Lina Hidalgo Won't Give Up Her 'Free Childcare' Tax Increase Plan

Big color, bigger savings. Sherwin Williams' super sale is here. Get 40% off paints and stains, August 7th through the 13th, with prices starting at 3089. Whether you're refreshing your interior or exterior, we've got the colors to bring your vision to life. And with delivery, getting everything to your door is easier than ever. Shop online to have it delivered or visit your neighborhood Sherwin Williams Store. Click the banner to learn more. Retail sales only, some exclusions apply. See Store for Details, delivery available on qualifying orders. 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. 5 a.m. as we get started this morning here on Houston. Houston's morning news. Pardon me. Let me get my throat cleared out here. Among our top stories this hour, Lena won't give up on her free child care with a tax increase plan. Why did Talariko vote illegally in five elections over three years? And coming up at 508, based on this metric. You're not overpaying for groceries. Details in the minutes ahead. First, let's check out that morning drive for the first time. Here's Sky Mike. I'd like to thank my sponsors, my pick crew, and the Sky Mike team for believing in us. As 45, here we are in Victory Lane this morning, southbound. If you're coming down from the airport, North Freeway via the Beltway, it's 21 minutes here. If you're coming from the Woodlands, it's 22 into downtown. Gulf Freeway northbound. I don't have my wreck yet at the South Loop 610. And there's a on the Southwest Freeway on the board. I don't believe it. Shepard. I'm looking all around. Don't see a darn thing. Don't see anything digitally. And I'm going to call it 19 minutes now inbound from the fountains. I'm Sky Mike. It's the ability tree experts traffic center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders 24-hour weather center for today, mostly sunny chance of an afternoon shower storm at about 50%. With high temperature right about 95. We'll get the complete forecast from Jeff Marr at the Weather Channel coming up in the next nine minutes or so. Right now, it is 79 in your official severe weather station, News Radio 740, KTRH. It's time now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. It is 502, our top story. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo once again wants to raise your property taxes to fund a pet project. It's something that fellow Democrat commissioners already shot down. This is despite the fact that commissioners are still working to fund basic necessities. We are focused, at least I am, on statutory responsibility. What the state legislature has mandated, we do. Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey says now isn't the time for what amounts to a $64 million tax increase. In order for us to fund our spending, we're going to have to implement the highest tax rate in the history of Harris County. He pointed to this as another example of Harris County's spending problem, which He says has to be addressed. Ethan Buchanan, News Radio 740, KTRH. Ramsey joins us at 752. Commissioner's Court starts at 9. Elsewhere, a Fort Bend County District Judge ruled that Daniel Long will remain interim county judge while legal challenges play out.

after another record closed yesterday. Here's some more good economic news. The mainstream media is ignoring. A new industry survey shows manufacturing reached its highest level in more than four years in July. Lance Freakill, manufacturing executive says the only potential slowdown is the Middle East. That's the one piece that's really missing is really the metal supply chain. But the more we can get mills here, that'll help as well. He adds that many businesses are placing orders early to try and stay ahead of higher cost and potential supply problems. Multiple agencies continue battling a large fire near the Galveston waterfront. The early reports say it's a warehouse that may be on fire near the yacht basin. No word yet on injuries or what may have started the fire. The Astros lose to the Blue Jays in 10 innings 5 to 4. They're off today and visit San Diego tomorrow. The Strow's lead, Texas Rangers, by one and a half games now in the American League West. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's news weather and traffic station. News Radio 740, KTRH. What has happened? Just yesterday. What's happening today? Happening right now. What happens? The things are happening. Stop right here. On News Radio 740, KTRH. I tried eating money. It's not very good. Even with ranch dressing, I can't make it sound, I can't make it palatable. I still want my meat. What I look at yesterday, T-bone steaks, four-pack of T-bone steaks, $69. I guess if you look at it this way, I mean, they were big, thick steaks. Didn't buy them. But they were thick, big stakes. $69. If you were to get a big honkin T-bone steak at a good steakhouse, one, what would one cost you? 40, 50 bucks? So four for $69 doesn't seem quite so bad when you put it in that perspective. You know, we all have the God-given right to complain about high prices. But I love the headline in the New York Post. It made me think a little bit about this. Here's the headline. Look at the data, doom and gloomers. Food costs are not what you think. If you base it on historic, history, historic averages. Anxiety over prices are driving people to embrace socialist ideas, not us, but others, like Mayor Zohran Mamdani, $70 million city on supermarket chain. And it's the reason why many right-wing economic populists are pestering President Trump to stop fighting Iran so he can focus on lowering food prices. Sorry, but they're all wrong, says this story. We're not living through an unprecedented food crisis. In 1901, the average American family spent 42% of its disposable budget on food. 42%, that's according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. In 1945, it was 23%. In 1965, it was 15%. In 1985, it was 12%. Today, according to the agriculture department, it's 9.7%. Think about that. You're spending less than 10% of your income on food, where your parents were spending 23% and your grandparents were spending over 40%.

So from a historical perspective, based on your income, it's not unaffordable. It may seem expensive, and it is expensive, especially compared to what it has been. But it is, in historical reference, as a percentage of your income, it's still relatively low. 510, time for traffic and weather together. Life's short. Life, yes, it is, Skymite. Just do it. You're right about just. Just enjoy a little bit. Go buy the T-bones. Go buy the T-bones. I'm giving everyone permission. And also, you know, we have the executive power here to write excuses to bosses, Jimmy. So if anything in our traffic makes you late, just give me your boss's email. I'll let them know. Let's put on your hard hats. Go to the hard work in east side. It's 225 inbound at Scarborough and something smushed up there. I don't have time to switch these shots. But inbound, I'm going to. guarantee you that's pavement repair, backed up from Red Bluff and digitally, it looks like eight extra minutes on the inbound here. So if I-10's an option, do that, is it, should you stay or should you go? I might take the belt, the Gulf Freeway. It won't save you any time, but you won't pull your hair out. Out in Rice Country, something doing out there? I can't see this one. You know where Jenkins Road is? I think we're near Stuckies on the Beaumont side, Eastbound, Beaumont-bound, Eastbound. There's a wreck reported. I believe it too, and I'm hearing more than one report here. If you're heading over toward Winnie, let me know. Hey, if you see something that I can't, and this is a good case of it, 713212 TIPS. Don't be shy. 713212 TIPS, or you can talk to us on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Sky Mike. It's the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, Top Tax Defenders, 24-hour Weather Center, Jeff Mars, at the Weather Channel this morning. He's got your forecast for you. What do you plan for us today? Well, more of the same, really, unfortunately, as far as that heating humidity, which will really peak in the middle part of the afternoon as we hit a high in the mid-90s with a triple-digit heat index. We may have a little bit of fog initially. We'll see some sunshine to the start of the afternoon before a few thunderstorms pop up later. We'll see some sunshine to the start up later. As far as the weekend, we'll see some early sunshine Saturday and Sunday. If you're afternoon with highs to getting in the mid-90s and a heat index each day hitting the triple digit mark. Temperature right now is 80 at your official severe weather station. News Radio 740, KTRH. I live in Clear Lake. Humble. Reliable. KTRH. Traffic and weather. Next on the 10. 520s are time here in Houston's morning news. I've got a little bit of a strange story to share with you, but I thought you might be interested in it. You remember Kurt Cobain, right, Nirvana. Evidently, his widow, Courtney Love, has been bugging the Seattle Police Department with her attorney to get her hands on any existing evidence from his suicide. Maybe we should put the suicide in air quotes on this one. The gun, she wants the gun back. She wants any photographs of the scene. She wants those all back. Is she worried about privacy after all this time? Or is there another reason? Should they reopen the investigation?

Was it really a suicide? More than that story coming up in a moment. I wonder if we do something about the Clintons. Could be. Just throwing that out there. All right, Sky Mike. Head, the hard work on east side here. It's 225. I'm looking at camera 706. This is the best I can see. And this is road work. We're calling it roadwork. It's two left lanes on the inbound. But why do we have all these flashy lights than if it's roadwork? I got backups from Red Bluff. You might be able to see that closer than me. But this is my moving shot here. Out in Rice Country, got a wreck. reported on the outbound eastbound side over toward Beaumont. I call it outbound. If you're coming in from the Golden Triangle, it's the other way. But this is eastbound toward Beaumont past Duckies right before you hit Winnie. And that's looking pretty rough there. That's showing about a 20-minute drag on the eastbound side. And we'll check Ship Channel Bridges at the 530 break in the Ability Tree Experts. Traffic Center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center, mostly sunny, chance of an afternoon shower storm, 95 today, increasing clouds, chance of a shower or storm tomorrow, 93, and then we're in the mid-90s over the weekend with afternoon storm chances. Right now, it is 80. That your official, severe weather station, news radio 740, KTRH. Let's get you caught up on some of our top Thursday morning stories. Here's clip. Even though a Hormuz deal is set to be close, Iran is threatening its neighbors that they'll retaliate if the U.S. conducts new strikes. The escape Liberty County inmate after three weeks on the run is captured in Seattle. And Texas game wardens are looking into the killing of a nearly 12-foot-long gator in Liberty County last month. Get the latest news anytime at KTRH.com. Our next update is at 5.30. Wake up to the beautiful site of a more informed day. See Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett and the team live on Facebook. 523 is our time here in Houston's morning news. I don't know if this is just some sort of a conspiracy theory or what the story is. But as I said, behind the scenes, Courtney Love, the widow, if you will, of Kurt Cobain from Nirvana fame, is trying to get her hands on all the evidence in that case. He talked to retired Seattle Police Captain Neil Lowe. He was on the squad when all this came down. Here he is talking about what's going on with all this. One more time on the button. No. Okay. One more time on the button. In 50 years of police work, I've never seen anything like this. Most people want it to go away. They don't want to think about it. They don't want to see it. They don't want to have reminders of it. So for her to say, I want the gun back. I want all the paperwork. I want the pictures. And for an attorney... To push that narrative forward to actually ask for it, boggles my mind because attorneys are officers of the court. If anybody should know how the system works, they should. Coluccio was the one that she had due to work. And I think, you know, I'm going to guess that he probably wrote a letter like a lot of us have attorneys write letters just to make people go away or see what you can get away with.

