 in your official severe weather station. News Radio 740 KTRH. It's time now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. It's coming up on 632. They are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they're afraid to say it because they figure they'll be killed by their own people. They're also afraid they'll be killed by us. President Trump calling out Iran's denial that they're trying to negotiate an end to Operation Epic Fury. He says we wouldn't be in the spite if it had not been for one Barack Obama. He gave Iran the right to have a nuclear weapon at the highest level within a very short period of time. And I terminated that agreement as soon as I came to office. And here's something else the mainstream media ignores. The original Iran nuclear deal was never permanent. It was only supposed to last 10 or 15 years after it was put into place. Here at home, several Muslim schools have been approved for the Texas school choice voucher program thanks to a lawsuit. One of those schools was raising some eyebrows. Apparently it's connected to Iran. The Brighter Horizons Academy in Merrick Garland may have received money from Iran. school received close to a million dollars from the Islamic Development Bank, which is an Iranian-funded entity. Michael Quinn Dan Sullivan with the Texas scorecard says even the recent lawsuit ruling didn't require the school be approved. The only item out of the court from that lawsuit regarded keeping the application period open to the end of the month. He says he hopes this was just a clerical error that can be reversed by a future comptroller of public accounts. Ethan Buchanan, News Radio 740, KTR. By the way, the school in question is not commented. Neither has the comptroller's office. The state is banning illegal aliens from being able to obtain professional licenses. The department carefully reviewed concerns and determined that the proposed rules do not impose unreasonable burdens. The rule, which goes into effect in May, affects those working as electricians, hairdressers, and AC repairmen, amongst others.

The left claims that President Trump's immigration efforts are a glass half full so far, with illegal and illegal immigration curtailed, but visa approvals are still high. Mark Corcorian with the Center for Immigration Studies says approvals dropped 11%. But it's mostly to just applying the rules. Under this administration, law is actually being enforced because there are all kinds of requirements that were just never enforced before. So that it's not so much that the numbers went down is that the numbers were inappropriately high to begin with. And now are more like where they should be. He says the only way we can really correct this is by changing the law. It is now 634 on KTRH. The DHS shutdown continues after the Dems for the sixth time and counting vote against reopening the department. As of now, we're seeing wait times at Bush Intercontinental of three hours, so that went down. Texas Senator Ted Cruz says he'll give up his paycheck. writing on Facebook that, quote, it's not right for members of Congress to be paid if the working men and women of DHS aren't. State lawmakers were in Washington last week for a meeting with Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller, who asked if Texas had a rhino problem. That's because the legislature failed to pass a key bill last year, specifically a push by rookie state rep Andy Hopper to challenge free education for illegal aliens. I think it's great that Stephen Miller brought up a number of action items. The best estimates I've heard is that it's probably over $10 billion a year is what the citizens of Texas are paying to educate those that aren't here legally. Hopper also told us that, yes, Texas does have a rhino problem. Dallas could end up being the host city for a GOP midterm convention later this year. When you have someone like President Trump coming to Texas, that energizes our base more than any elected officials. And so President Trump selecting Texas for a midterm convention is huge for the Republican Party. Jared Woodfield with Conservative Republicans of Texas. Dallas is hosting CPAC this week, but President Trump is not attending more at 7.30. 636, looking at your money, overnight futures this morning are down across the board, but as the mainstream media claims the economy is bad, Easter spending is expected to hit a record high $25 billion. That's surpassing last year's record. Economist Mitch Kramer says the fear mongering by the left is not stopping you from spending on things like holiday traditions. People have resources and money in this country are not really impacted what happens day by day. And in the media is trying to paint a very bleak picture. Sales are expected to climb by almost 6% from last year. More workers are starting to feel down about where their careers are at. Counselor Julie Nice says you can blame the younger people, Gen Z.

who look at social media and have unrealistic expectations about life. I don't think it's a matter of the jobs. You know, 70% of people are in jobs that don't pay enough. I think it's probably most of those people. are probably in jobs that pay just fine. They have unrealistic expectations. The report showed that 56% say they're actively looking for new jobs. The NCAA Suite 16 begins tonight with UT taking on Purdue on 950KPRC at 530 UH. The Cougs take on Illinois at 9 o'clock on Sports Talk 790. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's News Weather and Traffic Station, News Radio 740, KTRH. I live in Deer Park. I live in the woodlands. Your reliable forecast. Next on the 10 on 740 KTRH. Yeah, if you are a hairdresser or a cosmetologist or work in HVAC, a whole bunch of different types of work, you have to be licensed here in the state of Texas. And Texas has made a change. You have to prove your immigration status. You have to prove that you are here in this country legally to get a Texas business license, which I think that I'm guessing that the vast majority, if not all of you, approve of that change. There are people in the, especially in the immigration attorney industry who do not. ABC 13 spoke to one of them. Here is that report. This new rule could impact important industries in the Houston area, like electricians or even the hair care industry. Now, the commissions say that they are just following federal rules, while people who are opposed to this say that this could damage the economy. Industries are going to be affected. There's going to be a lack of qualified individuals. There will be new rules starting on May 1st for some industries that require professional license. This includes electricians, plumbers, cosmetologists, barbers, dog breeders, vehicle inspectors, HVAC technicians. torture operators and other licensed trades. Immigration attorney Ray Gonzalez says thousands of people in Houston will now have a new process to get a professional license. Everyone that is applying for one is going to have social security number and to prove legal status in the United States. He also says there are some exceptions for some refugees and people with asylum status. The state's commission on licensing and regulation says that they are following the Federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. That act was cited in 2025 when the president signed the executive order named, quote, ending taxpayer's subsidization of open borders. Gonzalez.

