Never-Trumpers Hope The Iran Conflict Will Break Up MAGA

Harrison is the last week. This is News Radio 740, KTRH, Houston, an 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. Good morning, 5 a.m. It is Friday. Here on Houston's morning news, I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. On our top stories this F hour, never troppers. They're hoping the Iran conflict will break up makeup. Elon Musk spending hundreds of millions on the midterms. And coming up at 508, Houston made the list of the least safe cities. Details in the minutes ahead. First, we're checking out that morning drive for the first time. Good morning, Sky Mike. Hey, dude, let's check on the Gulf Freeway. Now, just take a look downtown. I'd like to see what's happening from the U of H side. We look good so far. Go back a little further to Scott and our little further end. And as we come up from Clear Lake, that's easy, 21 minutes here. Nord Freeway, all the way back 1488. Magnolia, your entrance is good. And all the way through Conroe, we're in good shape here. Katie Freeway, FM 359, looks good. sure all the way in pretty much. I'm Skymike, the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center mostly sunny today with a high temperature right around 100. We'll get the complete forecast from the weather channel coming your way in about nine minutes. 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. 501. Good morning. Our top story this morning. It would be actually bigger and more comprehensive than what Epic Fury has because we have more targets through intelligence to take care of, and we also are at full magazine depth to deal with those targets. Retire General Jack Keane talking about a reported plan from Admiral Brad Cooper of Centcom, two weeks' worth of strikes designed to finish the job in Iran. Meantime, President Trump announced a deal, he says, will lead to the disarmament of Hamas in Gaza. A plan brokered by the president's board of peace, along with mediators like Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey. Here at home, though, some anti-Trumpers, Republicans specifically, are banking on what's happening in the Middle East to continue because it'll hurt the president. It's the group known as the Never Trumpers. They're seeing the Iran war as one factor that can end MAGA. That's political commentator Andrea Woodberg, who says they want to stop Trump and MAGA. That small block of rhinos in Congress who are not going to let the MAGA agenda move forward.

She says they would rather see losses in November than any kind of Trump win. Jeff Andy Biggs News Radio 740, KTRH. And looking at your money this morning, oil is up slightly to $83 and $0.63 a barrel with Dow futures up 263 points. The Dow rebounding from Wednesday's losses by closing up more than 600 points yesterday. The president may pull Todd Blanche's nomination as full-time Attorney General, that is, until two Republican holdouts are out of office. Texas Senator John Cornyn wants the White House to put into writing that the proposed 1.8. billion-dollar apony anti-weaponization fund is dead. It's what he testified to under oath, so it's not like this is something new and different. Keep in mind that Trump endorsed Ken Paxton and not John Cornyn before the runoff in May. With three months to go before the midterms, the GOP is getting a boost from the world's richest man. Elon Musk is planning to spend more than $100 million from his Super PAC to help Republicans in this fall's elections. GOP strategist Vlad Dividek says this is part of a massive voter mobilization effort. It seems pretty clear that the strategy here is designed to maximize GOP votes rather than trying to change minds. This is not to kind of persuade leaners or maybe undecided people. This is really to maximize GOP turnout. Elon Musk will target races in at least eight states. His America PAC spent more than 260. million dollars to support President Trump in 2024. Corey Olson, News Radio 740, KTRH. New Jersey recently found thousands of non-citizens on their voter rolls, and election integrity expert Ken Cuccinelli says their automatic voter registration created a system to dump non-citizens on those roles. And they can blame whoever they want to blame. The fact of the matter is if you use automatic voter registration, this is going to happen. And the more sanctuary policies your state has, the higher proportion of those illegals are going to end up on your voter rolls. He also says it's the tip of the iceberg. 505. The left is still claiming that immigration enforcement could cost Republicans, Hispanic votes. The truth is, not enforcing that policy might hurt more. Republican voters that I'm talking with basically don't want to vote because they're not being heard. They're reelecting politicians who continue to acquiesce to the other side and it's not what we want. We want security. Maria Espinoza with the Remembrance Project says immigration enforcement will help keep Hispanic community safe. Texas Democrat Santa Candidate James Talarico was in San Antonio on the campaign trail yesterday, sounding like he actually wants to secure the border, but at the same time bashing ICE. We need immigration and customs enforcement, but that's not what ICE is doing. ICE is terrorizing communities. Remember, he has said the border should be a big welcome Matt for illegals.

Yesterday we told you an illegal alien from El Salvador had been charged in two separate murders. Bond was denied for Jefferson Velasquez yesterday. Democrats on Harris County Commissioner's Court passed a... Partisan resolution to back D.A. Sean Tears investigation into the Lorenzo Salgado O'Raho shooting. The only vote against it was Precinct 3 Republican Tom Ramsey. 506 President Trump announces the Freedom Hallers Initiative, expanding commercial license eligibility for vets and cracking down on licenses held by non-English speaking and illegal alien drivers. We've already removed more than 24,000 non-English speakers from behind the wheel. We've also forced states to cancel more than 28,000 commercial drivers licenses unlawfully issued to a legal alien. This would address a major shortage here in Texas. It is a significant problem. It is becoming more significant every day. Texas trucking consultant Dr. Joe Michael says when companies can't find drivers, there's a ripple effect. The Astros are just a half game behind the Rangers for first place in the ALOS, and they host the Rangers tonight pregame at 6 on Sports Talk 790. the game at 7 on 790 and KTRH. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's news weather and traffic station. News Radio 740, KTRH. I take the beltway sometimes and I also take the West Park toll road. KTRH time saving traffic. Next on the 10. Do you care about safety? I mean, did you consider safety before you bought your current home? Before you... If you weren't born and raised here before you moved here, I have to say that I didn't consider safety at all. Not the least bit clearly, because I moved here like two weeks after Harvey. So safety was not one of the things I was worried about. That and I, you know, I spent some time in Detroit. That place scares me a heck of a lot more than Houston does, although we ranked worse than they did. According to this study. The study was done by smart assets. Smart assets ranks Houston as the second least safe big city in the United States among cities of at least 250,000 people. Only city ranking worse than Houston was Memphis, Tennessee. Detroit ranked number 10. Yeah, number 10. And we rank number two is least safe. So how did we manage to fare poorly on this survey? We scored relatively low on violent crimes, relatively low mean least safe, on violent crimes, property crimes, traffic deaths, and disaster risk. All right, well, we're always going to score, we're always going to get a low score on disaster risk, right? I mean, again, Harvey, hurricanes, just the weather in general.

heat, humidity, all the other things that go into our weather. It's amazing when you think about it. Do you think we'd be anywhere close to the size we are if air conditioning had never been invented? I think we'd be like a small city. If they had never invented AC, we would have never grown to the size that we are, anything close to it. We have 11.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents, 42.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents, 11.6 traffic deaths per 100,000 residents and a very high risk for a natural disaster because we're prone to tropical weather and flooding. Well, if you're going to base it on that, I guess. We're not so safe, but again, I think the only time I ever did anything based on safety, I might have bought a car when my kids were little thinking about safety as one of the top concerns. I think that's the only time I've ever considered something like safety. Five, ten, time for traffic and weathered together. Did I consider safety? I have a ghetto house. You should go to the dollar store where I live. We are just risk takers. That's what we are. The dollar store where I live, you know, I can go from there. And then if I go to the dollar store, the Walmart on Freeport Street, it feels like a country club. You know, Mike? Danger truly is your middle name. I think it is. It's easier to pronounce, that's for sure. Let's go to 99 Grand Parkway. We're going to check out things around the golf ball. And if you're somebody's Butler and Tomball, you're having an easy drive now coming over from the Woodlands, New Caney. Going the other way, looks good. over the Sanjicino River Bridge. I'll tell you one thing that concerns me right now is tires when it gets hot like this. Let's say, hey, spend the money, right? We all work for a living. You're listening here. So spend the money. Make sure you've got good tires right now. You don't want to be out there trying to change a tire 100 degrees. On the west part of Grand Parkway, we're looking good to 290 down to Katie Mills. It rocks. And 290. Those of you who had a grand march at your wedding, you're having an easy ride in from Grand Parkway to the West Loop 610. I'm Sky Mike. It's the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. All right, this is a dangerous forecast. Jeff Eno joins us from the Weather Channel. We've got lots of sunshine, and we're going to be, what, right around 100 degrees just about every day through the weekend, are we? That's the case. All the way into Monday, it looks like right at the ceiling here. 99 today, mostly sunny. The heat index around 105, and then tonight mostly clear, overnight low, around 80, uncomfortable overnight low. Should be in the mid-70s, but those few degrees definitely make the difference. Again, 99 for Saturday, mid-90s is the afternoon. average high, sunny skies, heating next around 106, and upper 90s for Sunday. You won't hear me mention any rain in this forecast. Temperature right now is 79 at your officials, severe weather station. News Radio 740, KTRH. I live in Clear Lake. Humble. Reliable. KTRH, traffic and weather. Next on the 10. Do you remember the story about Sally, the robot, the teaching assistant robot, that they were going to have in this high school? in New York and they ended up pulling, pulling her from the classroom. The story kind of indicated it was over concerns about, you know, from teachers, unions and that kind of stuff. But it may have been something else that put that over the top. It turns out that the company that makes Sally is connected to another company.