But he didn't put a lot of thought into it because police departments are built on record keeping. We have to document everything. We don't give back evidence and pretend, oh, it never happened. How would we explain what we do? Again, like that and, you know, destroying crime scene photos, is it the idea it's Kirk Cobain, a celebrity, people would leak things, it's sensitive. Maybe that was what it was. Maybe it's a privacy concern. Well, I had that concern. So if you saw my notes, I reviewed the case in 2005 for the chief. And I had at that time been told that the shotgun was missing it. It disappeared from evidence. And so that's why I wanted to look at it to verify that the gun was actually returned. And then later I had the same source tell me how long was the shotgun gun. Gone. Did you check that out? It's like, oh, gosh, no, I didn't. But it got me to think about that. So at that point, I told the chief, shotgun's there. We look good. It looks like a suicide at this point still. There are two roles of film. I don't know where they get for. And we had concerns like the family said that they might get developed. So I followed that thought process and told the chief to move them to a secure... area in records bureau later we had concerned about records bureau personnel maybe walking away with that maybe finding the national inquire for tons of money so we said now it's time to move the film out to the new evidence room and that's where it went it went out to new evidence room and was not developed until uh some officers who took the original photos said hey you know it's been 20 years now this is 2014 Let's get the film developed. And I have not been able to look at all the pictures. My department won't release them. And I have, I, as a detective, would have questions about the photos. I want to see more things in the photos that I think should be there. But I can't. I can't look at it. They won't release it. Interesting. Which is those kinds of things. That's what. feeds conspiracy theories is the idea that, okay, we've got these pictures that were developed after 20 years. They might show something that will tell us something more about the case. You can't see them. What do you mean I can't see them? I'm a detective. No, you can't see them. That's interesting. Okay. Who knows? 527. It is time to take a look at your money. Salad Ingo has filed for bankruptcy and is closing its remaining locations, saying the cyclospora outbreak doomed its turnaround efforts. The salad brand closed dozens of Texas and Oklahoma locations last year. Stores in Arizona and Nevada were breaking even, but rent from the closed locations and additional overhead continued to stress cash flow. 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 I-H. More of what's happening now from the John Moore Services Studios. 5.30, that's our time now here on Houston's morning news. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett, among our top stories this hour, for the Senate vote today to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt. Kamala Harris, she has her own socialist plan. And coming up at 538. A Florida Steakhouse offering nude dining. Details in the minutes ahead. First, let's check out that morning drive. Even I think that's gross. All right, North Freeway, Southbound at Little York, right before you can get to Parker. This is one, two, call it two left lanes of wreck here. We do have the tech stop wall of death there. And that's about a seven to eight minute back order slip on the southbound. 225. That's a big squish, too, inbound. It is roadwork. It's two left lanes here. And look at that back up from Red Bluff. Let's start the reroutes. I'm Sky Mike. It's your ability. Tree Experts Traffic Center. From our KTRH, generator super center, 24-hour weather center, mostly sunny today, chance of an afternoon shower storm. With high temperature right about 95, we'll get the complete forecast from Jeff Marr at the Weather Channel. We'll talk to him at nine minutes. Right now, currently, 80, that your official, Severe Weather Station, News Radio 740, KTRH. It's time now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. Good morning. It's 531 in our top story this hour. There's nothing more important than they Save America Act. I think they should stay. They do what they want, but I think they should stay. That was President Trump earlier this week. The Senate leaves for August recess. At the end of the week, some Republicans are backing Trump on his extension ploy. Trump's right. We need to stay, get the Save America Act passed before we go on recess. Florida's Rick Scott. New polling shows 62% of likely voters support the Save America Act, including 84% of Republicans. 46% by the way overall strongly supported. The Senate also has to pass reconciliation and vote on Todd Blanche's confirmation as Attorney General. And then there's the matter of a vote on contempt charges for Dr. Anthony Fauci today. Remember, he took the fifth 111 times last week. The resolution authored by the panel's Republican chairman, Rand Paul, accuses Anthony Fauci of obstructing a congressional investigation. Anthony Fauci was the recipient of a pardon by former President Biden. Republican lawmakers argue that compels him to testify. Republicans accuse Anthony Fauci of covering up the origins of the pandemic. Anthony Fauci denies that. If the committee approves a contempt resolution, Paul could refer Anthony Fauci to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. Jared Halpern reporting Republicans.

hoping to flip a Senate seat in Michigan after a far left, Abdul El-Sayed won that Democratic primary. Earlier this week, Republican Mike Rogers telling KTRHs, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton L. Side can deny he's a socialist all he wants, but the label fits. This is the guy that doesn't believe we should have prisons. We ought to open up prisons and let out criminals and sexual offenders. He wants to defund the police. He wants to defund ICE. I mean, this guy is very radical. Way too radical for Michigan. Rogers narrowly lost the 24 Michigan Senate race to Democrat Elissa Slotkin. Well, there they go again. Google and Apple amplifying negative news stories about Republicans, ignoring Democrat scandals. That's according to Michael Morris at the Media Research Center. He says the bias is overwhelming. During the time we looked at shared stories from left-leaning outlets, 72% of the time. Only 1% of the stories that Apple News shared during that same period came from right-leaning outlets. Google News was very similar. Only 3% from right-leaning news outlets. They found that Google and Apple shared negative headlines about Republicans Ken Paxton and Tony Gonzalez, but not about Abdul El-Sayed and Graham Platner. And even though she lost in 2024, Kamala Harris is sounding a lot. like a 2028 candidate revealing a radical left platform. One of the first things on the list, trying to get rid of the Electoral College. So all she's done is made it more explicit, that she supports it now as opposed to being open to all these things. That is talk show host and former candidate Larry Elder who tells KTRH, this is what Harris and the Dems want to do. She really hasn't changed a whole lot. She clearly is reading the tea leaves. She sees where her party's going, and she's trying to get in front of the parade. That's all. Trust me, when an empty shoes on the other foot, that's exactly what Democrats will do. Along with packing the Supreme Court, Jeff Andy Biggs News Radio 740, KTRA. And even closer to home, state officials are working on getting the Texas election administration management system online and ready to go right now. Many counties still aren't using it. This is a combination of counties that are online with the system, do the work in the system, or offline counties that do the work in batches and then uploaded to the system. Texas State Senator Paul Betancourt says those offline counties are creating discrepancies between state and county roles. 535 now. We were all set for the biggest attack since World War II, and they called me and they said, please don't do it. Let's talk. President Trump in Las Vegas, who says his threat of that strike on Iran got them back to the negotiating table and still says a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is imminent. Oil at $75 and $75 a barrel. Dow futures are up almost 170 points this morning. More Texas kids are back in class today with the new Caney ISD returning.

Friendswood is delaying to start at Westwood Elementary because of elevated mold levels. A new start date has not yet been determined. The American Association of University Professors, along with four professors suing Texas A&M over their policies restricting woke indoctrination. They're crazy enough to believe that they have a constitutional right to indoctrinate our kids. And they're very aggressive with it. And I think that we as the right, we're going to have to be as aggressive in making sure that we stand up and protect our kids. That's former Aggie and RNC committee man, Dr. Robin Armstrong, who says he doesn't think there's much merit to the case, but that the left will likely judge shop. push the case as far as they can. Astros losing to the Blue Jays 5 to 4 in extras. They play the Padres in San Diego tomorrow in their lead in the ALS, and the AL West is down to a game and a half over the Rangers. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's News weather and traffic station, KTRH. Now catch Houston's Morning News, streaming live on Facebook. So there's this steakhouse in Florida that is getting attention. It's called Class Soray Steakhouse in Hollywood, Florida. They're having an evening where diners are allowed to partake in a yummy meal without wearing any clothes, which in my world makes it less yummy. The chef and owner Marad Ali came up with the concept as a way to attract new businesses and generate some buzz. Oh, he's generating buzz. And I guess that's the idea. He's trying to put fannies in the seat, even if the fannies don't have any clothes on. By the way, it's perfectly legal. As long as the staff keeps their clothes on, it's perfectly legal. Tickets are $250 for men and $150 for women. Interesting. It seems a little sexist until you figure out that who's going to show up, especially if they're male, who's going to show up unless there's naked girls? So they'd have to make sure they give you a deal so you can get the ladies to participate. Here's Greg Gutfeld and his panel talking about it. Class A steakhouse in Hollywood, Florida is launching a nude dining experience on the first Monday of every month where diners are invited to swing by and dress and enjoy some delicious meat. The staff and chef will be fully clothed. But here's the thing. It costs $250 for men, but only $150 for women. Tyrus, is this sexist? No, it's smart. But I don't think it's a good idea. No? No, you don't, when you're having a meal of food, I don't think you want to see the nakedness, you know? But I get it because if you don't, but you can't charge women at all.

Yeah. You got to make it free. Right. Because that's the only way you're going to get them there. Otherwise, you're going to have a bunch of angry, you're going to have the world's most angry, aggressive sausage fest ever. You know, Loftus, you often eat naked, but it's not by choice. You just can't afford clothes. Yeah, that's correct. And it's liberating. Is it? And yes, and you get so much free food. Yes. Yeah, you just walk into Burger King wearing nothing but that paper crown. Woo, you say, here's the whopper. I have dined at the bell. Oh, natural. This naked dining, I think this might just be a PR stunt by the classy soire steakhouse located conveniently off the Dixie Highway. It worked. Here's what I want to know. Like, what do you do with your car keys, your phone, and your wallet? Yeah. Right? Do I... Ask John Lemon. And the temperature of the restaurant has to be important. You know, it's your first date and the room is cold. Fellas. You're going to really mad about the 250 you spent. And she's like, I came for a full meal, not an appetizer. You know, you don't want that. And then if it's too hot, you don't want big Jim and the twins stuck to the seat. The jokes just kind of right themselves. 540. Time for traffic and weather together. You're going to think I've been abducted here, but this is the real me talking. I haven't been replaced with an imposter. Marco stopped the music for just a moment. There are some things you should not do naked. Okay, that's it. Okay. I don't disagree. I don't think there's nothing else. Corporal Vision, right? Thank you. 225 inbound. We've got a big debate raging in the traffic world this morning. Is that really construction, as was listed here at Pasadena. I'm looking for Pasadena Boulevard. This is Scarborough Lane inbound. It's two left lanes. Either way, the squish is the same thing. See, I see a tanker truck there. I can swear that might be a wreck here. It's hard to tell. It's dark backed up. up now from Red Bluff. Either way, the suckage is real. That's 12 extra minutes on the inbound. You've got North Freeway clear, Little York, southbound. That was fast. We've still got some breaks now from Gulf Bank. Stay the course on the North Freeway. Out in Rice Country, I attend, out past Stuckies. That's going to be Jenkins Road over as you're approaching Winnie. Got a wreck here. They're still working on that. I don't see the lineage, but I know the backup is real. This is eastbound. And yeah, what should you not be naked? What should you not do, Nicky? You can hit us on the IHurt Radio F. I'm in the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH generator super center, 24-hour weather center. We're looking at some sunshine to start the day today. Jeff Marr, how much sunshine will be here by the end of the day?