says the new rule will push people into the underground market. This is going to create an underground economy again. These people have to find a way of doing it. Now there's not going to be oversight. According to Rice University's Kinder Institute, there are around 500 to 600,000 undocumented people living in the Houston area as of 2023. It remains to be seen exactly how undocumented workers will be impacted by the new rule. Gonzalez says there is a bigger picture that brings about concerns for him. A lot of people are really afraid of what it's happening right now. and not being able to provide for their families. According to Gonzalez, he says that it remains to be seen if there will be legal challenges to this new rule. If you're here illegally, and you can't provide for your family, then that seems like a big incentive for you to go back to your country of origin. Does it not? Or am I missing something here? If that means that there's a few less people working in certain industries, I guess that's what it means. But the state is right. I mean, if this is federal policy by law, I would hope the state of Texas would want to do this regardless of what the federal policy is. 6.40, time for traffic and weather together. Skymike, what do you got going on this morning? I got some vizers slowing down on the KD Freeway now from Grand Parkway into about Fri Road. Not bad for the KD, really. And we will visit visibility in just a moment here, about an extra four. Stay the course. 290. We had that wreck in Jersey Village at 529. It's gone. We still are 290ed up from Huffmeister. Let's go Southwest Freeway. Some brakes right at the loop, the usual scut tree there. Nothing big. Stayed the course inside the loop. under those pretty bridges going through the Montrose, an extra minute or two, if that. Golf Freeway, some breaks now, Edgebrook. Terry, you got the home game with me. Pick one of those cameras. Which one do you want to look at right now? Let's pick 349. 349 is going to be, oh, that's like Katie Freeway, out toward the sticks toward Brookshire, and it looks to me, it looks like we've got good visibility there. I would suspect 288's pretty messy. We'll go there and just like, hey, let's get Roger from Magnolia in quickly. Roger. Good morning, this guy, Mike. Dude. Just got back from some R&R in Mexico. Oh, wow. Outbound North Freeway Smunch. Just saw the ninjas disappear with that one, so it's clear. You got a big fat backholder slip all the way up to Little York on the endbound side and all the way down to the loop on the outbound side. Well said, Roger from Magnolia, that's a banana sticker. I'm in the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. Romar KTRH Generator Supercenter, 24-hour weather center. Terry Smith has the forecast. She's ready to fill you in on that. is our early summer weather continues in March. Yeah, it really does. We have our own version of March Madness. Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking.

It is a little mad and it's not going to change a whole lot. We have a subtle change over the weekend. So if you are temperature sensitive, you may want to hold off on doing whatever you need to do until the weekend when there's a little less heat and humidity. But today and tomorrow, it's warm. It's muggy, mid to upper 80s, both days. And then slightly cooler Saturday, mid to upper 70s and Sunday in the low to mid 80s. starting to heat back up, but it'll take a little while for the humidity to return. It's back Monday and Tuesday. Our temperatures will be back up in the mid to upper 80s to start the work week. Temperature right now is still 65 and your official severe weather station news radio 740 KTRH. I live in Sugarland. Be prepared for wild Houston weather. Next on the 10 on 740 KTRH. You know, I saw a lot of reports on Fox yesterday, coming out of Houston, out of Bush Intercontinental Airport about the long TSA lines and the amount of TSA agents calling in sick during this shutdown and passenger reaction. And I am amazed at the level of patience. that we are showing here in Houston for these four-hour waits and TSA lines. More on that story coming up along with the timeline. But first, let's do a little traffic and weather together as we check out the drive again to Sky Mike. Golf Freeway, Northbound, breaks from Edgebrook. You're doing a nice job not bumping into each other. We don't have the wreck at Broadway yet. Nord Freeway cleared did well. We're scoched both ways between Westmount, Houston, and the North Loop 6-10. The back door is I-10, Katie Freeway, Grand Parkway. Stay the course. There's six-minute loss. Something's fishy on I-Sand. 10 eastbound at channel be nice and channel view i've got backups now from deldale i'm sky mike it's your ability tree experts traffic center from our kTR h generator super center 24 hour weather center becoming sunny once we get rid of the patchy fog 84 for today mostly sunny 87 tomorrow weekend looks good sunshine and cooler Enjoy Saturday, 75 for the high, sunny around 80 for the high temperature on Sunday, and then we start to heat back up again. Current temperature is 65 at your official's severe weather station, News Radio 740, KTRH. Cliff is here. He has an update on some of our top stories. Another top Iranian commander is taken out by an Israeli airstrike. A United Express flight from Lubbock to Houston had to be diverted after a passenger's phone battery started smoking. And this is just low. A New Hampshire man on probation for burglary convictions is behind bars again for stealing from a Girl Scout cookie cash box. Get the latest news anytime at KTRH.com. Our next update is at 7. I live in Katie. I live in Edo. Your reliable forecast. Next on the 10 on 740 KTRH.