that makes sex toys. We'll have more on that story coming up in the moment. First of 5.20. I think the teacher's going to look like this year. The teacher, that's, I think that's what. It explains why the teacher the robot was so good looking, though, this guy, Matt. You know what they should do? They should do, like, if you remember, the movie Westworld, they can make those kind of FemBots. Let's take the I-45 North Freeway in. Looks good so far from the Woodlands 24 minutes. Let's go further back. Let's go all the way to Willis and nothing digital popping up on our maps here so far. 249. Forgotten Freeway, you look good. Montgomery all the way into the north. Sam, nothing doing here. East Tech's Freeway. It's Young. Albert from Kingwood. Morning, Skymike. Dude. Moving along quite smoothly. I think the speed right now, apparently, is Mach 1. Highway to the danger zone, dude. Looks good. New Caney now is 31 minutes in. Skymike and the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center, mostly sunny, hot, humid near 100. That's today, tomorrow, and Sunday. Current temperature is... Let me double check here. Last time I checked, yep, still 79 at your official's severe weather station, news radio 740 KTRH. Let's check out with Cliff. He has an update on some of our top stories. Spain is forced to deploy its military after thousands of illegal stormed the border. At least nine have been killed. A new study from smart asset, Jimmy mentioned this lists Houston as the second least safe big city in the entire country. And the Houston gamblers are no more. The United Football League is announced it's leaving the city. That didn't last long. Nope. Get the latest news anytime at KTRH.com. Hey, nostalgia only goes so far. Our next update is at 5.30. It's too hot this summer. The news. Too hot. It's only getting hotter. News Radio 740, KTRH. 522 is our time. You're in Houston's morning news. All right. Sally, the robot. Produced by a company that has an association with another company that does. Sex robots, sex toys. I don't know if they do the blow-up variety or what they do, but they're talking about it on Gutfeld. Here's the story. An AI-powered humanoid robot named Sally was supposed to start teaching students at a New York high school, but that's not happening anymore after word got out that she was built by a company with ties to another company that makes realistic sex dolls. Sally does look pretty good there, I have to say. But is she being sex shamed? And does she have a lawsuit? I truly don't understand this. I don't think it's real. No, no, no. Like maybe who cares what the, like it's a company with ties to another company. If you're bringing a sex doll into a classroom.

I totally get the outrage there. Yeah. That is a no-go. But, I mean, at a certain point, I feel like every company is going to be making sex dolls. Yeah, but you know what, Tyrus? We're very close to that. You know a guy did the research. You know a guy did the research for the doll. A teacher that hit on her did the research. Yeah. I'm laughing because, like, Emily, did you do your hair like her on purpose? It's the... No, but I'm on fire tonight. But we've seen this before. You know, it happens with human beings. You know, they work at a few strip clubs and they finally get their degree and they're teaching in kindergarten and one of the dads comes in. Right. And was like, oh my God, you were my lunch for every day for the last two years. And then the wife finds out and then she gets fired. It sucks. Like, this is why no matter what, if you have ties to the sex industry, you probably shouldn't go into education. Yeah, somebody's going to find out. But it's a company with ties to another company. If they brought a robot into the classroom, I get it. But I just, I think to be fair, though, Kat, we need to see the picture of the quote, as you said. robot next to the education robot. No, that is the, isn't that the education robot and the robot are the exact same except the education robot has on a blouse, we got a problem. So, yeah, I mean, where did they get, you know, how did they decide what the Sally robot was going to look like? You kind of have to think that way now, right? Well, maybe they just, you know, modeled it after one of their sex dolls. You know, just came up with that face and that hair and that look. She is kind of pretty. Sally, the teaching assistant robot, not the other one. 526, it is time to take a look at your money. Tesla is said to be weighing a potential separation of its China business to pave the way for a possible merger with SpaceX. According to the Wall Street Journal, some executives at the company have been told to prepare for the move. CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X that the report was fake news. Stocks are looking at another day of solid gains. Microsoft made market history yesterday, adding nearly half a trillion dollars to its value, the most by any stock in a single day. The tech giant reported the fastest growth in its cloud business in four years. The tech-heavy NASDAQ led the gain soaring 2.8%. This morning, futures are on the rise. Amazon jumping in the early trade after earnings topped Wall Street expectations. I'm Courtney Donahoe, Bloomberg Business on News Radio 740. KT. H. Houston's news, news, weather traffic, plus breaking news 24-7. This is News 740 KTRH. Live everywhere with the IRRF. More of what's happening now from the John Moore Services Studios. 5.30 is our time here on Houston's Morning News. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among our top stories this half hour, why we shouldn't be so quick to ban data centers.

Mays Middleton says he would go after Anthony Fauci. And coming up at 538, so who has the best state fair food? Won't be long till the state fair of Texas. Details in the minutes ahead. Funny you should say. Are you thinking about state fair food this morning, Skybache? You know what I want to let people know there is an event this weekend known as the National Party of Texas. And at 540, somebody's going to guess here. All right, let's go to the Gulf Freeway. Golf Freeway is going to suck starting Saturday night at... At 9 p.m., they're going to shut down two of its main lanes. Lamarck 519, southbound to Tiki, and that's an all weekend thing. They're also shutting down part of the Texas City Y, 146. That rent that goes to 45 is going to be closed permanently. As they widened 45, they're going to send you westbound to 6, and you're going to be like a laddie going this way and that way. That starts 9 o'clock. Saturday. For now, Gulf Freeway Rocks. I'm Scott Mike. It's the generator supercenter.com traffic center from our RKT. generator super center 24 hour weather center mostly sunny today high temperature right around 100 we'll get the latest on the forecast with jeffino at the weather channel in eight minutes right now 79 and your officials severe weather station news radio 740 kTRH it's time now for the news here's cliff song coming up on 532 our top story While everybody else was sitting at home or sick, Anthony Fauci was getting rich. A million dollars that guy got in cash prize money for himself during COVID. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley on Fox. Congress could vote next week on holding Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt. But remember, he was pardoned by Joe Biden before Donald Trump returned to the White House. But if Mains Middleton becomes the next Attorney General of Texas, Anthony Fauci might have legal troubles here. Middleton has hinted that he might investigate Anthony Fauci if he wins. about everything that Dr. Anthony Fauci said, we now know, was a lie. It was contradictory to what he was writing in his private diary. Jared Woodfield with Conservative Republicans of Texas says Middleton would have ways around Anthony Fauci's pardon if he pursues this. One of the ways is file a state cause of action, and the Attorney General would have the ability to sue that. The pardon doesn't protect you from a civil liability either. He says if Middleton actually gets the ball rolling on this, other state attorneys general should follow suit. Ethan Buchanan, News Radio 740, KTRH. Congress is... is working on a sanctions package aimed at weakening Russia, China, and Iran. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia gave intelligence to the Iranians about the U.S. Satellite images where American bases in the Middle East countries. They gave it. Yes, they gave it. Meantime, the president announced the deal that he says will lead to Hamas disarming. Looking at your money down, futures are up 313 points with oil at $83 and $84.

A barrel. It's 533. There are the wars in Europe in the Middle East and the war at home over data centers. Some experts say that not building them jeopardizes our economy and national security. If you're able to stop the building and growth of data centers, you're going to severely wound the American economy. And that's really bad for national security and it harms our ability to compete with countries like China. Patrick Hedger with NetChoice says data centers there have actually led to lower energy prices. But closer to us, state energy officials told lawmakers that power demand could double in six years. Local experts mean that could lead to higher electric bills. It's not just data center growth driving this. It's our population because nearly 32 million people live here. And that's one reason why the grid is getting a big test right now. So far, the grid has passed the tests with no outages. Regulators are warning, though, about the future. Pablo Vegas, who heads the Electric Reliability Council, says that 90% of new generation is coming from wind and solar, and that's not reliable in a pinch. Which I don't think is a great way to operate a grid. He's urging lawmakers to incentivize the building of new natural gas-powered plants. Last week, Texas set a record for power demand. He says that's expected to double in the coming years, thanks to all the people moving here. Joe Morano reporting. CenterPoint says it's preparing to make sure supply meets demand. David Holt with the Consumer Energy Alliance says lawmakers want to ensure it's fair for everybody. We want to make sure that customers are covered, protected, and they're paying for the power that they're using. They're not paying for the power that these data centers then are building out. It's now 535. Now to the city of Rosenberg, which is working on its next budget, and there's talk of the first property tax increase. In a decade, a suggestion already getting pushed back. I'm okay with looking at cutting some fat out of the budget. There's always wiggle room in every budget. So you look at that and then you look at other cost-saving methods. Rosenberg Mayor William Benton says on top of cutting spending, they can also dip into city savings if needed, but says he will not support raising the property tax rate. Now, if you're in Texas and you use THC products. There are new rules that go into effect today. After months of delays, new regulations in Texas will classify hemp products that contain more than trace amounts of THC other than Delta 9 as controlled substances. It's a ban on most consumable hemp products, and it includes edibles, gummies, and drinks as well as smokable products, pre-rolled joints, and topical products. The so-called total THC rules were supposed to take effect in March, but were put on hold several times while court injunctions were issued. That's Tanya J. Powers, Protein.