Not as much by the end of today because as we heat up this afternoon, we'll have a few showers and thunderstorms popping up. Once again, we'll battle the heat and humidity through the afternoon. 95, the eventual hype of that heat index around 103 and the added in the humidity. And then we'll clear out the sky tonight, down to 79. Tomorrow early sun, then increasing clouds. Another round of afternoon storms of possibility as we hit the mid-90s with a triple-digit heat index and not a whole lot of change into our weekends. Some sunshine to start off Saturday and Sunday. And then a few afternoon thunderstorms each day as high temperatures hit the mid-90s once again. some triple-digit heat indices of possibility. Current temperature, by the way, 80 at your official, Severe Weather Station, News Radio 740 KTRH. I live in the woodlands. Your best ways around Houston next on the 10. On 740 KTRH. You know, the mainstream media tries to paint a pretty gloomy picture of what's going on with the our economy, and most of the indicators I'm seeing look pretty doggone good, including manufacturing. Back manufacturing is at a four-year high. Now, I'd be the first to tell you that AI has a lot to do with that, but... I'm sure there are other segments that are doing just fine. Look, we're going to find out. We're going to visit with Lance Thrillkill, CEO of All Metals Fabricating, coming up next. But first, we've got traffic and weathered together, and that starts with you, Sky Mike. All right, we're looking at I10 East. I've got some sort of wreck out near Winnie. This is on the eastbound lines past Jenkins Road. It's right past Stuckees. John from Viter. Good morning, Skymike. I am trying to look for that scotch you're talking about going east towards Beaumont. Oh, that is so well said. Do not play fetch. naked with your thoughts. I'm in the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH generator super center 24 hour weather center mostly sunny skies. Chance of an afternoon shower storm today 95. Another chance tomorrow afternoon with increasing clouds 96 weekend looks pretty good with part of the cloudy skies on Saturday and then scattered thunderstorms possible on Sunday. Cart temperature is 80 at your official severe weather station. News Radio 740, KTRH. Goodf is here. He's got an update on our top Thursday morning stories. A convicted arsonish is linked to five rooftop fires in the Upper Kirby area. 47 states are now reporting cases of cyclospora. And the Eagles are extending their residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. They're adding four more shows in January. Sorry, they're not the Eagles without Glenn Fry. If the latest news anytime at KTRH.com, our next update is at 6. U.S. News. You shut down the government. That means no money for FEMA. And global views. Beautiful Armada, floating beautifully toward a red. On News Radio 740, KTRH. All right, manufacturing. The numbers look pretty good. The Institute for Supply Management's July manufacturing gauge jumped to 55.6%. That is the fastest pace since May of 2022, seventh consecutive month of growth. According to the survey, any score above 50 represents growth.

while below 50 indicates contraction. So we have not had any contraction in manufacturing for quite some time. Lance Thurkeel joins us, CEO at all metals fabricating. What's your business looking like these days, Lance? Hey, thanks for having me. Yeah, business is good. We're trending a little bit behind stats of last month. We were trending just above the previous year, 2025. And last year we had us a little bit slow over a month, which is not... Uncommon, July, August, or often slow times just in manufacturing, just depending on what industry you're serving. So, yeah, we're still optimistic having a good year. Should be close to what we did last year. Hopefully, have a big push here from some data center companies in the last two quarters and actually beat last year. Okay, now you mentioned data companies. We're told that this manufacturing activity in July that was... pretty high. It had a lot to do with AI infrastructure. Are you finding that you're doing a lot of fabricating for that world? Yes, sir. Yeah. I mean, the biggest kind of drivers in manufacturing success right now. a lot is data centers and when you talk about data centers it's it's really power delivery so delivering power which you know we had governor Greg Abbott pause any future permitting on on data centers in texas yesterday because of the demands on power but so all that all these data centers require one you know they have brackets and shelves and racks and different things that require manufacturing but also switch gear. And so low and medium voltage switch gear, high voltage switch gear, all of that stuff is, one, required to data centers. And then also, you know, our grid does not have enough power to really supply this. So you're also a lot of money going into updating the grid, not just in Texas, but nationwide. You must have some mixed emotions about the governor's decision to put a pause on all this, though. This type of good for your business, is it? You nailed it. You know, it's what's good for the greater people, but mixed emotions was exactly right. I think it's the right move. You know, what he's really just putting pause on. I mean, we can't build these data centers. We can't build any of it fast enough. I mean, the amount of permits that are already approved was... I think five times with the peak of the grid right now. And so it's substantial. And so it's the right move. And you've got a lot of people out there applying for permits that aren't real. And so all in all, I think I did have mixed emotions. But yes, sir, I think it is the right move for now. What does the future look like for your business here? Where are areas that you think there's growth for manufacturing here in the greater Houston area? Yeah, so what we're seeing nationwide, but Texas is a huge manufacturing hub, of course. We're seeing a lot of money, both private and public, being pumped into defense.

And so you're seeing for the first time in history, really, that I'm aware of venture capital, like companies raising venture capital, you know, size deals to style deals, size deals. You know, there's a recent company that just raised, I think, $250 million. So a lot of that is going into the defense, defense industry and a lot of money getting pumped into deep tech, which is essentially really deep technology that is. revolves around the safety and security and future stability of our country. And so a lot of money get pumped to that. So if you're in data centers, if you're in defense, you're doing pretty good right now. Okay. Interesting stuff. Thanks, Lance. Appreciate your time this morning. CEO of all metals fabricating that's Lance Thrillkill. It's 556. 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 on Houston's morning news. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among her top stories this F.R., why did James Talarico vote illegally five times? Lena just won't give up under free child care plan. And coming up at 608, the strangest baby names of 2025. Details in the minutes ahead. First, we're checking out that drive again. Here's Skymike. All right, let's hit the North Freeway. We cleared that little York thing just a while back, inbound. It's not much of a smunch either. We're actually moving fairly well, and we don't have our record Shepard yet on the inbound. And clear, 225. That was inbound right around Scarborough Lane, the roadwork or whatever that was. It's clear, and the squishery is just about done there. Jack from Connecticut's listening on the I-Hart Radio app. The one thing you don't do naked is cook. Especially bacon. I'm in the generator, supercenter.com traffic center. Yeah, anything fry from our KTRH. Top Tax Defenders, 24-hour weather center for today's sunshine. Chance of an afternoon shower storm. It with a high temperature right about 95. We'll get the complete forecast with Jeff Barr at the Weather Channel in about nine minutes. Right now it's 80. Dead Your Officials, Severe Weather Station, News Radio 740, KTRH. It's time now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. Sponsored by Allied Siding and Window. Our top story this hour, Texas Democrat shenanigans. We knew last week that Democrat Senate candidate, James Talarico, had been accused of using his mom's address to vote. Turns out he used that address for five elections. That's according to the Liberal Texas Tribune. He didn't even change his address until 2024, three years after he bought his own place. Meantime, the woman he beaten the primary, Jasmine Crockett, told NBC News, she's not sure that James Talarico can flip the Senate seat. Maybe this is why. I was blown away by the fact that the morning after the primary, I mean, like early, the next morning, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett was out there with a statement endorsing me in the entire ticket.

If I'm being very honest, I don't know if I could have done that. Tellerica was Charlemagne the Gaunt there. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo once again is pushing a tax increase to fund a pet project of hers that failed a year ago. Early childhood care. Democrats. Shot it down last year and you should not expect a different result at Commissioner's Court today. I clearly predict this is not anything that's going to happen. It is poorly conceived. It's poorly defined. It's poorly communicated. Asked Precinct 3 Republican Tom Ramsey. He says the tax increase would amount to $64 million he'll join us at 752. And a Fort Bend County District Judge ruling that Daniel Wong can stay as interim county judge while the legal challenges play out. A pair of Democrat commissioners have held up the budget process because they're not showing up to commissioners' court meetings. It's now 603. Here's another warning about the rise of socialists from Republicans after Abdul El-Sayed won the Michigan primary. It also, I think, tells us that that particular set of ideas is very popular in places you wouldn't expect. Vice President JD Vance on Fox last night. Former Republican Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene is on board with former Fox host Tucker Carlson, hoping to launch a third political party. Bill Pascoe is with the Tea Party Patriots, and he knows all about it. Anybody who comes along thinking it's easy to start a new party from scratch really hasn't done their homework. Because getting a third party off the ground requires a lot of work and money. It's been 30 years now, going back to the 1996 election, we haven't had a significant third party movement. It's very difficult to do. And it would also take votes away from Republicans and Democrats. Jeff Andy Biggs News Radio 740, KT or H. You can expect to see a lot of political yard signs popping up right around now. And Rusty Adams at Texas A&M says they can place restrictions HOAs can on these signs. It has to be mounted on the ground. In other words, you can't put it on your house or on your roof. They're also allowed to have a policy banning signs with profanity. Pete Buttigieg says he is more inclined than not to run for president in 2008, which comes as no surprise after recent polling. Political writer Victor Jake says Pete Buttigieg has name recognition and the Democrats' lack of a clear frontrunner helps, but he's got his own issues to overcome. The primary schedule, which I think is pretty unfavorable to Pete Buttigieg. He did very poorly in South Carolina. And I think it's extremely unlikely that a gay candidate is going to get significant support from the African American Democrat voters.