Oh, you're so patient. How are you pulling that off? So patient at the airport, waiting in line at Bush Intercontinental. I would not be patient waiting in line. But then again, I guess if a television camera is put in front of your face on a microphone, right? You're probably going to put your best foot forward, at least most people would. Fox News at the airport at Bush doing reports yesterday, talking to Houston passengers about... Not just the long lines about ICE agents being there. Let's see how that report goes. They've got a job to do just like everybody else and thank goodness for them. I don't see how extra security could be bad, you know? As long as they don't bother anybody, I'm okay. What's your message to Congress that could put an end to all of this? It would be ideal. This isn't working for us right now. Fire them all. Fire them all. Politicians, get yourself together and do the work of the people that we put you in office to do. People are really going to crash out, in my opinion, because this is really frustrating. I think Chuck Schumer should be ashamed of himself. Well, you wouldn't know if you only listen to the left. Democrats are crashing out over ICE airlines. The president cannot pardon you. I'll say it again. The president cannot pardon you. And yes. I will put you in handcuffs, and I will put you in a courtroom, and if necessary, I will put you in a jail cell. I had Port Authority police coming up, airlines calling me up. Everybody can say, just like, please get ice the hell out of this airport. They're causing so much trouble. Their presence here is triggering stressful to already stressed out passengers. This is bone chilling. Steve Bannon is saying the quiet part out loud, calling ICE's deployment to airports a test run for the interns. And even CNN's admitting that things are running smoother since I showed up. I almost can't believe I'm able to say this. The times have dropped off tremendously this morning. They're patrolling the outside areas of the airport, keeping people safe, interacting with some of the people as they walk by. All right. So, Dana, Cory Booker says that his phones are burning up. People say they're very upset about these ice ages. Is he telling the truth? Maybe I don't know what his calls are like, but I do think that ICE is having the best PR run of its possible entire existence. TSA has spent over 50% of the year in shutdown. If ice can go there, and even if they're handing out water, they are calming things down. I actually think that Americans have been...

way too patient. Brooke Taylor has done an amazing job for us. She's in Houston interviewing these people who are pretty patient. They're not as mad as I think that they could be. The back and forth on the funding deal is wild, and I think that Democrats right now look incredibly weak and out of touch. They should just figure out a way to get this done because... Even though you'll say, well, the president doesn't want to do this or doesn't want to do that. He is not necessarily the problem. He has come quite a ways down the field, and they keep moving the gold post. Republicans have virtually compromised on everything, and the Democrats keep changing the rules. So if you want to be mad at somebody, you know who to be mad at. But again, the patience is amazing. I wonder if they're going to be that patient today. All right, time for the timeline. Get a four pack of tickets for the rockets. They're taking on the bucks. April the first at Toyota Center. Tickets on sale right now at Toyota Center.com. But you can win tickets from us. Tell us what year today's timeline's from. A shooting that occurred here at this hotel. It was March. And the result, of course, was a murder of Selena. Tejana singer Selena is shot and killed. It was armed with a pistol to her head. On television. David Lennon. David Letterman hosts the 67th Annual Academy Awards. Oprah Uma! Best picture goes to... My name's Forge. Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump. Life was like a box of chocolates. And on the radio? You gotta be big and you gotta be bold. You gotta be wiser. Desry, You Gotta Be, is top ten. What year was it? If you know, 713212, 5874, that is 713-212 KTRH. Good luck. All right, we have ourselves a winner. That would be David in Lake Jackson. He knew the right year was 1995. David, you get a four-pack of tickets for the Rockets and the Bucks, April 1st at Toyota Center. Enjoy the game, and thank you for listening to Houston's Morning News.

This is News Radio 740, KTRH, Houston, and I Heart Radio Station, guaranteed human. Now, the latest news, weather, and traffic. It's more of what matters to you from the John Moore Services Studios. 701, our time here on Houston's morning news. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among our top stories this half hour, the Senate needs to give up on making a deal with Democrats. It's March Madness at Bush's TSA checkpoints today. And coming up at 708, why would... At this point, why would anybody try to predict the 2026 hurricane forecast? Details in the minutes ahead. First, let's check out that morning drive. Here's Sky Mike. All right, checking out, my digital's checking out the scutory here on I-10 East, outbound, eastbound coming over from Channel View. This has got oversized load written all over it. Doesn't look to be a wreck, doesn't look to be a stall. But what I'm seeing is people dragging it that way. I'll get to the front of that at the 10 break, at the 20 break. Also, North Freeway, we cleared the wreck. At Tidwell, we're still slow both ways from the belt to the loop. Skymike and the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, top tax offenders 24-hour weather center today, we're starting off with a little patchy fog at least in a few spots. And then it's going to become sunny with a high temperature right about 84, plenty of sunshine all the way through Sunday. No sign of rain until maybe sometime next week. We'll talk to Terry Smith about that in eight minutes. Right now, the current temperature is 65 at your official severe weather station. News Radio 740KTRH. It's time for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. Sponsored by Texas Center for Cosmetic Dentistry. The Democrats have shut down the Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to return to open borders. President Trump at the National Republican Congressional Committee last night. Democrats vote for the sixth time against rejecting an offer made by Republicans to reopen DHS. So we're seeing four hour, rather three hour delays at Bush Intercontinental this morning. Some want TSA to be privatized, so we don't have to go through this ever again. That might help travelers in the short term, but some say it doesn't fix the root issue. We also have to look at what's going on with our Senate, what's going on in our congressional side, the Democratic Party that's beholding to keep Capitol Hill shut down. GOP strategist Dwayne Moore says this might be an effective move for the future, but Democrats shouldn't get an easy out. Why will we make this decision under desperation? You should never make a decision under desperation. I think it should be farther sought out, more due diligence to be done. Moore pointed out that this problem would still crop up in other areas if agencies like the country. Post Guard remain unfunded. Ethan Buchanan, News Radio 740, KTRH. Important to remember that airport security was private until 9-11. More than 450 TSA agents have quit during this shutdown. Yesterday, the Houston Police Officers Union smelling opportunity encouraged those agents to join HPD.