is showing up in everything these days from sodas to cookies to chips, cereal, ice cream. But shoppers are starting to look past the word and onto the label. And a new survey finds that more than half of Americans say they've been misled by products marketed as being high in protein as being healthier for you. When you flip over the package, right, they want to capture you on the front side, like protein, like this many grams of protein. But when you flip over the backside and you see a laundry list of words you can't pronounce, that's your red flag. Yeah, Healthy Living expert Paul Fulford says the extra protein does not erase the sugar, the fat, or heavy processing because a cookie is still a cookie. Astros host, the Rangers tonight coverage at 6 on Sports Talk 790, game time at 7 on 790 and KTRH. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's news weather and traffic station. News Radio 740, KTRH. The app that puts the app in happening. We have some breaking news. You ready? Make KTRH your number one preset on the new and improved free iHeard radio app. So if you go to the state fair, why do you go to the state fair? Why do you go to the state fair of Texas? Do you go for the rides? Probably not. There's plenty of places you can go if you want to ride carnival rides. You don't need to go to the state fair to do that. I think the big draw for just about every state fair is the food, right? The food. People go for the food. So based on the food, here according to top 10 state fairs for festival foods, Here's the top 10 list. I'm not sure who compiled this. But in reverse order, starting with number 10. Number 10, North Carolina, number 9, Alaska. Florida came in 8th. Let's see here. Massachusetts came in 7th. State Fair of Texas came in 6th. So we did make the top 10. Don't know who the bottom 10, by the way, are. Indiana came in 5th. New York came in 4th. Iowa came in 3rd. Wisconsin 2nd and Minnesota 1st. So the top five was dominated by the Midwest. So I thought, well, okay, they must have some pretty good food. So I thought I would look, because the Midwest will have their state fairs before we have ours because the weather cools off sooner. So their state fairs are coming up here probably in just a matter of a few weeks, some of them. They put out the list of the, from Minnesota anyway, of the new foods for 2026. Here's a couple of them. Seems how that's why people are going to the state fair. Pickle pie? Pie crust filled with a blend of chopped pickles, pickle juice, and cream cheese, topped with savory whipped frosting made with ranch and Chulula hot sauce, garnished with a gherkin. You'd have to really be into pickles to down that thing. This sounds good, though. a french shotat sunday salted caramel espresso ice cream piled atop a pastry donut filled with milk chocolate mousse and topped with dark chocolate fondant icing and chocolate curls finished with a caramel drizzle

And this one might be the one I would be the most tempted to try. The Surf and Turf Burger. Lobster tossed in garlic herb butter stacked on a seasoned grilled beef patty topped with pepperjack cheese, drizzled with homemade Chipolte Mayo and served on a chocolate, no not chocolate, toasted brioche bun. 540, time for traffic and weather together. Wait, when is the Texas State Fair? I have to look up the dates, but it's later than the Midwestern state fair is because of the heat. Did you figure out what's this weekend? What is this weekend? Okay, I'll give you my traffic report at the end of it. You take a guess. It's the national party of Texas. Let's go to the north side again, and we've got, let's see, North Freeway I-45. I'm looking from Grand Parkway. Looks good. I thought I saw a flashy light there. No, he's just moving along. So far, we're nice and happy. Woodlands down, 22 minutes. Go Freeway. Remember, I mentioned this a few minutes ago, southbound. They're closing the ramp at the Texas Citywide that goes from 146 to 45. permanent because when they widened 45, I don't know what they're going to do. I guess they'll make a flyover someday. For now, they're going to send you out west. You go this way, loop-de-loo, making you turn. It should be okay. Here's the deal. They're shutting down main laneage starting Saturday night. That's going to suck all weekend. Northbound Dickinson is now 31 minutes. And 288 looks good. Stephen Foston's happy this morning, Angleton, all the way up into Iowa Colony, where it's 22 minutes into downtown. Did you figure it out? Can I have one question before I give my answer? Please. Are there more... men than women. That, see, that is the common misconception, and it's my fault. That's the way you always portrayed it. Yeah, I want everyone to know. The actual Schoenberg Festival starts today, huge lineup. There are, I've been, and there are tons of wall-to-wall, beautiful women everywhere in Schuilenberg. I owe them my love, and most of them are out of my league. So I may do that Sunday. Skymic of the generator, supercenter.com traffic center. Ladies Day at the Shieldenberg Festival. It's the ladies day. From our KTRH, Generator Super Center, 24-hour weather, September. Take a bag of ice if you're going to the Schildenberg Festival. It's going to be a little hot. A little hot. That is the case. Yes, sir. Back up towards a century mark. Today, Saturday and Sunday, right up at the ceiling. 99 is where we're headed today. Mostly sunshine. And if there's some spotty patchy fog, I can't find it. So there was some wording of that from the National Weather Service. I think that is not the case. Heat index readings today around 105. There are no heat advisories, so we've got that going for us, which is nice. And then mostly clear tonight, overnight low 80s, sunshine Saturday in 99, heat index 106. We're in the upper 90s again for Sunday. And to answer that question, September 25th is when the fair starts. Thank you very much. Yes, sir. Appreciate that. I knew us a little bit later than some of the Midwestern fairs. September 25th, all right? We will be on the lookout for their 2026 food list and share it with you when it comes out. Right now, 79. and your official severe weather station, News Radio 740, KTRH. I live in Katie. I live in the woodlands. Next on the 10. Your reliable forecast on 740 KTRH. So Elon Musk is spending a lot of his own money on the midterm elections. He's also bringing back his America pack. Last time they spent $260 million on President Trump.

on his reelection in 2024. So how much do you think they're spent this year? And how are they going to get, they're targeting conservatives, but how are they going to get them to turn out, the people that are always hard to turn out for a midterm election? We'll talk to Dr. Bo Cabala. He's a policy professor at Tullington State. We'll talk to him coming up in just a minute. But first at 550, let's check in with Sky Mike. Oh, thank God I'm short. All right, Gold Freeway. I got Steve from Tiki Island. Hey, Sky Mike. They're changing the dates on that Texas City Y shut down to 45. They're not doing it this weekend. They're doing it the following weekend. Outstanding huge banana sticker for your briefcase there, Steve from Tiki Island. And your lifesaver, dude, so they're pushing it back to next weekend. And we'll keep... you up to date. Skymic and the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. From our KTRH, generator super center, 24-hour weather center, plenty of sunshine today, tomorrow, Sunday, near 100, all three days. Current temperature 79 at your official severe weather station, news radio 740 KTRH. That drops by. He's ready to update some of our top stories on a Friday morning. Senate Republicans succeed in blocking a war powers resolution. Colin Gray, the father of a Georgia high school shooter, will spend 15 years in jail. He was convicted on second-degree murder charges this year. And a longtime Houston restaurant is closing this weekend. Houston's Barbecue Inn opened all the way back in 1946. Love that place. Get the latest news anytime at KTRH.com. Our next update is at 6. I live in Clear Lake. Humble. Reliable. KTRH, traffic and weather. Next on the 10. 552 now here on Houston's morning news. We'd like to see conservatives elected, but in order for that to happen, there's going to have to be a huge Republican voter turnout. And Republicans are not well known for turning out in huge numbers, especially for midterm election. Will socialism scare them into going? Dr. Bo Kabala joins us, Policy Professor Tollington State University. I think that's probably the thing that scares Democrats right now, the most, at least the moderate Democrats. Dr. Kabala is that you've got all these socialists are making the rounds of national television, making people nervous. Well, and good morning, Jimmy. It's good to be with you. Those Democratic Socialist candidates, I think, should instill fear in many law-abiding American citizens. You talk about Brad Lander, you talk about Daryaliza Chevalier, many of these others who Mayor Mobbani is backing in New York. What are they talking about, seizing property, moving past a framework of commercial society and capitalism. This hasn't happened in the Democratic Party since 1948, where support for democratic socialism or communism would be encouraged openly. And so I think people are right to pause. acknowledge that this is a consequential moment for American democracy. I saw a Fox News poll that shows James Talarico leading Ken Paxton by three points. Of course, that's within the margin of error. Do you put much stock in it? I don't. Right now, the margin of error is real, as you just mentioned, and then there's...

A ton of polls, and of course we know now and are starting to mention in the classroom, if you want to rig a poll, depending on how you set it up, you'll get different results. So I think, look, Attorney Ken Paxton outspent in the... primary in a very significant way by John Cornyn, did very well with his ground game with President Trump's endorsement using some of the very tools that Elon Musk may be supporting here as he commits to spending in the 2026 midterms. So I am not worried at this point, especially given James Talarico's comments on a number of cultural and economic topics. I know you're well aware of some of the things he said. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, for sure. All right, the pact that Elon Musk has, as I said, he spent 260 million on Trump's re-election in the 2024 presidential election. I don't know how much they plan to spend this time, but I know they plan on spending it or spending spending it, pardon me, on door-knocking, door-to-door, digital advertising and direct mail. Yes. How effective is direct mail these days? I get so much direct mail related to candidates. I don't even pay any attention to it anymore. Well, it's easy with the glut of information, I think, to tune out some of those envelopes that show up in your mailbox. But I think there's been kind of a swing back. We had this moment. late 1990s, early 2000s, and people sort of shifted to saying, what really matters is, you know, radio, TV advertising, and some of the experts forgot about the effectiveness of going door to door, door knocking, and then also, you know, the direct mail, which goes back to the 1980s, mid-1980s. I think its value is underestimated sometimes by the experts. It feels maybe not quite as personal. as somebody's showing up at your door but it's still individualized presence maybe in a way that that generic tv advertisement radio advertisement that won't accomplish so i wouldn't discount it and i think combined with the door-to-door efforts it can be very effective and i'm pleased to see Elon Musk not competing with the republican party he's actually focusing on the door-to-door and direct mail efforts and i i think the results could be real just as they were in 2024. Right. So you like the strategy as far as getting out the vote. What is it going to take? Yes, I do like it. Conservatives, like as we said at the beginning of this, very well known for not turning out for midterm elections, other than scaring them, which we already talked about. What else can you do to encourage them to get out? You know, I think there's a couple factors that are relevant in this cycle. So there's the, we mentioned the fear factor, the democratic socialism factor. But there's also a key Supreme Court ruling now that it's going to.

make it easier to spend in an effective and targeted way that finds those conservatives. So the decision I'm thinking about is NRSC versus FEC Federal Elections Commission. What it basically does is it opens up coordinated party spending. So the last few years, it's already been possible for outside spenders and political parties to coordinate fundraising, but this decision sort of opens the Bill Gates to just less pretense, more direct investment, people like Elon Musk working with the GOP on spending. But let me mention one other thing, and you're talking about data tracking, information gathering. You know, Elon Musk's amazing at that. The Doge effort was definitely leading to results. Look at what Governor Greg Abbott has been doing in Texas with his voter app. voter tracking tool, bringing you down to the precinct level to kind of indicate who are the conservative voters. My guess is that Elon Musk will be using advanced tools that allow you to hone on voters, much like Governor Greg Abbott is doing in Texas these days. All right, sir. Thank you for your time this morning. Good to hear from me. Dr. Bo Cabala. He's a polyscied professor at Tarlington State. It is 557.