However, he says Pete does have the advantage of having run in 2020. It's now 605. President Trump says a deal to reopen the strait of Hormuz could happen soon after he threatened the Iranians with the kind of strikes we haven't seen since World War II. Iran admits they are talking with officials from Oman, and for the first time the regime is getting specific about what's in a potential agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The International Monetary Fund says the war and the U.S. blockade is crippling Iran's economy with widespread fuel shortages and inflation running at 70%. That's Chandley Painter reporting. Oil at almost $76 a barrel. Now futures are up 145 points this morning. Something else you're not going to hear on the mainstream media. America's manufacturing sector is showing its strongest growth in more than four years. A new report says factory orders, production, and hiring all increased in July as businesses work to keep up with demand and rebuild inventories. I'm confident that the biggest driver is data centers, and so that is really driving a lot of manufacturing. Manufacturing executive lands thrillkill says the ongoing conflict in the Middle East is still disrupting supply chains, slowing deliveries, and keeping the cost of raw materials high. Eric Sharp, News Radio 740, KTR. It's now 606. Texas Children's Hospital will be required to open what Attorney General Ken Paxton calls the nation's first detransition clinic. That new clinic must open. by the end of October. An update on the fire in Galveston that we've been watching overnight, it did wind up destroying a seafood restaurant, two people were hospitalized. And the Houston Astros lose to the Toronto Blue Jays in 10 innings 5 to 4. They're off today. They'll visit San Diego tomorrow. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's News Weather and Traffic Station News Radio 740 KTRH. Wipe your eye crusties out and see the events of the day more clearly. Houston's morning news now live on Facebook. We all know what a tsunami is, right? Does that seem like a good idea for a baby name? Because last year, somebody named their infant daughter, tsunami. Yes, that's her name, tsunami. It made the list of the most unusual. By the way, this is legit stuff. This is not urban legend stuff. This is legit stuff. This comes from Social Security Administration data. They came up with the most unusual names, 10 most unusual names in 2025, number one for the girl's tsunami, followed by Mabelene. Now, didn't Chuck Bari Weiss have a song way back in the day called Mabelene? So that's just a return of an old name. Infant girl, all one word, infant girl. Somebody at the hospital saw that on the card, right, while they're trying to figure out the name of the kid. I like that. We'll just call her infant girl.

Barretta, Allo, Mattel, like the toy company, Willow Dean, all one word, luxury, linen, earth, Elysium, and ethereal. Girls all got those names last year. Now here are the most unusual ones that came in for the boys. Papa. Three. Matrix. Decree. Gator. Yeah, Gator. Chaos. Demon. Oh, that kid's going to have a real good life. Demon. Utah. Billion. Ferrari. Oxford. Quarterroy. And Rayon. Hang on. They're starting to name kids after fabrics. Yeah, I was just looking at the fabric list on my shirt and it says it's made with Rayon. I'm going to name my kid Rayon. Now, at the risk of being insensitive, which I can be upon occasion, it seems that a lot of these names end up in particular ethnic groups. Some groups of people like really unusual names. You know, that they're trying to sit their child up with something that unique that nobody else has. That's usually the rationale behind it. But I've always kind of thought that these names kind of put the kid behind the ape ball to start with, right? If you're an employer and you're going to the list of people that you're thinking of hiring of a job and you see that somebody's named ethereal. You might be going, hmm, I don't know about this one. But I'm wondering what do you think. You go to the I Heart Radio Lab, KTRH. First of all, most unusual name that you've heard. Give you a name in your family. I mean, actual first name. Name in your family. A name of a friend. an acquaintance, somebody worked with, just the first name, you know, if you find it highly unusual, and your thoughts about unusual names, do you think it's just something to make you unique, or if you think that maybe kind of hinders things for people who have these unusual names? I Heart Radio F, KTRH, first name where he's calling from? Just hit the talkback button. Let's do a little traffic and weather together. My first wife worked in a hospital. Yes. Someone actually named their baby Placenta. Oh, that's so pretty. I'll just name her placenta. That's nice. You can't make this stuff up. 610 North Westbound right before the squeeze. They're calling it Fulton. I've got this stall truck. He's just sitting there. If you're playing the home game with me, it's on camera 609. Everybody's okay. In fact, you can't really go fast enough to hit anything hard there. We're backed up from the East Tech's going this way. I don't think he'll be there long. We'll need to supersize. Going through town. I-10 Westbound, the roadwork lifestyle at 45. It's more than a project. It's there to stay. This is two little skinny lanes. Concrete wall, that little suicide squeeze. I did a field trip. You don't want to go that way. Backed up now from St. Arnold. Do the South Loop, especially if you're hazardous. I've got something squished on the Gulf Freeway northbound right around Woodridge. That looks like a stall, too. I'll have to zoom that at the 2%.

break and Duke's on the IHurt Radio app. Don't cook baking naked. Thank you for that advice. I'm in the ability tree experts traffic center. From our KTRH, Top Tax Defenders, 24-hour Weather Center. Jeff Marr's here. He's got the forecast for you. At least we're starting to see some rain chances creep in. We could really use some rain, Jeff. Yeah, we certainly could, and we probably will see a few afternoon thunderstorms, not only today, but for tomorrow and also during the upcoming weekend. And temperatures will eventually turn to a little bit cooler early next week. In the meantime, hot and humid again today. We'll start off with the clear sky before a few afternoon thunderstorms develop the high, eventually hitting the mid-90s, the heat index up into the triple digits, adding humidity. And as temperatures climb, a few afternoon, through afternoon, down to 70s can't be ruled out. And then clearing tonight down to 79. Clouds will increase tomorrow afternoon with a few more storms popping up in a high of 95. And we'll see sunshine initially. on Saturday and Sunday before a few isolated afternoon, thunderstorms with highs this weekend in the mid-90s. Right now, 79 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. You've got four professors in a national faculty group that have asked a federal judge this week to block Texas A&M University System's restrictions on teaching about race, gender, and sexuality and to reinstate courses that got canceled under the new state policy. So how do we think that court case is likely to end up? I'm sure. They'll find some liberal judge to hear the case. I'm sure it'll take a while to get rid of it. But ultimately, what will happen with that? We'll talk to Dr. Robin Armstrong. He's a former Aggie, by the way, in addition to being an RC committee man. We'll talk to him about this coming up next. First, traffic and weather together, starting with you, Skymike. North Loop, that's a stall truck westbound at Fulton. Mike from Magnolia's on 290. Mike, 99 of the West Belt's wide open. Everybody has their clothes on. Oh, that's outstanding. Full speed ahead there. You know, by the way, Dr. Robin Armstrong needs to know that all Aggie weddings rock. I'm Skymike and the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center, lots of sunshine, chance of an afternoon shower storm today with a high temperature right about 95. Tomorrow increasing clouds with a storm chance in the afternoon with a hive 96. Right now, we're looking at the temperature of 79 at your official severe weather station, news radio 740KTRH. Cliff is in our newsroom. He's ready to update some of our top stories. Over a thousand firefighters are working to contain the wildfires in Washington State. President Trump denies reports that the U.S. is running low on munitions because of the war with Iran. And today is the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. At the latest news anytime at KTRH.com, our next update is at 6.30. I live in southeast Houston. Your forecast is at the bottom of the hour on 740 KTRH.

Oh, 622 our time here in Houston's morning news. All right. Woke, woke, it never is going to go away voluntarily. It quieted down there for a while, but it keeps rearing its ugly little head. And the minute, the Democrats are back in charge. It'll all go back to the way it was. You just feel bad, don't you? Because nothing has changed at the universities. The same people who wanted woke at the university level, they're still there. They're still employed. They've been quieted down by the new Texas state law, but they're fighting it. As I said, four professors in a national faculty group asking a federal judge to block Texas A&M's restrictions on teaching about race, gender, and sexuality. Dr. Robin Armstrong joins us. Former Aggie and RNC committee man. I know that Texas A&M cannot be anything close to what it was when you were there as far as its policies on these things. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, we were, gosh, when I was there a long, long time ago, over 30 years ago. But it was a, you know, it's a conservative institution. And the reason it's conservative is because of the kids that attend there. It certainly is not because of the faculty senate. It's certainly not because of the leadership at the university. I'll tell you, the board of directors did the right thing in eliminating. these transgender studies and these LGBT studies, you know, that is not what our, what we want our institutions doing in the state of Texas or in the country for that matter. And all they're doing is dividing and trying to separate us based on race so that they can win elections. It's a power play and it's always been about a power play on the left. And that's what's so frustrating. And now... Since we have pushed back some, push back a little bit, I would say, from a 50-year trend that they've been working towards. We push back a little bit, and now they're suing in federal court trying to get us to revert back. They want us to institutionalize and make legal racism and really putting down other races and trying to create. racial anxiety between people. They want to create a race war, it seems to me, Jimmy. And it's really unfortunate, but I think that they're going to judge shop and try to find someone that's going to agree with them and maybe stay our decisions that the board made. But I hope that we keep pressing and keep fighting. You're always going to have to fight against them because they're always going to push back. It's a stronghold that they've had. We're pushing back. We have to continue to stay vigilant and keep the fight going. Well, the school has also made some decisions based on the state, based on state law and then some of the changes we've made at the state level on these issues. So they're just following an edict from the state when it gets right down to it.