Now, ICE agents are trying to fill in the void. Borders are Tom Homan told KTRH is Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. They're also enforcing immigration law at the airport. Our purpose there's help DSA provide security and get people to the checkpoints. However, these ATSI officers and the air officers, they see illegal activity. They're going to absolutely take action. So, yeah, we're doing a little bit of everything right now. Tom Homan also told the Charlie Kirk show that ICE could be at polling places for the midterms. The longer we go without a vote on the Save America Act, the more likely it is. It will not pass the Senate. Don't expect House Republicans, though, to give up. Some states do it a lot better than others, but it doesn't mean it's not a problem elsewhere in the country, and that's why we continue to advance every election integrity measure that we can. House Speaker Mike Johnson, more than 30 states require ID to vote. 704 Iran rejects the 15-point plan offered by President Trump to end Operation Epic Fury. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley told Fox it's just a matter of time before they finally give up. Victory has been won by all intensive purposes by any measure, any military measure. I mean, it's a question of what terms the Iranians will agree to, and there's no better negotiator than Donald J. Trump. Meantime, oil futures are trading at over $94 a barrel this morning. As expected, the Trump administration waived rules on summer blend gas to ease the pain at the pump. Oil and gas expert Archie Trevino says the savings will get passed down to the consumer. These needless red tape regulations that were designed to hurt American consumers are being removed. Reflecting a savings of 5 to 10 cents on average per gallon. Trevino says the price of crude oil dropped from $100 a barrel to 90 this week. I'm Erica Smith. News Radio 740, KTRH. By the way, gasoline prices across Houston are still. a dollar and a half less than what we saw four years ago when Joe Biden was in the White House. As the fighting continues, many on the left are boasting that Trumpism is over. Author Brianna Lyman with the federalist says that argument has never worked. We were told Hillary Clinton had a 92% chance of winning in 2016. she lost. We were told that Donald Trump would never win re-election again in 2024. He won re-election with all swing states and the popular vote. So every time the odds were stacked against him, he somehow managed to come out on top. We have plenty of time to do so again before the midterms. It's now 706. It's finally here. Baseball season is back for your Houston Astros. The Astros opened the season today at Diken Park against the L.A. Angels. Astros radio broadcaster, Steve Sparks, says optimism is high this year for better health and for some fresh faces. Jordon Alvarez only playing 48 games. That's their best hitter. Getting him back in there, he makes everybody else better. As far as some of the new guys, Mike Burroughs, Tatuya, Emai. There's a lot to be excited about because everybody's looked good. And of course, Franchise Cornerstones Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa are back. Hunter Brown takes the mound today. The first pitch is at 3.

310 on Sports Talk 790. Corioles, News Radio 740, KTRH. Free game starts at two. Among the new features at Dyken Park include What a Burger. That's where Shake Shack used to be. Also new this year, Brisket Donuts. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's News Weather and Traffic Station. News Radio 740, KTRH. Stay informed. Stay on time. Houston's Morning News continues with Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett and the Houston Morning News Team. We're still plenty of days away from hurricane season. Not trying to plant any seeds with this one. Well, but maybe one seed. This is probably going to be the first, maybe only time I do this story. Because I think it's a ridiculous waste of time. I don't think that weather forecasters can figure out what the forecast is going to be in... 14 days, let alone whether it's going to be like during hurricane season. The first predictions for the 26 Atlantic hurricane season have been revealed, and millions are supposed to be warned because Ackyweather said that they expect between 11 and 16 name storms to form in 2026, with as many as five landing a direct hit on the U.S. coast or Gulf states. Now, you may recall last season. Not a single storm hit the United States. We had pretty much the same prediction last year. You may be able to predict with some accuracy about how many different named storms you're going to have, but figuring out where they're going to go, whether they're going to hit land, what land they're going to hit. That's an entirely different story. The one thing they are saying, there might be of more interest for us. is that they predict that this year that there's going to be two to four major hurricanes to form in the Atlantic Ocean between June and the end of November. They believe they're going to be category three or stronger. Again, I'm not sure I believe any of the accuracy when it comes to those types of thing. But one thing they did say they did make a little bit of sense is that several storms they believe will form much closer to the United States. You know, a lot of the major hurricanes, you know, form off the coast of Africa and make their way towards the United States. These are storms that might form in the Gulf, for example, or off the coast in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and rapidly intensify because of warmer than average temperatures in the ocean. We'll see if any of that comes true. But at least I'll throw it out there for your edification. I predict that the predictions will be wrong. 7.10. Time for traffic and weather together. It's fun. You know, it's like the preview for football this year. And, you know, you just know your team even though. It's like trying to figure out if the Astros are going to win the pennant before the season it was starts, right? Who was the doctor that did that? Do you remember? Was it Dr. William Gray? I don't remember. Terry, you knew Dr. William Gray, right? I did. And I'll bet you knew Dr. Neil Frank here. Oh, you bet I did. Very good. Scientists. They all know each other. We hang out together. They put on their lap coats. Eastwood. Put on your lap coat and your hard hat. We're going southbound. Port of Houston. That's right before the 610 bridge. Got a wreck here. One, two left lanes. There we go with backups. Down from the bud plant. We're losing six minutes. We have our Gulf Freeway Smutch, northbound. The usual spot. This one's a little further back. Monroe. That wreck's taken up two right lanes. We've got the north side here, northwest, and off the free Iheart radio app. Caden from Christopher Waller. He's got my 290 inbound.