This is News Radio 740, KTRH Houston, an 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. 6 a.m. is our time here on Houston's morning news. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among our top stories this half hour, Elon Musk spending millions on turning out the midterm vote. Will the Iran conflict break up MAGA? And coming up at 608, a blue hair drives her car through a yogurt shop. Details in the minutes ahead. You mean blue hair like elderly lady or blue hair like, you know, one of these kids with the booger rings? Elderly ladies, Guy. Oh, okay, we're going this way. Let's put on your hard hat, Jimmy. We're going to the east side, and we're checking out the East Loop before the Ship Channel Bridge. At Clinton, that is, it looks like a train stuck on the side. It's actually a very long, a couple, it looks like two 18 wheelers. Let's go. northbound this yep looking in the bushes they've moved most of this over it looks like you're getting by for now we better zoom that in fact let's check your ship channel bridges at 610 it's the generator supercenter dot com traffic center from our kTRH top tax defenders 24 hour weather center mostly sunny right around 100 for the high temperature today we'll get you the complete forecast although it's pretty much the same every day all the way through monday we'll talk all the way through october maybe we'll talk to jeffino about that in about nine minutes It's right now 78 at your official, Severe Weather Station, News Radio 740, KTRH. It's time now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. And we're sponsored by Synergenics Health, our top story. After watching George Soros pour billions into Democrats for years, Elon Musk is planning to spend more than 100 million himself from his super PAC to support Republicans this fall. Especially if it's successful in bringing more low propensity Republican voters to the polls, that could strengthen Republican candidates and competitive House and Senate seats across the country. GOP strategist Vlad Vigieg there. Elon Musk will reportedly focus his efforts on at least eight states. He might want to concentrate on those states with election and integrity problems because the thousands illegally registered in New Jersey may just be the tip of the iceberg. Election integrity guru Ken Cuchinelli says this problem is magnified in states with sanctuary cities, and they can blame whoever, but it'd be a non-issue if they just enforced the law. This is why you don't do automatic voter registration. You take the human effort out of the loop. He says registrations easier than ever, so these programs hold no use. Andre Perard News Radio 740, KTRH. Air at home, Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico was in San Antonio yesterday. Ripping ice. Ice should be cracking down on the cartels, not on our communities. ICE should be deporting gang members, not small business owners. Telerico has said the border should be a big welcome mat for illegal aliens. The left and some South Texas Republicans are pushing the narrative that immigration enforcement could cost the GOP in November. The truth is, immigration enforcement is why many Hispanics supported President Trump. He said he would put a stop to this. Mass deport, protect our communities, our children. This is exactly what is taking place. Maria Espinoza with the Remembrance Project says there's a reason this narrative is being pushed by the construction industry. We're putting our family-owned businesses out of business, inflating these illegal aliens by paying them a lower wage, knowing they can get away with it. She says deporting illegals will help legal Hispanic Americans succeed, and the administration needs to spread that message. Ethan Buchanan, News Radio 740, KTR.

The Astros take on the Rangers tonight at Dyken Park. Pregame is at 6 on Sports Talk 790, game time at 7 on 790 and KTRH. A wing tonight puts the Stroes in first place in the AL West. I'm Cliff Saunders here on Houston's news weather and traffic station. News Radio 740, KTRH. World events, national headlines. Houston's morning news with Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Oh, hey now. Who let those guys in? 607 is their time here in Houston's morning news. All right, this is a story about a woman driver, an elderly woman driver, who somehow managed to drive her vehicle through a yogurt shop in the front door and out the side door and then hit another car. She's okay, by the way. Although it's interesting. I saw the television report. They didn't show her. They blurred her out. You could see her hair. Which is how you know she was elderly, but, but they blurred her out. I'm not sure why they did that, but okay. What's really particularly interesting to me about the story is that this is not the first time this has happened at this particular yogurt shop. Far from it. Here's the report from our television partner, KPRC 2. This frozen yogurt shop was closed, so no customers or employees were inside. Witnesses say nearby workers and drivers rushed to help the woman before first responders showed up. The owners of this strip center say this is the second time in eight months that a vehicle has crashed into the same storefront. They expect the business to be closed for about a week for repairs. Turned a loud engine like somebody was racing and then I seen she jumped the curb here, hit my bumper of my truck, pulled it out, and it spun her around. She went into the side window through, came out the front door, then it's been around and ended up right in front of me again here. That's when I finally got out of the truck. Everyone started running to see if she was okay. The beautiful thing is that everybody came together to help her and everybody actually kind of had like a role. Yeah, those witnesses said that her car was smoking. They wanted to get her out as soon as possible and make sure that she was okay. Constables later showed up and they're still investigating what led to the crash and her crashing into this store. They still don't know what happened. The owners of the storefront, I got to speak with them, or excuse me, the owners of the strip mall. I got to speak with them briefly. And I asked them if they will be taking any extra safety precautions to prevent this from happening again. They say they're looking into getting baller. or protective barriers in front of this frozen yogurt shop because this is the second time that this has happened in the last eight months. What is going on with this frozen yogurt shop? The second time in eight months has been run through by a driver. I don't know who hit it the first time. How would you like to own that yogurt shop? Can you imagine the telephone conversation with the insurance company?

Yeah, well, yeah, we got hit. Some lady ran through our yogurt shorts, yes. Wait a minute, you had to claim eight months ago about this. It happened again. Yeah, they'd hate to see their insurance rates going forward. 610 tie for traffic and weather it together. The Houston Avenue Bridge says, hold my beer. Yogurt shot. So true. Good thing we aren't insuring that thing. Well, you know, they really missed a sponsorship opportunity. They should put Target on it. You know, they should be sponsored by Target. Maybe a collision shop or something. That would be good, too. Let's hit East Loop 610. And right after the Ship Channel Bridge, this has a very northbound feel to it. So here's what this is. oversized load, this huge truck and this load is like, it looks like a train sitting on the exit ramp to Clinton from the East Loop Ship Channel Bridge. This is northbound right in front of that neighborhood. It looks like you can get by here. It looks like it. I'm not 100% sure. There's a lot of stuff blocking my view here. So those of you who work the industrial stuff over there, just be on the lookout for that. And there's really nowhere to U-turn if you do this. So this is northbound. It's kind of interesting. Take wayside as an alternate. Don't tell anybody. Toll Bridge looks good. Let's go to the Hartman Bridge. If you're playing along at home, camera 1307. It's beautiful shot here. Baytown to Leport both ways. We rock and 225 also posted speeds 146 in. I'm Sky Mike. The Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. Sky Mike, are you aware that there is a parade at the Schulenberg Festival on Sunday? A parade at the Schoenberg Festival Sunday. How is it you have not been invited to be the parade marshal? I wonder what they would throw at me. I don't know. Well, they do allow water balloons. No, not water balloons. That would actually be nice. No, they don't allow that. They allow water guns, no water balloons. Water guns, no water. Okay. Shulenberg Festival Sunday, and I happen to be in new home. There'll be horses. They'll be horses, maybe they'll put you on a horse. Why not? I should know. From our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center, Jeff Eno checks in. He's got the forecast for you, hot, humid. Yep, what else can you add to that list? That's pretty much it. No rain. I can't add that. We'll see a few clouds mixing in. I know that looking around some of the observations, there are a couple of mostly cloudy observations, but those are few and far between. So we'll call it mostly sunny. We'll go up towards the century mark. We'll hit 99 today. Heat index around 105. No heat advisories. Those are off to the north. We haven't quite met that criteria. So we've got mostly clear skies tonight, overnight low around 80. Sunny Saturday, 99. Heat index around 106 and upper 90s on the way for Sunday. Right now 78 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. All right. Coming up on 620, our time here on Houston's morning news on a Friday. Centerpoint pointing out that the power demand continues to grow, thanks at least in part to data centers, which of course, you know, every time you hear about.