Absolutely. Well, they're soon in federal court. They're trying to say that we're violating their constitutional rights federally. And so they're basically trying to affect the state law as well of using Texas A&M as a vehicle to do that. I don't think that they're going to be successful. But I think my concern is that this one federal judge, and I'm not sure the federal judges make up that they've. chosen, but they typically doctor shop someone who's going to be favorable to them upon Obama appointee or Biden appointee. And they'll try to get that person to stay it nationally so that the law cannot go into effect. I'm hoping and praying that that we just, we just continue to fight these battles because you're right. They're never going to go away. All those same people are still in those institutions. They're still there. They're still woke. They still believe in what they're doing is a righteous cause. And so we have to push back. And you see it happening all over the country. You know, the Democrats are now going. communist and socialist in their belief system. And so I think that they're getting more and more radical, we're going to have to push back more and more. Yeah, I think that's the scary part is what we see happening with these Democrat socialist candidates. What do you make of this going on around the country? Michigan, the latest one, they have basically a socialist as their candidate now for a Democratic senator. If the Democrat wins in Michigan, then there's basically going to be a socialist senator from the state of Michigan. Absolutely. He's a socialist and he's also a radical Islamist as well. And this is kind of the red green alliance that we're seeing now is socialist with radical Islam. And so it's very, very scary. What's happening is I believe that the Democrat Party is basically telling us who they have always been. I believe that this is where Barack Obama has been. You saw how quickly he embraced Zohran Mamdani. It took five seconds for him to run over there to New York City and have an interview with him and be seen with him. He believed what Zohran Mamdani believes when he was president of the United States. He just had to hide it, lie about it, could not tell us about it, or he would not be elected. I believe they're saying the quiet part out loud now. They're just telling us who they are. I think you're right. Thank you, sir, as always. Have a great weekend. That's Dr. Robin Armstrong joining us at 627. Let's take a look at your money. Governor Greg Abbott's surprise call to pause all new data center connections until the full pipeline undergoes an audit could put almost a fifth of the U.S.'s data center construction at risk of a delay. According to a Bloomberg analysis, the financial implications could also be immense, potentially reaching $13 billion in lost revenue if additions until the first quarter of next year is stalled. I'm Courtney Dunahoe, 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 IRS. More of what's happening now from the John Moore Services Studios. 630. Houston's Morning News. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among our top stories this F.R. Kamala Harris, no longer afraid to say it out loud. The Senate expected to vote today and holding voucher in contempt. And coming up at 638, your thoughts on unusual names and what is art versus advertising? Details in the minutes ahead. First, we're checking out that morning drive once again. Here's Sky Mike. 10 eased outbound before Magnolia. I got flashing lights. Give me some 640 break here, and I'll get you some laneage. We still have the stall on the north loop, westbound at Fulton. Hi there. This is Marcia from Pinwood. I'm 59 south. There's an accident in the middle lane before the cross timber exit. All right. I see the backup now from Lauder southbound. It's the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, Supercenter, 24-hour weather center, mostly sunny skies. Chance of an afternoon shower or storm today with high temperature right about 95. Complete forecast coming up with Jeff Marr at the Weather Channel in eight minutes. Right now it is 79 at your official's severe weather station. News Radio 740 KTRH. Time now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. 632. Our top story, Republican Senator Rand Paul will hold a vote on whether or not to hold former NIH director Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress. Remember, last week he took the Fifth Amendment 111 times. He was covering up his funding of gain of function because Anthony Fauci had to cover up because he was not supposed to be doing that. And so all this was a cover up because of the decisions Anthony Fauci had. And he paid for some of that research at the Wuhan lab. Florida Senator Rick Scott on Fox business. Anthony Fauci's problems getting worse, though, according to Fox's phone pre-pandemic. has been turned over to Senate investigators. Senate leaves for August recess at the end of the week. Some Republicans want to stay, though, in order to pass the Save America Act. I'm one of those that is here to stay. And I have said, let's get this done. And, you know, we need to get this done. Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, new polling shows that 62% of likely voters support the bill. The Senate also has to pass reconciliation before they go on vacation, and we're watching for a potential full Senate vote on Taunt Todd Blanche's nomination as Attorney General. Now, this isn't going to surprise you. Big Tech is showing a glaring double standard when it comes to covering this year's midterms.

The Media Research Center finds Apple and Google News shared negative headlines about Republican candidates while ignoring negative news on prominent Democrats. MRC's Michael Morris says the evidence is obvious. We got headlines like these from Google News. Republicans are freaking out over Texas Senate race. Republicans face for money problems in Texas after Ken Paxton's win. Ken Paxton win sparks GOP money panic. That's all Google News headlines that are negative on Ken Paxton. At the same time, Google and Apple had zero negative headlines on Democrat candidates. Graham Platner and Abdul El-Sayed, despite both being involved in multiple controversies. Corey Olson, News Radio 740, KTRH. Kamala Harris continues to look like a potential 2028 candidate now says if Democrats regain power, they need to, quote, revisit the Electoral College. Larry Elder, national talk show host, says he's not surprised. That's right. They now want to change the rules to force all of these radical ideas down the throat of the American people. Donald Trump is right that if and when the Democrats get control of the Senate, they will get rid of the filibuster to get all these ideas done. And those ideas also include statehood for Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. In Austin, legislators are still looking at ways to make sure our elections and voter rolls are secure. And right now, the biggest issue is with the Texas Election Administration Management System. This system should be the official statewide voter role, but many counties aren't using it. There have been long-term interest in moving everyone over, but the system has to be ready to handle it, and it's not. State Senator Paul Betancourt says the outdated system hasn't been able to keep up with our major cities. Places like Harris County, the size of the 26th largest state, huge places like Dallas Fort Worth. There's just a lot of granularity. He says efforts to update the system are ongoing, but probably won't be ready during this. election cycle. Ethan Buchanan, News Radio 740, KTRH. It is now 635. No deal yet on the Strait of Hormuz, but President Trump says it's close, and he's also talking about his economic success, telling supporters in Las Vegas that prices are coming down, and the economic growth currently happening is because of American exports. The United States is on track to export unprecedented to. $1.5 trillion in goods this year alone, something everyone thought was impossible. Right now, looking at Dow futures this morning, they are up 132 points, oil approaching $76 a barrel. There's good news for the Texas energy sector. It continues to boom. There are now four straight months of growth in the energy sector. Experts say a lot of it has to do with tensions in the Middle East and a push to build up the strategic petroleum reserve. So that it will provide a cushion should any future situation arise that would disrupt the natural flow of oil and gas around the world. Todd Staples with the Texas Oil and Gas Association says that to keep this momentum going, lawmakers need to address the state's aging power grid. The Permian base and he says needs increased transmission to power.

their operations. KTRH is Carrie Locky. More Texas school kids return to class. New Caney ISD checks in today. Friendswood ISD is delayed the start of school at Westwood Elementary later this month because of elevated mold levels. Four professors at Texas A&M along with the American Association of University Professors. are suing over the school's new rules targeting woke indoctrination. There should be no merit to this. It should be thrown out, but it'll get a hearing. And in some venues, it could be successful. For instance, in California, it certainly would be. Former Aggie Dr. Robin Armstrong says they truly believe they have a constitutional right to indoctrinate your kids. The Astros lose to the Toronto Blue Jays 5 to 4 in extra innings. They take on the Padres in San Diego tomorrow. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's News Weather and Traffic Station News Radio 740, KTRH. The human experience happens here. I have tears of my eyes. I can just screen this life that we live on News Radio 740, KTRH. Guaranteed human. Let's do Chuck. Oh, wait. No, Chuck doesn't work. Let's do art. No, art, never mind. Let's not do any of it. Unusual names. We got into that topic this morning because they have released, Social Security Administration has released, a list of the most unusual names from last year that baby girls and baby boys were named, including tsunami, Mabelene, infant girl, and then on the guy's side, howdy. Papa, Demon, and Gator. Those poor kids. Having a common name to me just makes life a whole lot easier. I understand that sometimes people like to pass along family names. Sometimes you develop a nickname. Usually nicknames come from people who have, you know, kind of names that they don't particularly care for. For example, my ex-father-in-law's first name was Hollis. He went by Bud. Because he didn't want anybody calling him Hollis. Hollis Oscar. Where's first and middle names? So I'm just kind of wondering, you know, most unusual, unique name, or it could be friend, could be family, could be somebody you work with, you know, first name only, unusual first names. Go to the I-H-R-R-H-R-H-R-H-N-N-E-H-R-H-R-H-N-N-W-H-H-N-H-N. The unusual name I've come across was La Sh-I-T-A.

Yeah, that's kind of, I can think of the nicknames that might come along with a name like that. A 640 time for traffic and weather. Can I throw in Skip from Webster real quick? Sure. Okay, Skip, go. Skip from Webster. I remember back in the early 90s, people were naming their kids Lexus and Porsche. Oh, that's good. Naming your kids after a car. I mean, what are you going to be? Next, you'd be naming your kids Subaru. I know. Porsche, come to the stage, please. We've got a boy named Ferrari. Oh, good this year. Help me out here. All right, tip line, 713-212 T-IPS. I'm going to I-10 East. Automatum, Bobana, Banana, Fana, Favottom. Eastbound just before Magnolia, there's a whole bunch of flashing lights on the left-hand side. Looks like they took one lane. Aha, that's right. Three-car wrecked there. Now it's two left lanes. This is East. That's a big scoge coming over from Sheldon Road. Marsha from Kingwood, you got swallowed up by Led Zeppelin at the 30 break. East Tech's freeway. accident in the middle lane before the cross timber access. I've got backups now from the graveyards at Lauder. We still have that stall truck 610 North where loopy westbound at Fulton and a super-sized ninja just pulled up. I'm Sky Mike. It's your ability tree experts traffic center. From our KTRH generator super center, 24-hour weather center. Let's check image up Mars. Somebody has planned for today. We are starting to see some storm chances working and that's a good thing. Yeah, we can do some rainfall. It's been a pretty dry start to the month of August overall, and we'll introduce a few afternoon thunderstorms, not only today, but from tomorrow into the weekend as well. So after a dry start for us this morning and some initial sunshine, we'll see a few of those afternoon storms popping up as the high reaches the mid-90s. The heat index up as the high reaches the heat indexed as the high reaches. The heat index is around 105, and not much of a change for our weekend. We'll see some early sunshine each day than a few isolated. afternoon thunderstorms with highs in the mid-90s. Temperature right now, 79 at your official severe weather station. News Radio 740, KTRH. I usually take I-10 West, but lately that's been a nightmare. KTRH, time-saving traffic. Next on the 10. All right, Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, Senator Ted Cruz, residing over a Muslim Brotherhood session. His opening statement probably says it all. I'm sure a little bit of that opening statement. You know, the governor designated the Muslim Brotherhood of Terrorist Group. I think the federal government wants to do the very same thing. And the way the Muslim Brotherhood works is really rather nefarious. They're not trying to do a violent overthrow. I mean, they're working with terrorist groups. There's no doubt about that. But they're kind of working from within just trying to change people's minds. about what their true mission is. More on that story coming up next. First, we've got traffic and weather together. Oh, timeline, too, kind of. But first we've got Skymike. I-10 east outbound, the truck stops. We've got laneage now. That's the left lane. Clifford, we're backed up from Deldale, going that way, 20 extra minutes that way. Clear the East Tech's freeway, the wreck at Laura Koppi on the southbound, Marsha, Marsha, with a banana sticker, and we're backed up from the graveyards. Skymike and the Ability Tree Experts, Traffic Center.