right before the exit ramp, the Beltway. He got some Cyrene lights and tow truck ninjas. So well set. Hit him, Kitty. Burbage. And Lance from Magnolia, he's driving in on 249. Skymach. Dude. Lance from Magnolia. I know. There is no wreck in the construction out here. We're just slow because we've got a co-jack with a Kodak. He's handing out some driving awards. I have many of those certificates. My mother did not put that on the refrigerator. Skymike and the generator, supercenter.com traffic center. I've heard that phrased a while. A code jack with a code act. All right, from our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center. Terry is here. She's not going to predict hurricane season. She's just going to predict accurately our forecast through the weekend. We're going to keep it right in the zone. We'll keep it in the zone. Yeah, those folks that do the extended forecasts have a little bit more of a background and that kind of thing than I do. I'm more focused on your immediate concerns here the next couple of days. And the nice thing is it's really simple, not much change. We are dealing with some fogging spots. But we're going to see a sunny day today and we'll have another warm afternoon. In fact, today and tomorrow, both in the mid to upper 80s. We've got a coal front that will help to drop the temperature a little bit, lower the humidity over the weekend. Saturday in the mid to upper 70s and then Sunday, low to mid 80s. Monday is starting to warm back up. Hello, mid to upper 80s Monday. Right now, 65 at your official severe weather station, news radio 740, KTRH. I live in Pasadena. Sharptown, Southwest. Next on the 10, time-saving traffic on 740 KTRH. Right, today is opening day here in Houston, all across Major League Baseball. Steve Sparks will join us in just a moment, give us a little 2026 season preview. Get you ready for baseball. Get you started up here in just a moment. First, though, traffic and weather together. Marco, give me the bed. All right. Yeah, we've got Astros traffic coming up today, and I believe that's 3 o'clock hour time. So we'll be watching that. Right now, what we're looking at is I-10 on the outbound, eastbound, slow-moving roll over the bridge now, an extra 11 minutes out from the Beltway. 610 southbound, your ship channel bridge. Look out, that's a wreck, and we're backed up from the bud plant. I'm Skymike. It's your ability tree expert. Traffic Center. Didn't know you knew how to play the organ from our KTRH top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center. Once we burn off some patchy morning fog where you end up with sunshine for today. Plenty of it. Good day for opening day baseball. 84 for the high. Sunday, 87 tomorrow. Sunny, cooler 75 on Saturday. Sunny, about 80 for the high on Sunday. Right now, 65 at your official. Severe weather station. News Radio 740, KTRH. Let's check out some of our top stories on this Thursday morning. Here's Cliff. Short and sweet so we can get to Steve. There are now three-hour wait times at Bush. Nicholas Maduro's in court today. And I didn't even know this was happening. The murder she wrote reboot with Jamie Lee Curtis has a release date. Oh, my. December of 2027. Get the latest news anytime at KTRH.com. Our next updates at 7.30.

It's one policy. We're going to take our capital back. We're taking it back. After another. You burn a flag, you get one year in jail. On News Radio 740, KTRH. About 10 million years ago when I was the PA announcer for the Detroit Tigers, that's how we'd bring the team on the field. A little stone start me up. 723 here on Houston's morning news. Astros opening day is today. They'll host the Los Angeles Angels. Steve Sparks joins us. Astros radio broadcaster. I'm looking at all these preseason publications that everybody likes to predict who's going to the World Series before the season ever starts. Do you pay any attention to that stuff? I do a little bit, you know, just to see what people are kind of thinking. But things go differently so much during the course of the season, mostly because it's such a long year and it's so dependent on health. So I think the teams that are really deep who can handle a lot of injuries and the Astros dealt with more than anybody last year and they still came within a half a game of making the playoffs. you've got to be healthy to win and you've got to be hot to win. But I think for the Astros fans, and I think the way we think about it, just get to the dance. Just get in there and anything can happen. Yeah, absolutely. I think a lot of people predicting the Mariners to win the division again this year. I saw some publications picking Astros finished as low as fourth. I don't see them as a fourth place team in the AOS. Do you? I don't either. You know, with the acquisition, they got two new starting pitchers. One of them, Mike Burroughs, the other Tetsuya Emi, a Japanese-born pitcher that looked fantastic during spring training. We were really impressed with his velocity and how unique his secondary pitches were. He has a slider that goes the opposite way of most guys, and I think that's really going to catch everybody by surprise. So, you know, I think a lot of people just didn't get a chance to really see them up close like we did. And, you know, I think with a healthy Yordon Alvarez, who's by far the Astro's best hitter, he only played in 48 games last year because of injuries. And to get him out there for hopefully 120, 135 games somewhere in there, I think that's going to net them probably four or five more runs just in itself. Is the experiment with Jose Altovae in the outfield over with? I think so. He didn't play one inning in the outfield this year. And I think, you know, putting him on the infield where he's a little bit more comfortable, I think will help his offensive numbers. He's not going to have to think so much. about where he's got to be in, you know, cutoffs and relays and all that. It just comes much more naturally for him to be back on the infield dirt. And I think that's where he belongs. You know, at one point, he was a phenomenal, you know, gold glove, second baseman. So to get him back out there, getting comfortable, I think the Astros getting Yordon in left field where Jose was playing some last year more regularly is going to help everybody.