Power overloads, you start to hear the whole data center thing. There are good things and bad things about data centers. I don't think we want to be at the point where we're banning them, although the governor has banned them from some rural areas because of the amount of... electricity they use and the amount of water they consume to keep all those computers cooled off. But for the rest of us, you know, who already are concerned about whether or not Centerpoint in a matter of years, especially if we keep growing, if more data centers keep coming in, if we keep having, you know, 100-degree summers, you know, how long will it be before we exceed? Our capabilities. We're going to talk about that with David Holt. He's president of Consumer Energy Alliance. He's coming up next. First, though, let's do a little traffic and weather together. That starts with you, Skymite. 249, the Forgotten Freeway. We have information you can't get from the AI. It's Bryce from Magnolia. What's because of the people? Good morning, Skymike. Dude. North Point, a lot of flashing light. We had a slowdown. There's debris on the road. They're cleaning it up, and whatever happened is pretty much gone, but there's still a bunch of debris. All right, let's take care of those. tires. It's the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders 24-hour weather center, same forecast today tomorrow and Sunday, mostly sunny with a high temperature right around 100. Currently, it is 78 at your official severe weather station. News Radio 740, KTRH. Liv is back in our newsroom, ready to update some of our top stories. Sponsored by U.S. Coins and Jewelry. A former CBS reporter in L.A. claimed she got pulled off the air for asking tough questions to Dr. Anthony Fauci during COVID. Taco Bell's parent company says the cyclospora outbreak is hurting sales. And Netflix is being. is being sued by a film producer for $105 million. Apparently, the company lost an unencrypted copy of his World War II film starring Nicholas Cage. Talk about an oops. At the latest news anytime at KTRH.com, our next update is at 630. What's started in your car now works on your phone with the new iHeartRadio app. The new presets are fantastic. Get Houston's news, weather and traffic. That's how I listen to KTRH. Instantly. 622 now here on Houston's morning news. All right, overloading. I don't want the electric grid to get overloaded. That's for sure. That's why I think we have to be smart planners on our energy use. We talk about this all the time. You know, we have lots of solar power. We have lots of wind power on days where the wind blows and the sun's out. Right now, we have plenty of sunshine to fuel all that stuff. Our solar needs. In fact, we're getting a lot of power from solar right now. But at what point do we reach the breaking point? That's always the question. David Holt joins us. President of Consumer Energy Alliance. I saw where CenterPoint has announced that they have 14 gigawatt of large load projects that are likely going to be.

coming online here by the end of 2029, 2030 at the latest. Right now, we're using about 21 on a really bad day here in Houston. So how many gigawatts do we have capacity for? That's all Greek to me. You know, you hit the nail on the head. You said smart planners. So getting ahead of this is the key. You know, demand is going up. Jimmy, as you said, data centers are part of that, industrial growth, manufacturing growth. You know, the pro-business environment in the state of Texas is attracting businesses and people from all over the country. So, you know, population growth, all these things are leading to kind of unprecedented demand growth for the state. And that means more power, more electricity. Like you said, more wind, more solar, more natural gas, expanding power plants. adding transmission, and I think that's a lot of what Centerpoint was talking about. We need to add more transmission around the state of Texas to deliver this energy where it needs to go. And it's good that we're actually having these conversations because it shows we are trying to get ahead of it. This is growth that's happening very quickly. That's the key to the whole thing. It's happening faster than really we've seen growth happen in the history of really since power, since electricity. became part of our lives. So that's interesting, right? Yeah, CenterPoint says they're looking at a 50% total load growth by the end of 2029. That's like three years away. 50% increase in three years. I mean, how are we going to keep up with that? You know, that's the key. And that's why we're having the conversations we're having now, right? So it's... It's adding more power plants. It's delivering more power. It's adding these transmission. It's adding pipelines. It's doing all these things in a very quick manner. A lot of them are underway, right? That's the good news. We've started this process. We're building out the capacity that we need to build out. And some of what CenterPoint has announced will be before 2029. I think some of it they're hoping to have online by 2028, which is just... you know, 18 months away almost. So we've already seen other power providers in the central part of the state, in the western part of the state, in South Texas, bringing additional transmission online. We're lots of conversations about adding new pipelines. Some of these things can be brought on very quickly. Nuclear is going to be part of the mix over the horizon. That's a little bit further away, but we'll be adding nuclear capability as well. And we've got to make sure that our power is not only renewable, renewable is intermittent. We also have many to make sure we have enough natural gas, and then nuclear, which is always available. It's called dispatchable power. So it's always available. It can peak up when the weather's hot or the cool nights, things like that, and meet the demand that we're seeing. So, you know, when you need a new road, you build a new road. When you need a new power, you build new transmission and pipelines. And really, that's the conversation. And I think one of the things that we're seeing is,

maybe not enough conversation in the local communities in these rural areas where you're seeing data centers. They have some legitimate questions about water usage, about affordability, about noise, things like that that need better answers. And they have good answers because data centers really provide meaningful benefits, especially to rural communities when you start thinking about telemedicine. Talk a little bit about it. Yeah, David, talk a little bit about the benefits because we don't hear much about the benefits. We hear about the nuisances, as you mentioned, the noise, the water usage, the electricity consumption. What's good about having a data center in your community? Well, listen, you know, I'm talking to you on a cell phone. We are a data center-driven society now. So when you start adding more data centers... And you think about what they're going to be bringing to the table, like immediate telemedicine, remote medicine, better logistics, better distribution, better planning, better AI services for farming community, things like that. So a lot of these remote communities. with connectivity and you're online, you're also going to be able to tap into the data centers to have those benefits as well. So not to mention the national security benefits and other things around the nation, not just for rural communities. So the benefits are vast, needing to understand those. I will say this. When we mention water, more and more of these data centers are also talking about using closed loop water systems. meaning they just recycle the water that they need every single day. So more and more of them are now talking about, hey, we're not going to need that much water. Let's have those conversations. I think there's a lot of good answers. I don't think those answers are getting to the people that keep asking the question. Gotcha. And that's a mistake, and we need to make sure that happens. And the governor has a role in that. The governor could convene kind of a listening dialogue session in Austin get some of these questions answered and make sure we're all on the same page. I think that would be a real benefit. And that's why we're having this conversation right now. David Holt, thank you, sir. President of Consumer Energy Alliance. That is David Holt at 628. Let's take a look at your money. Amazon is showing that its spending on artificial intelligence is paying off. Shares are surging after posting its fastest cloud computing growth in about four and a half years. Amazon's e-commerce operation still generates a biggest share of the company's revenue, online sales gain 15% in the quarter. I'm Courtney Donahoe, Bloomberg Business on News Radio 740, KTRH.

Houston's news weather traffic plus breaking news 24-7. This is News Radio 740 KTRH. Live everywhere with the IRRF. More of what's happening now from the John Moore Services Studios. 6.30. That's our time here on Houston's morning news. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Bunger top stories this hour. Mays Middleton says that he would go after Anthony Fauci if he's your new attorney general. Why we shouldn't be so quick to ban data centers. And coming up at 638, a federal. General Judge says Houston can no longer base their contracts on race. Details in the minutes ahead. First, we're checking out that morning drive. Once again, here is Sky Mike. We just cleared something off the Gulf Freeway. That was at Nassah Bay Area Boulevard. That was a stall that sat there for just a little northbound. You can't even tell the problem was there. I-10 East coming in. It's Johnny from Viter. Hey, Skymark. No brakes. No sketches. Oh, so well said. that you'll restore this you make it a drive-through store. Drive-in. I'm in the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. They already did, I think. Right, yeah, they did. From our KTRH Generator Super Center, 24-hour Weather Center, lots of sunshine with a high right around 100 today. We'll get the latest on the forecast with Jeff Eno at the Weather Channel in nine minutes. Currently 78 and your official severe weather station, News Radio 740, KTRH. It's time for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. It is 631 hour top story this morning. We've heard a lot about data centers lately and lost in all the pushback. Some say is a ton of misinformation. Patrick Hedger is the director of policy at NetChoice. The correlation between an increase in the number of data centers and an increase in electricity bills is just not borne out in reality. The reality is, he says, data centers are needed. Anything that happens over the internet happens inside of a data center. And we've been building data centers in the United States for the better part of the last 30 years. And it's only the last couple months that they've really become the topic to juror. and critical to our economy and national security as well. Jeff Andy Biggs News Radio 740 KT.R. President Trump meets with his cabinet at Camp David today to discuss the situation in Iran. Trump also says a separate agreement has been reached to disarm Hamas with the creation of a new Palestinian government through a phased... process. Looking at your money, oil at $84.90 a barrel with Dow futures up almost 300 points this morning so far. Coming up on 633, nearly 32 million people live in Texas and state energy officials told lawmakers power demand could double in six years. Local experts believe that could mean higher electric bills. The power grid is holding up this summer, but regulators warned that will not always be the case. The vast majority of new generation coming online is wind and solar, and they say that's not reliable in a crunch. The mix that we're seeing today come out of the grid is well over 90% made up of renewables.

Pablo Vegas with the PUC is urging, or rather with ERC, is urging lawmakers to incentivize the building of new natural gas powered plants. Last week, Texas set a record for power demand. That's expected to double in the coming years. Thanks to all the people moving here. Meantime, Centerpoint is preparing for growing demand as well. Out of more than 17 gigawatts in large power projects, the 14 will be the test load labeled the batch zero group. Energy expert David Holt says the data centers should provide their own power and lawmakers are looking at the long term. If we have an emergency and you have your own little microgrid, does that have the opportunity, the ability to get somewhat interconnected with the grid? Holt says the batch zero research will help the utility company ensure these data centers don't saddle other customers with big rate increases. I'm Erica Smith, News Radio 740, KTRH. It is now 634. The city of Rosenberg is facing a budget issue. And for the first time in a decade, there's talk of raising property taxes. Anywhere between a million and a half to two million dollars is what her estimates are. My estimates are left or none because it's my view that when you need to reduce the size of your budget, that's what you do. Rosenberg Mayor William Benton says he'd support budget cuts, hiring pauses, or even dipping into savings, but won't support a budget that raises property taxes on residents. Effective today, Texas has officially banned the sale in possession of THC, Delta 8 THC, and other synthetically derived hemp variants. The restriction reclassifies these substances as scheduled one controlled substances. carrying felity penalties. Smoke shop owners are pricing for impact. We're talking about, you know, people who couldn't sleep before and now they're able to sleep. It's going to be devastating. The band. doesn't affect edibles or drinks made from Delta 9 THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis. Texas Senator and GOP candidate for Attorney General Mays Middleton recently said he would investigate Dr. Anthony Fauci if he wins the AG race in November. If he moves forward with this, he could become the first of many. He's being a role model for other states attorney general. Potentially, you could have a whole lot of states pursuing causes of action against Dr. Anthony Fauci. Jared Woodfield with conservative Republicans of Texas says state attorneys general can get around Anthony Fauci's presidential pardon because. It doesn't cover state charges or any civil lawsuits. 636 is if you need another reason to shake your head at them. Gen Z workers are using their lunch hours to either nap or get this. Cry?