From our KTRH, generator super center, 24-hour weather center, mostly sunny chance of an afternoon shower storm today, 95. Increasing clouds, 20% storm chance tomorrow, 96. Temperature right now? 79 at your official severe weather station, news radio 740 KTRH. It's a Thursday morning. Cliff is hearing as an update on some of our top stories. Construction work is underway on three border barrier projects in the Big Bend area. According to authorities, two suspects are arrested in Peru, connected to the death of an American Airlines flight attendant based in Dallas, and California lawmakers are looking to end child marriage in their state. Did you know? California is one of three states with no minimum age for marriage. Zero, huh? Wow. Wow, yeah. Get the latest news anytime at KTRH.com. Our next update is at 7. Learned how to listen. From you. I don't miss a show. Talk about it here. I cannot help but listen to you all the time. Use Radio 740, KTRH. Let's do a little Senator Ted Kruson this morning. The senator yesterday pointing out right from the gatego that this Muslim Brotherhood Senate hearing, Senate Judiciary hearing pointing out that there doesn't seem to be any Democrats here. Hmm, we should maybe take note of that. This hearing is focused on hidden in plain sight confronting the Muslim Brotherhood network in America. You may notice that there are empty chairs on the Democrat side of the dais. The American people should ask themselves why not a single member of the minority decided that a hearing on terrorism was worth their time. It is an embarrassment and a disservice to the thousands of American victims of the Muslim Brotherhood. including most recently the dozens of Americans who died on October 7th at the hand of Gaza's Muslim Brotherhood branch, Hamas. Yet as America prepares to confront Muslim jihadist terrorist overseas, a different challenge was already emerging, one that did not seek to conquer America through military force. but through a long-term influence campaign from within. In 1991, the Muslim Brotherhood drafted what became known as the explanatory memorandum, discovered by FBI investigators in 2004 in Annandale, Virginia, just across the river from where we sit today. The memorandum described what it called a, quote, jihadist process in North America. And it explained that process in unmistakable terms. It declared that the brotherhood's work in America was, quote, a grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers.

But the memorandum did not stop at simply describing an objective. It also explained how to get there. It called on the Brotherhood to, quote, master the art of coalition building, and to, quote, absorb, contain, and cooperate with the existing Islamic organizations in order to advance its mission in North America. And that, of course, is what they're doing. And we're seeing it now in the realm of politics. I mean, is it wrong to ask whether or not this Michigan Senate, Democrat candidate, whether or not he has a connection to the Muslim Brotherhood? I'd be surprised if he didn't. It's 655. Time for the timeline. Let's give away some tickets. Let me see here. Hang on. I'm grabbing the tickets. There's the tickets. We have a pair of tickets for Toto and Christopher Cross in the Romantics. It's coming up tomorrow. Make sure you can go. It's at the Woodlands Ballet tomorrow. Tickets are on sale right now at Ticketmaster.com, but you can win a pair from us. Just tell us what year today's timeline's from. At a point in every person's life. It was August. One has to look deeply into the mirror of one's soul. New Jersey Governor McCreary leaves office after a sex scandal. And so my truth. is that I am a gay American. On TV, you can improve the flavor of your wine if you drop a live eel into the bottle. Former TV chef Julia Child dies at the age of 92. This is Julia Child. Bon Appetian. To Princess Miyak. At the movies. This is so cool. Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews star in Princess Diaries 2. I'm ready for a romantic fairy tale love.

On the radio, Nickelback is top 10 with Someday. What year was it? If you know, 713-212-58-74, that is 713-2-KTRH. Good luck. All right, we have ourselves a winner. That'd be Karen and Kingwood. She knew the right year was 2004. Well done, Karen. You get yourself a pair of tickets to see Toto, Christopher Cross, and the Romantics tomorrow at the Woodlands Pavilion. Enjoy the show 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, that's our time here on Houston's morning news. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among her top stories this hour, Lena, still trying to get her free child care program pass. James Talarico voted in five elections using his mom and dad's address. And coming up at 708, when is art, not art, when it's advertising, details in the minutes ahead. Or when Hunter paints it. First, let's check out the morning drive to Skymike. Off the tip line, I've got West Park Tollway. Hi, Cindy from Dayton. This is West Park Tollway inbound around Fondren. There are two dudes walking on the Tollway. Traffic is freezing in the area back up. Not crazy, crazy, but just crazy. Okay, so it's not like ex-girlfriend crazy that runs over you with the car. It's like North Loop crazy. 610 North is crazy. That's a stalled truck at Fulton Westbound. And I-10 East is insane in the membrane. You've got a wreck here at Magnolia that's outbound eastbound. And we're backed up from Deldale. That's crazy. Sky Mike and the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center, mostly sunny skies, chance of an afternoon shower storm today with a high temperature of 95. Complete forecast coming up in eight minutes with the weather channel. And Jeff Marr, right now it is 79 at your official severe weather station. News Radio 740, KTRH. It's time for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. Sponsored by U.S. Coins and Jewelry. It's coming up on 703. I'm yes. Commissioner Abrams is no. Commissioner Ramsey has no. Commissioner Garcia's no. Commissioner Ellisis, no. Judge, I, so it's 1151. I'd like to call a 10-minute break. And we'd all like to take a break. Harris County, Judge Lina Hidalgo, melting down last year after Democrats killed her child care plan to raise your property taxes. But she's trying to revive it today. This is despite the fact that commissioners are still working to fund basic necessities. We are focused, at least I am, on statutory responsibility. What the state legislature has mandated, we do. Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey says now isn't the time for what amounts to a $64 million tax increase. In order for us to fund our spending, we're going to have to implement the highest tax rate in the history of Harris County. He pointed to this as another example of Harris County's spending problem, which

He says has to be addressed. Ethan Buchanan, News Radio 740, KTRH. Ramsey joins us at 752. Elsewhere, Fort Bend County District Judge rules that Daniel Wong can remain the interim county judge as legal challenges play out. 704, President Trump on the campaign trail in Nevada, taking aim at the Michigan Democrat Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed. Sae. This guy hates Jews. Somebody said, oh, that's a little strong. No, he hates Jews and he hates Israel. Predicting a win for Republican Mike Rogers, the socialists may have the rhetoric, but one Republican says they have no ideas. We have actual solutions to deliver. Look at the Trump accounts, saying that every person in this country, every kid born in the country, has a stake in the future of the economic success of equity markets. Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy. Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene are planning to launch a third political party. Pell Pascoe at the Tea Party Patriots Group says it might hurt Republicans if it ever takes off. I'm not sure that Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene have thought this out. I'm not sure they've looked at the history, the fundraising framework. And I think if and when they do get around to that kind of analysis, they're going to find that they may have bitten off more than they can choose. He warns it could take votes away from Republicans. More issues for James Talarico. Multiple reports say he used his parents' home address to vote in no less than five elections of potential violation. of state law. Some Democrats already looking past November, Pete Buttigieg says he is more inclined than not to run for president in 28. Political writer Victor Jake says the likely candidates all have flaws, but Pete Buttigieg also isn't also ran. Running in 2020 prepared him to run and run a much stronger campaign in 28. It's now 705. President Trump says a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could happen soon. And Vice President JD Vance told Fox, cost of living issues will get settled down once the fighting stops. Those oil prices are going to come down and stay down. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, and the United States will be in a stronger position. But we're kind of in the middle of the game, and I think people are trying to prejudge exactly how this is going to go. Oil is up, though, to $76 a barrel. Now futures are up 66 points this morning. There's more good economic news that the mainstream media is ignoring. A new industry survey shows manufacturing reached its highest level in more than four years last month. That's the one piece that's really missing is really the metal supply chain. But the more we can get mills here, that'll help as well. Manufacturing executive Lance Thrailkill. An update on the fire in Galveston overnight, it did destroy a seafood restaurant to people or hospitalized. A federal judge in Texas striking down key parts of a nearly century old federal gun.

law, a ruling that could make it easier for you to buy silencers and other heavily regulated firearms. A Texas federal judge ruled that regulations under the National Firearms Act can no longer be enforced after Congress eliminated the law's tax on suppressors and certain firearms. The decision could end federal registration requirements for silencers, short-barreled rifles, and shotguns, while standard federal background checks would still apply. Gun rights groups hailed the ruling as a major at Second Amendment victory, while gun safety advocates warned it removes an important layer of public safety protections. The case could ultimately head to the U.S. Supreme Court. That's Ted Linder reporting the Astros loose to the Blue Jays 5 to 4 and are in San Diego tomorrow. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's news weather and traffic station, KTRH. This is Houston's morning news with Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. All right, here's a little bit of a riddle for you this morning. When is a sign, not a sign? When it's art? When is art, not art, when it's a sign?

That's kind of the game that's played between a barbecue restaurant here in Houston and the city of Houston. The city of Houston says what you've got there is an advertising sign. And the owner says, oh, this is a mural. This is art. Yeah, but your business name is very prominent on this thing. Yeah, but look, there's the Astros logo. It's all about Houston. And we're just a part of Houston. Here's the report from our television partner, KPRC, too. The city simply says this artwork behind me here is an ad, trying to draw customers into the restaurant. However, the owner tells me that it's celebrating the city itself with those each individual letters showing and celebrating the city. This may be a simple question or nods. Is this a sign or a mural? I think it's a mural. Okay? Explain why. Because it has art and I feel like a mural is like with art. I think ultimately because it's advertising, the name of their business is probably a sign. So they were creative about it. You know, good try, but I would have tried that too. These folks are just as split as the owner of the Mediterranean restaurant is with the city. We try to save the art. The cost sometimes is not very important if we save the art. The city of Houston says, while yes, it's a painting highlighting parts of the city, the main focus is the name of the restaurants, making it's an ad. The city spokesperson tells KPRC to the painted bureau on the building's side wall exceeds the allowable size limit for wall signs, which must not cover more than 25% of the wall surface. But there's chance for compromise. I will try. to reach a solution with City of Houston. So you're willing to spend more to change the design so you can keep it up? Yes, yes, yes. I don't want something to destroy, but I will try to take the feeling of the name, the barbecue, it's okay, we can take it. Okay, so right now it's a sign. And it doesn't meet the sign rules. See, there's a lot of rules in the city of Houston about signs. Art, not so much. Which is one of the reasons why if you can sell the idea that's a piece of art, that it's easier to get around the city. But. City's not buying it, at least not yet. 7-10, time for traffic and weather together. It's a mural. It's a mural. I love murals. The biggest thing on the murals is the name of the business. Oh, man, let's do. All right, North Sam, Westbound, Westbound, Lookout Veterans Toll Plaza on the westbound side. Got a wreck here. What's the laneage on that? Do you see it? It is going to be westbound left shoulder. Come on. It's a bad skunch, though. Why is it messed up all the way from Imperial Valley? 18 extra minutes. That way, North Freeway is thick from air checks, but not. not as bad as the North Freeway gets southbound to the loop. You lose about two minutes here, and it's heavy at the B-some-1 bridge. I-10 East outbound, clear Magnolia. The wreck is gone. Now my workwife, Christina Cruz, says there's a wreck at Cedar Lane. I don't see it. Shh, don't question it. Allison from League City wants me to say, Del, Dale, on the radio, but it's backed up from the Beltway, sorry, and 20 extra minutes on the outbound. Inbound, we're not bad, 27 minutes into downtown from the bridge. I got random people walking around on the