Looks like Jake Myers is locked down center field. What do you think is going to happen in Wrightfield as this season progresses? I think we're poised to see Cam Smith make a big leap forward. He was a rookie last year, and he went certainly through his ups and down. So I think the roller coaster becomes less violent this year. And we've seen some new hitting coaches. We've seen some adjustments made. And I would say he was up there in their top two or three hitters all spring long. And he looks like he's ready to take that next leap. He's only 23 years old. I think he's going to be somewhere in the middle of the lineup before the second or third month of the season comes up. I think he's really going to start to climb as one of the Astros' big offensive forces. All right, Steve Sparks, last question for you. That is we have a wealth of riches in the infield. We're very, very deep in the infield. The outfield is a little bit thinner. Do you see some potential trades working their way during the course of the season to maybe address a deeper outfield and get rid of an infielder? You know, certainly after a couple months of we get into the season, we can assess where the Astros are. But I think having ESOC Paredes move around, play some third base, play some second base, get Altuve, who's 36 years old off his feet. Kristen Walker is 35 years old now. First base, he can get off his feet. So Paredes moving around, being flexible and versatile, I think is going to help everybody play to a higher level this year. I think... The Astros, because of so many injuries last year, had some players who just had to play too much and were gasped by the end. All right. Well, listen, best of luck to you this season. I know the travel can get to be a grind. It's a long year for you guys, isn't it? It is, you know, but this is what I've been doing since 1987. This is all I've known, but I'd love it, you know, and getting a chance to go to a baseball game every night as a living has been just a dream. It ain't a bad way to make a living for sure. Steve Sparks, have a great year. Good to hear from you. Steve Sparks, Astros Broadcaster, 727. Let's take a look. At your month. Good morning. Tensions continue in the Middle East, and that's holding back stocks this morning after yesterday's solid gains. Spiking energy prices have raised the risk of inflation and may weigh on economic growth. Traders focused yesterday on the diplomatic push by Washington to end the conflict, even as Iran rejected the ceasefire proposal. The Dow rose 305 points to finish out the session. I'm Courtney Donahoe, Bloomberg Business on News Radio 740, KTRH.

Houston's news weather traffic plus breaking news 24-7. This is News 740 KTRH. Drive everywhere with the IRRF. More of what's happening now from the John Moore Services Studios. 730. Here on Houston's morning news, I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among our top stories this hour, Trump warns Iran that hell is coming. You have to prove your legal immigration status now to get a Texas business license. And coming up at 738, where you're most likely to get your car stolen in Houston. Details in the minutes ahead. First, let's check out that morning drive again. Here's Sky Mike. Bridges are giving us some trouble now. 610 southbound, the Ship Channel Bridge, the Sherman Bridge. That's two left lanes. It's a wreck. We are scooched from the bud plant down 20 minutes here. Toll Bridge, I'm seeing the reroutes. Now we're packed up right after Wood Forest and then going up from San Augustine before you even hit 225. You're stuck in that scoochery. Golf freeways all break. from Edgebrook up to Griggs. I'm Skymike. It's the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. From our KTRH, Generator Supercenter, 24-hour weather center. Once that patchy fog is gone, it'll become sunny with a high temperature today right about 84. We'll check out the rest of the forecast through the weekend and look at rain chances when we talk to Terry Smith at the Weather Channel in about nine minutes. Right now, 65 in your official severe weather station. News Radio 740KTRH. It's time for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. Good morning at 731. President Trump, done is not bluff, and he is prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Iran, though, apparently rejecting a 15-point plan, which led to an American response. Sencom releasing more video that they tell us is of strikes against military and regime targets in Tehran and beyond, just as President Trump says the pressure is beginning to tell. Jonathan Hunt reporting there, the Iranian official who commanded the closure of the Strait of Hormuz reportedly is killed. in an Israeli airstrike. Here at home, an Islamic school in Dallas approved for Texas' school choice program is called out for its connections to Iran. Conservatives like Michael Quinn Dan Sullivan with Texas scorecard wonder why it was approved in the first place. Whether it was Mr. Hancock or someone on his team who just said, I'll find, we'll just approve what comes across. We don't know. One kind of hopes that this is a bureaucratic error that can be fixed. The school in question hasn't commented. Neither has the interim controller Kelly Hancock, who reportedly as asked Attorney General Ken Paxton to shut down the Houston Quran Academy over that school's alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The state moves to ban illegal aliens from getting professional licenses and certifications. The rule change made by the Department of Licensing and Regulations. This rule is designed to ensure that the department complies with federal law. The board's attorney, Derek Berkhalter, on the national front, while President Trump has stopped illegal immigration, visas, they're another story.