Workplace experts, Chris Westfall says you can blame the fact that they live on social media and they don't have social skills. In my experience, things get better when you have a conversation with a real person, not anonymously in a Reddit thread or in the comments on an Instagram post. Westfall says Gen Z should view the job as an opportunity, not as something they call emotionally draining. The Astros host the Rangers tonight. The Astros are a half game back of the Rangers for first place in the AL West. Coverage starts at six on Sports Talk 790. The game at 790 on KTRH. I'm Cliff Saunders here on Houston's news weather and traffic station. News Radio 740, KTRH. You gotta know what's happening in my city. Traffic reports. Reliable information. I don't know. Listen and you'll know. Keep me charged. News Radio 740. KTRH. 637 our time here on Houston's morning news. All right. A federal judge has made an interesting ruling. The city of Houston likes to give business contracts, you know, for services and things that the city needs to minority-owned businesses. They make sure a certain percentage. of the contracts go to minority-owned businesses. A federal judge has ruled you can't do that. You can't do a contract based on race. That goes back to the Supreme Court ruling. So here's the report. Let's take a listen and we'll comment in a moment. Here's the report from ABC 13. A white couple in spring filed this lawsuit. Back in 2023, they claimed racial discrimination because they said their landscaping businesses were not accepted into the city of Houston's minority business program. The timing here really does matter because they filed this lawsuit right after the Supreme Court struck down race-based admissions policies at Harvard. And the judge in this case cited that case when declaring that the city of Houston had violated the Equal Protection Clause, which says that cities have to apply all rules and all laws equally. To go in a room and... people automatically judge you. based on the color of your skin. It happens every day. Rachel Bickham started her own small career recruitment company in 2017. She says she currently has multiple city contracts. And she got them through the city's minority women and small business enterprise program. We're not asking you to just give us a contract just because we are of a certain ethnicity. We're asking for an opportunity.

to be in the room. We're asking for an opportunity to compete. Bickham says her business was also part of a similar state initiative called the historically underutilized business program, but was dropped after the program was turned into a veteran support program last year. Many praised the change, but a lawsuit over it is ongoing. They are trying to remove. just about every opportunity that we have and is making it harder. City of Houston report from last year shows $2.5 billion in contracts were awarded. 23% of the contracts went to certified minority women and small businesses. Of that 23%, Hispanic-owned businesses received 34% of contracts. Asian-owned businesses 22%, white women got 17%, and black-owned firms got 4%. 14%. This ruling only applies to race. So small and female owned businesses could still be given some priority under the city program. But multiple council members say today, that is not enough. I hope that the legal department will prioritize this to ensure that we are sending a message to minority businesses that we are going to protect them and fight for them regardless of the climate that we have. Hang on, why is that not enough? Why is $2.5 billion worth of contracts? 23% went to minorities and women, small businesses. You could up that percentage to small. You should be, I love the idea of concentrating on small businesses. Most businesses are small. And they've already said that you can go ahead and give women a priority, although women, last time I checked, are the majority of the population. Not really a minority, but businesses owned by women, evidently are. You can continue to do that. You just can't consider race. And the female business owner, they're talking about walking in the door and being judged on your race. If you're really concerned that that is happening in a negative way, then why do we just do blind bids? Nobody walks in the door. You submit your bid. You submit your proposal to the city in writing. before you ever have a meeting. That way you're not judging anybody based on their race, whether they're white, black, Hispanic, whatever they are. Let, I mean, this is taxed payer money. Shouldn't this money be spent with the best businesses that are offering the best contracts and offering the most potential savings to the city? Shouldn't this be based on that? Not not based on all this other stuff? Diverlow traffic and weather together. Let's you feel like you're a woman.

Every now and again I feel like a woman, but not the way you mean, Sky Mike. Let's hit 290 outbound 34th. I got a report of a wreck here. I believe it. I see the digital backup from the West Loop 610 outbound. I know one of our listeners will have us laneage at the 650 break. Now, you may be hearing that they're doing some big road work at the Texas City Y on the Gulf Freeway. Steve from Tiki. They're not doing it this weekend. They're doing it the following weekend. Okay. He jumped in for us this morning. Cindy from Dayton's checking out Highway 90, Crosby Freeway. Good morning, Skylight. Beautiful Friday traffic, smooth sailing, no Crosby Freeway, glass and once. It was amazing. Outstanding. Cindy from Dayton breaks up our conceptual Schoenberg Festival because the real one is loaded with women. I'm Skymike, it's the Ability Tree Experts, Traffic Center. I know they have a chili cook-off at the Schoenberg Festival. I know that. I think I'm going to try some, too. Absolutely. Barbecue, too. They have barbecue at the Schoenberg. Festival. They've got all that crazy stuff with chocolate and fried and, you know, I'm doing a wedding and new home tomorrow, so I'll just skip over Sunday. Good idea. From our KTRH Generator Supercenter, 24-hour weather center, Jeff Eno joins us. You're going to the Schoenberg Festival, find some shade because it's going to be sunny and hot. Find some shades, some cold drinks and all that kind of thing. And I tell you what, is it too early to have some chilly now? I'd love to have some. For breakfast? Absolutely. It's got all the nutrition in it. So we've got mostly sunny skies. We'll go up to 99 today. Heat index around 105. Tonight mostly clear, low around 80. Sunny tomorrow, well, let's do it again. Back up to 99. Heat index around 106 and then upper 90s for Sunday. Boy, I'm getting hungry now. Temperature right now, 78. At your official, Severe Weather Station, News Radio 740, KTRH. I live in spring. I live in Katie. Your reliable forecast. Next on the 10 on 740 KTRH. We have to talk a little bit this morning about voter turnout getting conservatives in particular and independents who lean conservative to get them to show up for the midterm election, something that we don't always do a good job of. Elon Musk is throwing a lot of money at the problem. But maybe where we need to concentrate our efforts is with some of the women because it would appear that we've got the men as long as they show up to vote. 80% of men support Republicans versus Democrats. 80% right now. Of course, many women are supporting Democrats, and there are more of them than there are of us. So that might be part of the problem. But Jesse Waters comments on it coming up next along with the timeline. But first, we've got traffic and weather together. Go ahead and sky, Mike. We have landed 610 northeastbound at 290. This is a wreck. It's on that ramp that connects you from 290, inbound back over toward Garden Oaks 610. Also, the wreck on the main lanes of 290 on the outbound side here. Looks like we're okay. They're moving most of that over. I'm in the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH generator super center, 24-hour weather center today, tomorrow and Sunday all pretty much the same. Mostly Sunday skies with a high temperature right around 100.

Current temperature 78 and your official severe weather station, news radio 740 KTRH. Cliff is here. He's going to update our top Friday stories. WNBA star Sophie Cunningham rips the owner of the Seattle Storm who yelled at a couple of teenage girls who supported keeping men out of women's sports. Spain uses its military after thousands of illegal aliens storm the border. And you don't have to drive to Austin anymore for Terry Black's barbecue. It'll open in the Heights on August 18th. I saw that. Jimmy's like smacking his lips right now. Oh, yeah. Get the latest news anytime at KTRH.com. Stop it. Our next update is at 7. I live in Katie. I live in Edo. Your reliable forecast. Next on the 10 on 740 KTRH. 6.52 now. You're on Houston's morning news. All right. To be a man in 2026, here's the thing about men. versus women, I think. And this is just a generalization. I'm not saying all men are like this and all women are like this, but men have a tendency to use the logical part of their brain. And they take a look at what some of the programs, the progressives are doing and standing for and how they've been treated by them. And it's easy to see why they don't support Democrat candidates. Here's Jesse Waters talking about all this. The party is so weak, it's a turnoff. A new Quinnipiac poll says only 20% of men approve of the Democratic Party. It's basically a bachelorette party. They're loud, little annoying, and spends everybody else's money. You can't win an election without men. Sorry to break it to you, but we're half the vote. Kamala Harris Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, guys don't go for that. You can't forget about the fellas. if you're a teamster driving a truck out of, you know, up in Lackawanna County in PA, is that, you know, you can vote for Joe Biden because you know he's probably just as confused as you are about transgenderism. And he's not going to shove it down your throat. Okay? And he's going to support your union. And he's going to make it. But really, I think people miss that about that. Like, this focus on 0.2% of the population is insane to me. Like, leave him be, man. Jesus Christ must be hard enough already. Like just like leave the b being. Hunter wants to throw woke overboard. Pennsylvania is the keystone state. It's the key to the Democrat comeback. When Democrats win it, they win the White House. Scranton Joe Jr. gets it. And so does Senator Shrek.