West Park Tollway right at Fondering, Cindy. Not crazy, crazy, but just crazy. They're coming to take them away. Ha-ha. And downtown I-69, your East Tech's elevated southbound. We are equipment to Fanon and extra 11 minutes. I-Tenny, smart from Winnie. Hey, Mike. Yes. This convuboration. Oh, make your own verbiage, yeah. We're here, and rice country is gone. Brother, it is clear both directions. Don't drive on I-10, make it. Oh, yeah, Jefferson County does not take kindly. I'm Skymike at your generator, Supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center, time to check in with Jeff Marr. He's got the forecast for you, which finally includes some decent shots of rain. Maybe not to, well, today looks a little bit better than tomorrow, but at some point we might see some rain drops before the weekend's over. Yeah, mainly during the afternoon hours as temperatures heat up, we'll have a little bit of moisture in place. We'll start off with a clear sky this morning. And then during the afternoon, a high in the mid-nights, it will feel closer to 103, though, when you factor in the humidity. And with temperatures on the rise, a few thunderstorms can't be ruled out. During the afternoon, the few thunderstorms can't be rolled out. During the developing sea breeze, and then clear overnight down to 79. More of the same tomorrow, dry early, and some sunshine initially. And clouds built up through the afternoon with a few thunderstorms at a high of 95. We'll see some early sun Saturday and Sunday before isolated afternoon thunderstorms with highs during the weekend in the mid-90. Right now, 79 at your official severe weather station, news radio 740, KTRH. 59 inbound at the loop is always a problem. KTRH, time-saving traffic. Next on the 10. Well, believe it or not, November in the midterms, not all that far away. And are we prepared here in the state of Texas? I know that state lawmakers have been reviewing voter registration, our voter registration system here in Texas. What have they found? and what safeguards are being taken ahead of the November elections. We'll talk to State Senator Paul Betancourt about this coming up next. First, traffic and weather together as we check out the drive again as Skymike. Clear. North Sam Westbound at the Veterans Toll Plaza. We got a second wreck at Ella. This is going that way. Westbound backups from Imperial Valley. I'm in the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center, lots of sunshine today until this afternoon when a chance of a shower storm will. Go up to as high as 50%, 95 for the high today, increasing clouds. 20% storm chance tomorrow, 96. Right now, it's 80, dead your official's severe weather station, News Radio 740, KTRH. It's a Thursday morning. Cliff is in our newsroom or need to update some more of our tough stories. And we're sponsored by Republic Grand Ranch. Even though a Ramos deal is said to be close, Iran is threatening its neighbors with retaliation over new American strikes if they occur. City Council rejects a property tax hike in Rosenberg and nobody won Powerball, so your jackpot for Saturday, $856 million. Get the latest news anytime at KTRH.com. Our next update is at 7.30. Toll road it or save a few bucks. Your cheaper commute coming up every 10 minutes on the tens. What kind of state is our state voter registration system in? Is it in good shape right now? Are the different counties and cities? Have they adopted the Texas election administration management, otherwise known as team, the state's voter registration database? Because the last time they met, I think it was July of last year they met on this, and found that many of the cities had not adopted it or were not using it. State Senator Paul Betancourt joins us to give us a little update here. Are we making progress on all this?

We're making progress, but not really. Okay, Jimmy, here's the fact. The team system is designed to roll up everybody's. voter registration role in the state. That's basically all the county voter registrars, all 254 in them. And we've got about 43% of the counties that have rolled up. The other 57% haven't. But the system was put out for bid in 2025. There was actually some interest in trying to force everybody onto the new system. Fortunately, we did not do that. That was a call by years truly because the system wasn't ready. And we've had hearings this summer and we're still behind the eight ball looking to have a bunch of fixes made in the system by Labor Day. Okay. So who's in charge or what company is in charge? Notice I ask who's in charge and immediately gets a laugh. Who's in charge of getting that system up today? Why is it taking so long? Well, it's the Secretary of State, and the new Secretary of State's Robert Howland, and it's his number one duty right now is to whip this thing in the shape. To make long story short, Jimmy, they put this thing out for bid between one existing vendor and another vendor who's bankrupt. Quite frankly, it wasn't the greatest level of competition we've seen in Western civilization. Now, we've had hearings in the Senate. We had one in June, and the House just had one this week. And basically, you know, to quote state representative Valerie Swanson, you know, the system has got to make some major improvements. And here's what's at risk. The counties are now the ones that start the process by doing the voter rolls and making all the changes that are necessary before the, before an election. The state is responsible for taking that information, rolling it up and having a statewide list in case we need recounts or, you know, election fights. That's going to be the system of record. So, quite frankly, the state system has got to catch up with the fact that the counties are for once ahead of them. I know this is shocking. And I'll give you an example. There's a precinct, Seabrook, 1144, it's in right around the corner from us. It's supposed to have 1,800 registered voters. The state system has been carrying either $18,000 or $247,000. And it's been a problem. I've been flagging it, other people been flagging it and hadn't been fixed yet. So we're basically what happens with lawmakers are rationing of pressure to get the system ready to go by game time. Okay. Do you think they're going to make it in time for the midterms?

That is a good question. We're already starting to see, you know, people complain about... turning in voter registration changes and they haven't shown up yet. So they have to get it done by Labor Day so they can lock the system down before about a month out of the deadline. And we'll see. It's their top priority. But Jimmy, this is one of the things where in Harris County, we've had a lot of fights. And you've had me on. And we've got an oversight bill that says if Harris County messes up. we can get things changed. And the last time I used it was when they were registering people again at private PO boxes where, of course, nobody lives. And they were forced to make a change. So we've got trust but verify underway in Harris County. And it's up to the Secretary of State's office to make sure that system is ready to go for. for the fall. Okay. Well, I'm glad there's a trusted verified part of this program here because when I've listening to all this, it sounds like this team system is dependent on accurate information from the counties to come into the system. And I was going to ask you if anybody is checking the information coming from the counties to make sure it is accurate. Yes, and again, you know, I'm the one that filed the complaint and they had to fix it. Look, and anybody associated with election can't do that in Harris County. And yes, people, these are the most check voter rolls right now in the country because, look, everybody is, it's a frothy world out there. And the public has to believe in voter role integrity. And if you'd have a voter role with integrity, people will believe the results. But if you've got one that screwed up, like the one in the Seabrook, right now you can't use the state Seabrook, you know, voter registration role. You've got to use the county. Yeah. So. You know, that's what we're dealing with, Jimmy. And, you know, this either could be a non-issue by Labor Day. And if it's not, we'll be back talking about it because people will start having complaints about moving from county to county and where's my voter role actually, you know, residing at this point. What's happened to the change I put in when I went to DPS to get my new driver's license. You're going to hear those complaints. And I hope we don't. But if we do. you know, it's got to be taken care of. All right, sir. And thank you for keeping us posted and do let us know how this whole thing works itself out. Paul Bettencourt from the Texas State Senate. He is State Senator Paul Betoncourt is Houston. You are known. Houston's news. Weather traffic. Plus breaking news 24-7. This is News 740. KTRH. Live everywhere with the IRS.

More of what's happening now from the John Moore Services Studios. It's 730 here on Houston's morning news. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among our top stories this half hour will the Senate vote to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt today. Kamala Harris seems emboldened by the socialist success. And coming up at 738, more highly unusual names. Details in the minutes ahead. First, let's check out that morning drive once again. Here's sky mic. North Sam cleared the westbound we had at Ella that we had a second one at Veterans, we still have the spackle from JFK, westbound, east freeway outbound Magnolia. We cleared that one. We cleared the one behind it at Cedar Lane, and we're backed up from past the Beltway. I'm Sky Mike. It's the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, Generator Supercenter, 24-hour weather center, mostly sunny. Chance of an afternoon shower storm today with high temperature right about 95. Complete forecast is coming up to Jeff Marr at the Weather Channel. In nine minutes, right now 79 at your official severe weather. station, News Radio 740, KTRH. It's time now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. Good morning. It is 731 on KTRH. Our top story. Right now, we're watching the Senate. We have a vote coming up shortly on contempt charges for Dr. Anthony Fauci today after he took the fifth 11 times last week. The resolution authored by the panel's Republican chairman Rand Paul accuses Anthony Fauci of obstructing a congressional investigation. Anthony Fauci was the recipient of a pardon by former President Biden. Republican lawmakers argue that compels him to testify. Republicans accuse Anthony Fauci of covering up the origins of the pandemic. Anthony Fauci denies that. If the committee approves a contempt resolution, Paul could refer Anthony Fauci to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. That is Jared Halpern reporting the... Senate leaves for recess at the end of the week. President Trump would like that postponed until the Save America Act passes. He's got some support on that. Trump's right. We need to stay, get the Save America Act passed before we go on recess. New polling shows that 62% of likely voters support. court the bill, including 84% of Republicans. Now, most established Democrats like Chuck Schumer have yet to call out the Socialists that are gaining power within the Democrat Party. Operative word is most because at least one isn't. Why is the silence so deafening among your other Democrats? Well, I mean, they're afraid of them, honestly. Pennsylvania's John Fetterman with KTRH is Sean Hannity. And there they go again, Google and Apple, amplifying negative news stories about Republicans ignoring Democrat scandals this midterm campaign season. That's according to the Media Research Center and Michael Morris, who says the bias is overwhelming. During the time we looked at shared stories from left-leaning outlets, 72% of the time. Only 1% of the stories that Apple News shared during that same period came from right-leaning outlets. Google News was very similar. Only 3% from right-leaning news outlets.