Visa approvals dropped 11% compared to last year, but the reason admissions have gone down is not change in the law, rather a change in the way the law is being enforced. Mark Krikorian of the Center for Integration Studies says we're getting numbers to where they should be, but truly fixing it means changing the law. The executive branch can only do so much. Congress's job is to write the law, and now we haven't seen a lot of that lately. They can't even fund TSA. He says we need enduring reforms that cannot be reversed later. Andre Parrard News Radio 740, KTRH. The DHS shutdown continues after the Dems for the sixth time vote against reopening the department. They want as many illegal aliens in your community as in mind as they possibly can because whenever we look out and we see illegal aliens, they see voters. Texas Congressman Brandon Gill on Newsmax, seeing wait times at Bush of three hours this morning, the head of TSA is warning that the agency is being forced to consolidate potential consequence of that, the closure of regional airports. Senate Republicans can't get DHS back open, and they won't get the Save America Act to President Trump's desk either. Who would believe that you can't get voter ID because all of the Democrats, every single one of them, they stick together. They have lousy policy. They're not good people, but they stick together. Unlike what we've seen with Republicans on this piece of legislation so far. So we've got a rhino problem in D.C. and maybe in Austin, where state rep Andy Hopper wrote a bill to end free education for illegals last year, but it never wound up going anywhere. Hopper, a Republican from Decatur, says he was told by fellow Republican Jared Patterson, the bill did not advance because it had an author problem. Let's be really clear. That is nothing but a smoke screen for not passing conservative policy and not saying out loud what we know to be true. That Texas has a rhino problem. We totally have a rhino problem in Texas where leadership makes concessions to Democrats in exchange for support. And hopefully Hopper's bill will get support next session. Jeff Andy Biggs News Radio 740. Keith hearing. According to reports, the president is considering holding the GOP's midterm convention in Texas, but not here in Houston. It'll be in Dallas. So this is clearly a Republican state. The energy, the enthusiasm, the motivation is on the Republican side, and the Democratic Party is on life support right now in Texas. Jared Woodfield with conservative Republicans of Texas, the convention would take place right around Labor Day. Dallas also is the site of this year's CPAC convention, which is now officially underway.

While it's still a relative who's who in the conservative world, for the first time in about a decade, there's no plan for President Trump to attend. A number of administration officials will be there, though, including Border Tsar Tom Homan, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, CMS director, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and others. A number of influencers and podcasters are on the guest list, too, including journalist Nick Shirley and Javier de Rousseau. Jessica Rosenthal reporting there. 736, the Rockets blow a 13-point lead and lose to Minnesota in overtime, 110-10-10-10. The NCAA Suite 16 tips off tonight. UT plays Purdue at 530 on 950K-P-RC, and then at Toyota Center, it's UH taking on Illinois that game at 9 on Sports Talk 790. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's News Weather and Traffic Station, KTRH. Big State, big savings. Shop the Texas sale at Spex. The fun starts here. Stay in touch on your drive-in with Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett and the Houston Morning News team. 737 our time here on Houston's morning news. All right, car thievery here in Houston. Pretty consistent. We get a fair amount of cars stolen. The question is, and I found the results of this is rather surprising. I saw a report on ABC 13 about how many cars get stolen annually here in Houston and where your car is most likely to be stolen from. Here is that report again from ABC 13. I go out and my truck is gone and it's tough. Robbie Alsberg says he assumed his GMC truck could be safe when he parked it in the garage of his Midtown apartment complex. But when he found the parking spot empty back in February, Houston police confirmed his fears. It was likely stolen. It is my livelihood, and you can't get anywhere unless you've got a vehicle. The Houston police report, Oldsbrook, filed, noted the vehicle did have high value items inside, ammunition and gun parts. HPD telling us their investigators worked leads, like going to the last place on Star got a ping from the truck. But as of now, Alsberg truck is on the list of car thefts that will not be considered cleared. The FBI considers a case cleared if someone has been arrested or if charges cannot be filed against a suspected offender. From FBI data, we learned in February of this year, 7.2% of motor vehicle thefts were cleared by HPD, which is slightly higher than in January, but down from December of 2025. What Houston police data does show us is that 11,000 cars were reported stolen last year and that you're more likely to have a car stolen in certain parts of Houston. On this map, the darker blue, the more cars are stolen in one zip code. Topping the list, Sharps Town, the Heights, and both Hobby and George Bush airports, police couldn't immediately tell us how many cars they were covered. Here's the question. How are they stealing cars at the airport? Out of the park construction? When I drive my car to the airport, you go on a trip for something, you know, I park in one of the paid lots. You know, you have to have a ticket to get in or out of it. You have to, you know, you have the spikes, all that. How are these? I don't think very many are getting stolen out of those. They must be getting stolen out of the parking structures. I had no idea that both airports were.

You know, really high areas for having your car stolen. And that's not very good, is it? 7.2% of these cases get cleared. That's not very many. 11,000 per year. And only 7.2% of the, they either figure out, they either find the vehicle or arrest the person who stole the vehicle, or they think they know who the person is, but they don't have enough evidence to charge them. 740, time for traffic and weather together. As we check out the road. Do you ever have your car stolen this time on? No, but I've had a lot of vandalism. Broken windows and all that kind of stuff. People stealing stuff. Let's go to the hard work in east side. Put your hard hats on, guys. 610 South Clear, the Ship Channel Bridge. The wreck is gone. The scutory is down from the truck stops. It's getting better, but it's still a 12-minute wait on the west loop. We're going down to uptown. Makes perfect sense. Backups now from 290 up to uptown. Slow right there from Meyerland. And boy, looking over my shoulder, 90. That's that blast of light at 610. I don't know why they can't time that right. On the northwest side, we're still 290 up from Huffmeister. It's getting better. We had the wreck in Jersey Village. That's gone. It gets better after Eldridge. And boy, 249. That road work used to be. I never had to talk about you. Now you have all that suckage. And you've got right by the golf ball, Terry. I don't know what y'all are doing up there. Must be eating filet mignon, but I've got eastbound delays at 2920. Lumber Jack Bob's checking out Highway 73 from Port Arthur. A little foggy. out there. Oh, nice. My one and only marriage, 14 years strong now. Wow. It's a beautiful three diamond drink from my wife. Great wedding. That had a ton of support from both sides of the aisle. Lumberjack Bob has only been married one time. Hey, lumberjack, Bob. Yeah. You do it right. You do it right, and it sticks. I'm in the ability tree experts traffic center. Probably is nobody does it right the first time. Well, few people do. Get a big wedding. At least if you do it, don't do it right the first time. Learn your lesson for the second time, right? From our KTRH Generator Supercenter, 24-hour Weather Center. Terry Smith is here. I think she's done it one time. Only one time. How many years have been married? Wow. 30 years this November. Wow. All right. That's crazy. I think it might work out. I'm going to study you. Thank you. Well, one thing I did learn is I had to wait a little while, so I was making better choices as a more mature person. Ah, okay. You waited for all your brain cells to come in. That's a good decision, yes. I was waiting for them to get on board, so I think that helped. Oh, and by the way, in the golf ball, we're making bacon and eggs. So come on over after the show. Rock on, let's go. Looks good up there too outside. All right. So a nice stretch of weather. Very warm, still, no big surprise here today and tomorrow, mid to upper 80s. We do cool it off a little bit Saturday, mid to upper 70s Saturday. Sunday's low to mid 80s, Monday's still dry. It gets warmer. Looking ahead to middle part of next week and the possibility of some rain starting to show up. Okay, no promises, but maybe. All right now, 66 of your official Severe Weather Station, News Radio 740, KTRH.