To a bunch of people sit around the room and say, how much kind of crazy we cram into our platform? And now it's like, oh, yeah, let's abolish everything. When a child is three years old, you know what their favorite thing to do is break stuff. They like the sound it makes. They like watching the pieces scatter. Hear it shatter. It's fun. It's cause and effect. They're realizing that they have the power to break stuff. Makes them feel good. They like breaking better than building. Communists are at that stage developmentally. They want to abolish the presidency, the Senate, Pentagon, police prisons, and of course ICE. Yeah. They're breaking stuff all right. It's up to us to try to fix it. 6.55. Time for the timeline. See what we got today. I think probably we have some more John Mellencamp tickets. Yes, we do. A pair of tickets to see him. His greatest hits tour, August the 6th of the Woodlands Pavilion. Just tell us what year today's timeline's from. Like John Lennon. It was July. Rebecca was stalked and shot down right outside her home. Actress Rebecca Schaefer is murdered by a crazed fan. That makes $300,012 bananas that you owe me. In TV news, Mountain people. They're taciturn. They're tight-lipped. Thurston Howell, the third of Gilligan's Island, Jim Backus, dies at the age of 76. So on the show, there's a character named George Costanza. Brand new on NBC. I'm a character. It's the first episode of Seinfeld. People are always saying to me, you know, you're quite a character. And top ten on the radio. Don't go for Sanchez, baby, and put your love to the test. You know you know you've got to make him express how it feels. Express yourself, Madonna. What year was it? If you know, 713, 2,1, 2, 58, 78, 74, that is 713, 2, KTRH. Good luck. All right, we have a winner. That'd be Jason and Katie knew the right year was 1989. Jason, you get their fair tickets to see John Mellencamp, August the 6th at the Woodlands Pavilion. That's next week. 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. It is at 7 a.m. now here on Houston's morning news. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among our top stories this half hour. Well, divided opinions on Iran, bring down MAGA, Elon Musk throwing his money behind the midterms, and coming up at 708, would you get a tattoo to get a job interview? Details in the minutes ahead. First, let's check out that morning drive with Skymike. All right, let's check out. The onlines have this wrong. Let me correct something here, because if you get your stuff from digital, you'll get this wrong. It's 290. Here's the deal. It's the West Loop 610 coming up from Uptown, the ramp that goes out on 290. That's where the wreck is. Somebody's put it in the wrong way here. On 610, Westbound 45, that's a report of a crash. And South Loop 610, this is an accident on 225. right on the side at 610. They aren't pointing at things, but it's a real sticky spot. So let's watch out for other stations, listeners on the inbound. Sky Mike and the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders 24-hour weather center lots of sunshine today with a high temperature right near 100. We'll get the complete forecast from Jeff Eno at the Weather Channel in nine minutes. Currently, 78 at your official severe weather station, News Radio 740, KTRH. I'm now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. Sponsored by Republic Grand Ranch at 702, our top story. It would be actually bigger and more comprehensive than what Epic Fury has because we have... More targets through intelligence to take care of, and we also were at full magazine depth to deal with those targets. Retired General Jack Keane talking about a reported plan from the CENTCOM Admiral Brad Cooper. That would be two weeks' worth of strikes designed to finish the job in Iran. Meant, President Trump announced a deal, he says, will lead to the disarmament of Hamas and other groups in Gaza. Here at home, some anti-Trumpers, specifically Republicans. are breaking on the war to continue because they think it'll hurt the president. It's the group known as the Never Trumpers. They're seeing the Iran war as one factor that can end MAGA. That's political commentator Andrea Woodberg, who says they want to stop Trump and MAGA. That small block of rhinos in Congress who are not going to let the MAGA agenda move forward.

She says they would rather see losses in November than any kind of Trump win. Jeff Andy Biggs News Radio 740 K-Tree. And, of course, losses on the stock market would also help those never-Trumpers. Right now, Dow futures are up 269 points. Dow continues its rebound from Wednesday's losses. It was up yesterday, 613. The president may pull Todd Blanche's nomination as Attorney General until... The Republican holdouts are out of office. Texas Senator John Cornyn wants the White House to put it into writing that the proposed $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund is dead. It's what he testified to under oath, so it's not like this is something new and different. Keep in mind that Trump endorsed Ken Paxton and not John Cornyn back in May. With three months to go before the midterms, Republicans are about to get a boost from the world's richest man. Elon Musk is planning to spend more than $100 million from his Super PAC to help Republicans in this fall's elections. GOP strategist Vlad Dividek says this is part of a massive voter mobilization effort. It seems pretty clear that the strategy here is designed to maximize GOP votes rather than trying to change mind. This is not to kind of persuade leaners or maybe undecided people. This is really to maximize GOP turnout. Elon Musk will target races in at least eight states. His America PAC spent more than 260. million dollars to support President Trump in 2024. Corey Olson, News Radio 740, KTRH. The state of New Jersey recently found thousands of non-citizens on their voter rolls. Election Integrity Guru Ken Cuccinelli says this is the tip of the iceberg and the automatic voter registration has created a system to dump these people on the rolls. And they can blame whoever they want to blame. The fact of the matter is if you use automatic voter registration, this is going to happen. And the more sanctuary policies your state has, the higher proportion of those illegals are going to end up on your voter rolls. It is now 705. The left is still claiming that immigration enforcement could cost Republicans with Hispanic votes in November. The truth is, not enforcing policy could hurt more. Republican voters that I'm talking with basically don't want to vote because they're not being heard. They're reelecting politicians who continue to acquiesce to the other side, and it's not what we want. We want security. Ariaspinosa with the Remembrance Project says immigration enforcement will help keep Hispanic community safe. Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico was in San Antonio, sounding like he wants to actually secure the border. Problem is he doesn't want any part of ICE. We need immigration and customs enforcement, but that's not what ICE is doing. ICE is terrorizing communities. And yesterday we told you an illegal alien from El Salvador had been charged in a pair of separate murders. Bond was denied yesterday for Jefferson Velasquez. And Democrats on Harris County Commissioner's Court. passed a resolution to back D.A. Sean Tier and his investigation into the shooting of Lorenzo Salgado O'Raho, the only vote against it, the Republican Tom Ramsey. 706, President Trump announces the Freedom Hallers Initiative, expanding commercial license eligibility for vets, cracking down on licenses held by illegal alien drivers.

We've already removed more than 24,000 non-English speakers from behind the wheel. We've also forced states to cancel more than 28,000 commercial driver's licenses unlawfully issued to a legal alley. This would address a major shortage here in Texas. It is a significant problem. It is becoming more significant every day. Texas trucking consultant Joe Michael says when companies can't find drivers, there's a ripple effect. Products get stuck in warehouses. That drives up prices. The Astros are a half game back of the Rangers in the AL West, and they host the Rangers tonight. Pregame is at 6 on Sports Talk 790. The game at 7 on 790 and KTRH. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's News Weather and Traffic Station. News Radio 740 KTRH. I live in the Heights. I live in spring. Kingwood. Next on the 10. Your faster commute. On 740 KTRH. Gosh, I don't have a tattoo. I've never had a tattoo. Do you have a tattoo? What is it up? Do you have a tattoo, Sky Mike? I don't have, I've never had a tattoo. People are surprised that. I don't have tattoos. I don't know why that surprises them. I've got two boys. One has no tattoos. The other one has two or three of them. Of course, he was in the Navy. What is it about guy? What is it about Navy? No, no, I get that. If you're pop-by, the sailor man, you have to have a tattoo. Stories about a San Francisco. Of course, it's San Francisco. An AI startup CEO offered instant job interviews to anybody who got a tattoo. By the way, the tattoo was provided by the AI startup. He was roundly criticized for it. He runs a company called Lemon Lime. His name is Jim Jordan Zietz guaranteed job, instant job interviews to anybody who showed up in the flesh at a company party and got a lemon lime tattoo. Seven people took him up on the offer. Note that's not a guarantee of a job, just a guarantee of an instant interview. So, I mean, we've seen this before with some companies, like food and retail brands offering food for life or other VIP perks to customers who have a tattoo of their logo or the mascot for the company or something like that. This company, however, evidently Mr. Zietz heard it loud and clear from the people he works for and is instead... offered an apology saying we offered free tattoos and said we'd be happy to interview anybody who got one what i thought would be a fun memorable way to meet people was in reality reckless and instead came across this tying a permanent tattoo to job opportunity, which showed poor judgment. Even though participants chose their own tattoos and no one was asked to get our logo, I should have understood the pressure and power dynamic created by connecting tattoos to hiring. I'm sorry to the people we put in that position. Would you get a tattoo to get a job? I asked Cliff that, and he said it depends on the job. I said, really? What job? I mean, maybe if it's a job that pays a million dollars a year or something.