They also found that Google and Apple shared negative headlines about Ken Paxton, but not about Democrats, Abdul El-Sayed, and Graham Platner. Even though she lost in 2024, Kamala Harris is sounding a lot like a candidate in 2028 and about as woke as she can possibly be. One of the first things on the list, trying to get rid of the Electoral College. So all she's done is made it more explicit that she supports it now as opposed to being open to all these things. That is talk show host and former candidate Larry Elder who tells KTRH this is what Harris and the Dems want to do. She really hasn't changed the whole lot. She clearly is reading the tea leaves. She sees where her party's going, and she's trying to get in front of the parade. That's all. Trust me, when an empty shoes on the other foot, that's exactly what Democrats will do. Along with packing the Supreme Court, Jeff Andy Biggs News Radio 740, KT, Reach. Texas lawmakers are still working on getting the state election administration management system online and ready to act as the statewide voter roll. Right now, many counties still. aren't using it. This is a combination of counties that are online with the system, do the work in the system, or offline counties that do the work in batches and then uploaded to the system. State Senator Paul Betancourt, it's now 735 on KTRH. We were all set for the biggest attack since World War II, and they called me. And they said, please don't do it. Let's talk. President Trump in Las Vegas saying that his threat of a big strike got Tehran back to the negotiating table. He still maintains a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is imminent. Meantime, in Asia, more trouble with North Korea. South Korea's military says its northern neighbor launched a short-range ballistic missile out to sea beyond its east coast. The South's joint chiefs of staff has bolstered surveillance and is closely coordinating with the United States and Japan. Japan's defense ministry confirmed the launch but said the missile didn't get too close. That is Jonathan Savage reporting. Looking at your money right now, Dow Futures are up 121 points, and oil is at $76.26.24 a barrel. 736 more Texas school kids returned to class, New Caney, ISD specifically, but Friendswood ISD has delayed the start of school at Westwood Elementary in mid-August because of elevated mold levels and whose start date has not yet been determined. The American Association of University Professors, along with four Aggie professors, suing Texas A&M over their policies restricting woke indoctrination.

They're crazy enough to believe that they have a constitutional right to indoctrinate our kids. And they're very aggressive with it. And I think that we as the right, we're going to have to be as aggressive in making sure that we stand up and protect our kids. Aggie alum, Dr. Robin Armstrong, says he doesn't think there's much merit to this, but they're still likely to judge shop and push the case as far as they can. The Astros lost to the Blue Jays 5 to 4 in extra innings are off today. They play San Diego tomorrow. Their lead in the AOL West shrinks to a game. and a half over the Texas Rangers. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's news weather and traffic station. News Radio 740, KTRH. I usually take I-10 West, but lately that's been a nightmare. KTRH, time-saving traffic. Next on the 10. Yeah, Papa's got a brand new diaper bag in this case. 737. Yeah, somebody named their kid Papa, their boy, Papa. The Social Security Administration gave out a list of unusual names that were only given to 10 or fewer children in 2025 for the boys. Papa, Howdy, 3, Matrix, Decree, Gator, Chaos, Demon. were among the choices. So it got me thinking, okay, I mean, whether it's a family name that's been passed down just to kind of keep it alive, or it's just a really unusual name from somebody thinking, I want to give my child a gift a very creative name, not just a normal name, a name that will make them special. Whether this is a friend, a member your family, or just somebody work with or whatever. Give me your examples of some of the most unusual names you've run across in your life. You go to the ICAR Radio app, KTRH, first name where you're calling from? Hit the talkback button. This is Travis from Stagecoach. My mother's name is Melvin, M-E-L-V-I-N. But she goes by Gene. Hey, Mark out of England. Years ago, I was at a Waterburger, and I was a place of my order in the lady behind the counter. Her name was Wanukola. W-A-N-A-C-O-L-A. Wanacola. Wanacola? As in do you want one? Wanacola? Really? Cindy from Dayton, I think I come from a long line of redneck. Grandfather's name was Oscar Zemri. They called him O-Z. My grandmother's names, one was Edna, one was Eunice. I married into a family where my father-in-law's name was Otha. I guess there were so many kids they didn't know what to name them. Othah? Othor? Huh. I can honestly say I've never heard that name before. 740, time for traffic and weathered together. We're checking out to drive again. The city that brought you, I'm a hog. I'm a hog. And she was a great socialite, actually, a great philanthropist. Yes, that is a real name. Bayou Bin. Let's check it out over this area here. Memorial, you look nice. West Loop going down to Memorial. It's a lot of breaks at 290. It's an extra 4 or 5 this way. And then up to uptown on 610. Not as bad as 610 gets. West Park. I got breaks at Highway 6. Katie Freeway.

heavy from Mason Road into Barker, Cyprus, clear both wrecks on the East Freeway. Outbound Channel View, you've backed up from Sheldon losing seven minutes that way. All right, Jeff Marr, a little weather trivia. It happened May 24. The last time I hosted Rock the Dock on the Kema Boardwalk, and I'll give you a hint. This event made, well, we had an evacuation. I had to calmly tell everyone to find cover. There's no way. I'm in the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, General. He's Supercenter, 24-hour weather center. Jeff Barr is here. He's ready to fill you in on the forecast, and I don't know if he has the answer to Mike's quiz or not. What was the date in 2024? 2020, May of 2024, something weather-wise in Houston that knocked their hour. Yeah, the duration. Outstanding. Banana sticker. Yeah. You expect anything else from a professional meteorologist, of course. Wow. About that. That was a bad, bad scenario there. Duratios deal a whole lot of damage. Now, fortunately, we don't have any of that to contend with here as we make it rain to the weekend. But we will have a few afternoon thunderstorms. And as Jimmy was talking about earlier this morning, we could use the rainfall. We may see a few thunderstorms. We may see a few thunderstorms popping up later today. 95th up later on 303. Then we'll have a clear sky overnight down to 79. Not but to a change tomorrow. Clouds built up during the afternoon. A few thunderstorms with high of 95 to triple-digit heat index and isolated afternoon storms during the weekend. Otherwise sunny Saturday and Sunday with highs again in the mid. 90s. Right now, 80, at your official, Severe Weather Station, News Radio 740, KTRH. I live in Clear Lake. I live in Friendswood. Reliable. KTRH, traffic, and weather. Next on the 10. All right, 749, our time here in Houston's more news. Scheduled to appear on our program. We haven't heard from them yet, but scheduled to appear, Commissioner Tom Ramsey. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, again going in front of the commissioners to support a tax increase. for child care. She wants to provide free child care. I can only assume that she's kind of a one-trick pony. This seems to be what she wants her legacy to be. I assume, you know, she's just about out of office. We're almost rid of her. But she wants to leave something behind that we can all thank her for for years to come, like higher taxes, I guess. More of the story coming up at 7.50 right now. Time for traffic and weathered together. We're checking out the drive once again. Here's Sky Mike. East Tech's freeway solid breaks from Collingsworth through downtown the fan and exit to the Med Center. 21 extra minutes. 146, smunched up northbound at Port Road coming up from Kema. And speaking of Kema, Jimmy, maybe Commissioner Tom, will have a beer with me tonight. I'm hosting Rock the Dock, the Kema Boardwalk, where your banana stickers. I'm Skymike, the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, generator super center, 24-hour weather center, sunshine with a chance of an afternoon shower storm today, 95, increasing clouds, 20% storm chance tomorrow, 96. Saturday and Sunday, we have some storm chances in particular on Sunday, mid-90s, both days. Current temperature, 80, dead your official, severe weather station, news radio 740, KTRH. Time to check in with Cliff. He's going to update some of our top stories. We're watching for a Senate committee vote right now on contempt of Congress charges for Dr. Anthony Fauci. President Trump insists that a deal is close with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz and a pair of NASA astronauts are conducting a spacewalk this morning outside the International Space Station. At the latest news any time, at KTRH.com, our next update is at 8 o'clock.

I live in Clear Lake. Humble. Reliable. KTRH, traffic and weather. Next on the 10. Evidently, Lina Hidalgo is channeling her inner winner Whitney Houston here by proposing once again free child care at taxpayer expense and a tax increase to pay for it. Commissioner Tom Ramsey joins us to talk about it. I thought this one went away. There wasn't any support of Commissioner's Court before. Is there any more support this time? I don't anticipate there being any support, Jimmy, this year, the same as last year. You know, there's a lot of things we could take to the voters for consideration, but they should be something related to statutory responsibilities. And when we struggle funding just our basic core responsibilities, we don't need to be looking for other things to get involved with. So she will bring that to Commissioner's Court. I pretty well can anticipate that this will not pass muster. Is this about legacy for her at this point? Because she's, you know, she's a lame duck. She's almost out of office. Is she just trying to leave a legacy of some sort? I think she's left a legacy, not a very good legacy. And when you look at the things she's tried to lead on, she's led on nothing. I can't name a single thing that Judge Yodago has led on, even this issue. She brings it up almost as an afterthought. It's like she woke up one morning and thought, well, why don't we do this? And then she brings it to court, and she's astounded that no one will talk to her about it. or even discuss it. So she'll bring it to court. It does not, I don't think. We'll have three votes. And we'll be done with it. It won't be a long discussion. But here's the deal. We have a spending problem in Harris County. And we are completing our budget meetings as we speak. And it looks like the budget is going to be $3 billion this year. In order to fund that budget, this year's budget, we're going to have to implement the highest tax rate in the history of Harris County. That's what's coming down the pike in less than a month. I'll be talking about it today in court, but just as I head up, to fund the budget that's on the table today, we would have to implement the highest tax rate in the history. And that's what, that would be the voter-approved right. That would be the rate that the state legislature said we can implement. So we've got some serious issues we've got to deal with. All right. So you say a $3 billion budget. In your mind, where should the budget be? How many cuts do we need to get to where we wouldn't need to be looking at tax increases for Harris County?

Okay, I'm advocating for no new revenue. And in order to do a no new revenue budget, we would have to cut $300 million. Now, you say that's a lot of money. But when you're spending money, $550 million on things you don't. have a statutory responsibility for, we've got plenty of opportunities. There are lots of things that we could look at to remove, look at not doing. We need to find our statutory responsibilities such as the court systems, such as taking care of infrastructure, such as dealing with the jail issues. Those are all responsibilities that we have. Well, you can't do it all by yourself. You have to get other commissioners to go along with you on this. Is there anybody that you can convince to make these cuts? Well, you know, I'm not on the ballot, but two commissioners that will be helping to decide this, they will be on the ballot. And I think they're going to be aware of... That impact, you know, affordability is big these days. Everybody wants affordability. Well, affordability starts with lower taxes. every day. Affordability starts with lower taxes. So I'm optimistic that we'll get a tax rate a lot closer to no new revenue than maybe the 68 cents that looks like it's going to go to. All right, sir. We'll be keeping an eye on it with you. Thank you. Appreciate your time. That is Commissioner Tom Ramsey joining us. You all have a great day. We'll see you tomorrow morning, bright and early at 5 a.m. Hope to see you this afternoon at 1 on AM 950 KPRC.