I live in Sugarland. Be prepared for wild Houston weather. Next on the 10 on 740 KTRH. All right, 751 is their time here in Houston's morning news. I'm always interested in innovations when it comes to education. And there's something out there called the Alpha School where they're using AI as a part of the teaching process. And they're having great success with learning in kids. but they're also doing other things that are different than you'll find in the average school. So I'll share a little info about that with you coming up next. First, let's do traffic and weather together, starting with you, Sky Mike. We got trouble on noon 90, Crosby Freeway, inbound, right after C.E. King, that's a big scoge here. I bet that's a wreck. We'll have to zoom that at the top of the hour. I know it's real. Nord Freeway, connect those dots from Little York, all the way downtown. 18-minute drag this way. Gulf Freeway, nothing but breaks from the loop into downtown. And we're still 290ed up from Huffmeister into Eldridge Parkway. I'm Skymike from the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. From our KTRH. Generator Supercenter, 24-hour weather center for today. Plenty of sunshine once the fog lifts in few places that it is this morning. High of 84, sunny 87 tomorrow, sunny cooler 75 on Saturday, sunny about 80 for the high on Sunday. Temperature right now currently is 66 at your official severe weather station. News Radio 740, KTRH. Liv is ready to fill you in on some of our top Thursday morning stories. Another top Iranian commander is taken out by an Israeli airstrike. Three hour wait times right now at Bush, and in case you missed it, Meta and YouTube, guilty of making social media addictive. At the latest news anytime, at KTRH.com, our next update is at 8. Our 59 inbound at the loop is always a problem. KTRH, time-saving traffic. Next on the 10. All right, I'm always looking for unique ideas in education. I saw this interview on Fox Business with the co-founder and the creator and the CEO of something called Alpha Schools. I don't think we have any here in Texas, at least not yet, but I like the business model. I like the way they're going about trying to educate kids. There's a little bit of that story. Hang on a second. All right, class. is in session. Our traditional education system was built out of the industrial revolution to create workers. And now in this new AI world, it is so important that we create individuals who are dynamic, adaptable, and most importantly have the skill of learning how to learn. So at Alpha, we're using artificial intelligence to raise human intelligence. Our students are able to get the level and pace of academic knowledge that they need meets them exactly where they're at. As a result, we see students. growth.

exponentially go up no matter where a student comes to us and we're doing all of this in only two hours during the school day instead of a traditional six hour academic school day and then of course that begs the question what do you do with the rest of the day and our answer is that we teach life skills leadership entrepreneurship financial literacy public speaking relationship building those are the skills they're going to help kids be successful we also are teaching them how to use tools like AI that they're going to need to be rapidly successful at learning. There is so much fear around artificial intelligence and there are a lot of good warranted concerns. So for example, we don't use chat bots in our system. Chat bots in education are cheap bots. Our students instead are getting a precise lesson plan that's based off of the same curriculum that students in a normal school would be getting. So this isn't ChatGBT just making up questions for students. So that is something that we've been able to really secure and make sure it's right. Screen time is another one. I myself was a screen time free family, but there is a huge difference between doom scrolling TikTok all day or playing video games and getting a one-to-one personalized learning experience that meets kids exactly where they're at. So I believe this type of screen time is actually incredibly valuable. And at our schools, our kids are actually spending less time on screens than the average student in a traditional school is nowadays. The difference is that this screen time is smart screen time. That's freaking amazing. I'll tell you what, if they ever show up here, if I were a parent and they ever showed up here and I had a chance, I think I'd be checking them out thoroughly. That makes a lot of sense to me. They only spend a couple of hours on actually the normal things because it doesn't require that much time, at least the way they go about doing things. You know, the reading, writing, arithmetic, English, and that kind of stuff. Life skills, they throw a whole bunch of life skills in there. How big of a lift is that going to give some kids? All right. Hey, busy sports day. I'll tell you what. Astro's opening day, 2 o'clock, is the coverage starting over on Sports Talk 790, 5.30 tonight. UT against Purdue on AM-950, KPRC, our sister station, and then 9 p.m. U.H. against Illinois on Sports Talk 790. So a lot of things to check out today here in Houston. Listen, you all have a great day. We'll see tomorrow morning, bright and early 5. Hope to see you this afternoon of 4 on AM-950, KPRC.