I mean, at this point, tattoos aren't really permanent. You could have it removed, I suppose, right? If you ended up getting fired at some point. 7-10, time for traffic and weather together. And for Livingston, do not get a tattoo of me. But if you do it, get it right in the small of your back. That little stamp right there. Just put it right there. Just wear a banana stick. Everybody will know what you're talking about. All right. Gold Freeway, I got Lynn from League City right off the tip line 713-212 T-IPS. Lynn. Scott Mike. There's an ice chest on the Gulf Freeway northbound right before El Dorado. Dude. Be careful out there. I need that ice chest so bad. But in the serious note here, I want you to watch. Watch out. I'm Dye's chest won't hurt your vehicle, but watch out for other stations, listeners. They swerve at the last minute. Highway 73, I like to keep track with the Golden Triangle, Lumberjack. Bob. There's now four people. that I've had to try to get around because they are camping in the left lane. All right, lumberjack, Bob, is keeping score. 73. That's going to count off from you. And let's look at the Gulf Freeway now. Northbound, I've got this problem at Broadway. That's a stall over on the side. We don't have the wreck that's on the ramp here. And I want to clear up this deal. Some of the online sources are showing 610 northeastbound a wreck at 290. Let me rework that for you. What it really is, it's 290's main lanes right after you get off the loop. It only affects you if you're going up. up from Uptown. Now, 225, it's a wreck, it's minor, inbound at 610, but boy, he's in a sticky spot right side or right shoulder. So let's watch out, especially those of you hitting the Ship Channel Bridge. I'm right back in 10, the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center, time to check in with Jeff Eno. Got another hot, steamy day coming up today. How high do we get? Do we get to triple digits? Looks like we're going to get very close. I will keep an eye on that. But as of right now, still predicted to go to 99 for that high. Mostly sunny. Heat index around 105. Tonight mostly clear. Overnight low to around 80. And then right back up towards 100 for Saturday. And it looks like actually a little change here. Late in the day could catch a stray shower Saturday. I just saw this update. And it looks like 100 for Saturday. The heat index up to around 109. we're looking at 99 again for our Sunday. Depadjure right now, 79 at your official severe weather station, news radio 740 KTRH. Our 59 inbound at the loop is always a problem. KTRH time-saving traffic. Next on the 10. All right, just about 720 is their time here on Houston's morning news. Let's see here. What we got coming up? Who are we going to talk to? We're going to talk to Michael Lucci. He's the Texan and CEO at State Armor. We're talking about data centers again. But really specifically, I want to get into the details because, again, almost all the stories.

about data centers are from a negative perspective. They use too much electricity. They use too much water. They aren't employing anybody. What do we need data centers for? Well, we're going to try to get into what we do need data centers for and see that changes some of our minds about whether or not we want to have them in our backyard. As they said, Michael Lucci coming up. First, though, traffic and weather together. That starts with you, Skymike. 2.90, we've got this wreck right off the ramp to 610. It's outbound. Cat, Brookside Village on the Southwest Freeway. Good morning, Skymite. Southbound at exit 111, which is just before the Williams Trace exit. Semite versus car, right lane. Trash responders are just now getting on scene. All right. Huge there. Thank you, Kat. Williams Trace outbound. I'm in the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, top tax defenders, 24-hour weather center, lots of sunshine near 100 today. That's the same forecast for tomorrow and for Sunday, too. Current temperature 79 and your official severe weather station, News Radio 740, KTRH. It's time now to get you caught up on some of our top trending stories this morning. Here's Cliff. Senate Republicans succeed in blocking a war powers resolution. The police chief in Seattle resigned over questions about his absence during a shooting at a downtown food festival on Sunday, and Dolly Parton's going to be honored with the Academy of Country Music's... Poets Award at the 19th annual ACM honors. If the latest news anytime at KTRH.com, our next update is at 7.30. Houston's Morning News, live on Facebook. It's like radio, but with pictures. 722 is our time here on Houston's Morning News. Let's bring on somebody who can help talk to us about data centers. He's with state armor. Michael Lutu, what is state armor? State Armor is a nonprofit organization that helps states like Texas get on a good footing for conflict with the Chinese Communist Party. So we remove their infiltration within the state of Texas. We help craft state laws that will guard against further infiltration, corruption of our critical infrastructure, our universities, and all the homeland assets that we rely upon to have strength abroad. Well, you do some pretty important stuff, don't you? We do. And actually, Texas is the single best state on these issues, which your listeners might not be surprised by. But it's always good for the biggest, most powerful state to be most aligned with national security. which actually brings us to the issue of data centers, which have become, obviously, as you know, very controversial, even in the Lone Star state of Texas. Well, as you know, it's become a real nimbie, not in my backyard type of issue. They make too much noise. We hear it humming all the time. We're worried our electricity bills are going up. We're worried that they're using so much electricity is driving our bills up. There are some things about them. that people just don't particularly like, but what we never hear is the importance of them. That's why we brought you in. Why is it important that we are building these data centers? If we don't want to build these data centers, we should not expect to win the next war, which the Communist Party of China is planning right now.

They're actually very involved in the disinformation campaign against data centers in the United States. Now, what I just said is, you know, it's a very direct statement. I don't want to discount the objections that some of these things might cause problems in their communities. Not all the people who run data centers are the best actors. But we know that, for example, the operation in Venezuela that resulted in our capture of Nicholas Maduro. relied heavily on artificial intelligence tools that we will not have if we're not building out data centers. The next conflicts that we might face and that we are more likely to face if we don't have these tools of technology will rely upon artificial intelligence. The Chinese Communist Party is openly talking about how they are building out as much military technology as possible. Even today, I mean, the leader of Chinese Communist Party just said today, We need to incorporate more artificial intelligence into more of our military technologies so that we can defeat the United States. So if we want to disarm while the communists arm up more and more and more, we just shouldn't expect to win a conflict with them. And we should expect a conflict to be more likely because they see us disarming. Okay. So the stakes are pretty doggone high when you get right down to it. We basically are in an AI data war. with China. China has every intention of trying to win that war. And back here in the United States, we have people complaining enough where it's throwing up some roadblocks into our ability to win that war. That's absolutely right. But I want to repeat, I have sympathy for folks who have some problems with data centers. But the bottom line is we need to find a way for this to work for everyone. Data centers should make sure that they are throwing electricity onto the grid so that they're lowering costs. They bring their own electricity sources, nuclear Natcastle or whatever it is. and sell onto the grid so that they're a net supplier of electricity rather than pool on electricity. A lot of the information about their pool of water is actually just totally off. And a lot of it comes from Chinese researchers to begin with. So that's kind of a separate issue. But we should make sure that data centers are providing lower property taxes to their communities, lower utility costs by putting electricity onto the grid rather than pulling it off of the grid. Those are all very important things. But it's worth noting that a lot of the campaigns against data centers in the United States are funded by people like Neville Roy Singham, who is an agent of the Chinese Communist Party. Right, exactly. So the negative things you're hearing about data centers are mainly coming from the people who are trying to beat us in the AI war, China. Makes sense, doesn't it? All right, Michael, we have to leave it at that for today. But thank you, sir. Appreciate your time. That is CEO of State Armor, Michael Lucci. It's 726. Let's take a look at your money. Tesla is said to be weighing a potential separation of its China business to pave the way for a possible merger with SpaceX. According to the Wall Street Journal, some executives at the company have been told to prepare for the move. CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X that the report was fake news.

Stocks are looking at another day of solid gains. Microsoft made market history yesterday, adding nearly half a trillion dollars to its value, the most by any stock in a single day. The tech giant reported the fastest growth in its cloud business in four years. The tech-heavy NASDAQ led the gain soaring 2.8%. This morning, futures are on the rise. Amazon jumping in the early trade after earnings topped Wall Street expectations. And Taco Bell is starting to recover from the parasite outbreak linked to tainted levels. Lettuce. Parent Company Youngbrand says sales at the chain have declined 2% so far this quarter. Deals have helped to get people in the door. I'm Courtney Donahoe. Bloomberg Business on News Radio 740, KTRH. I'm the news that you are, no. Houston's news. Weather traffic. Plus breaking news 24-7. This is News Radio 740 KTRH. Live everywhere with the IRF. More of what's happening now from the John Moore Services Studios. 7.30, that's our time here on Houston's morning news. I'm Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett. Among our top stories this hour, are we better off making room for those data centers? Should Texas go after Anthony Fauci? And coming up at 738, how the Democrats... Socialists are going over with your average voter. Details in the minutes ahead. First, let's check out that morning drive again. Here's Skymind. It's your Southwest Freeway outbound. I'm looking from Derry Ashford. This is a wreck at Williams Trace. What we want to know, help me out here, folks. It says outbound. It's camera 533. I could swear one of those guys is overturned. This is a big skunch as you're leaving the beltway. Again, this is outbound, not inbound. Clear 290 after the loop. That's gone. Stay the course. And South 225. heading over toward the loop westbound. We're now taking up a right lane with a big rig. I'm Scott Mike, the generator supercenter.com traffic center. From our KTRH, generator super center, 24-hour weather center, lots of sunshine today with a high temperature right around 100. We'll get you the complete forecast when we talk to Jeff Eno at the weather channel in nine minutes. Temperature right now is 80. At your official, severe weather station, news radio 740, KTRH. It's time now for the news. Here's Cliff Saunders. Good morning at 7.31, our top story this morning. While everybody else was sitting at home, we're sick. Anthony Fauci was getting rich. A million dollars that guy got in cash prize money for himself during COVID. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley on Fox. Congress could vote next week on holding Anthony Fauci in contempt. But remember, he was pardoned by Joe Biden before Donald Trump ever came back to the White House. However, if Mays Middleton is your next Attorney General of Texas, Anthony Fauci may have to get a lawyer in the Lone Star State. Middleton has hinted that he might investigate Anthony Fauci if he wins. Not everything that Dr. Anthony Fauci said, we now know, was a lie. It was contradictory to what he was writing in his private diary. Jared Woodfield with Conservative Republicans of Texas says Middleton would have ways around Anthony Fauci's pardon if he pursues this. One of the ways is file a state cause of action, and the Attorney General would have the ability to sue that. The pardon doesn't protect you from a civil liability either. He says if Middleton actually gets the ball rolling on this, other state attorneys general should follow suit. Ethan Buchanan, News Radio 740, KTRH. Congress is.

working on a sanctions package aimed at weakening Russia, China and Iran. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia actually gave Iran intel about the U.S. Satellite images where American bases in the Middle East countries. They gave it. Yes, they gave it. Meantime, the announced deal between, or rather the president announced the deal that he says will lead to the disarmament of Hamas. 733, looking at your money. Dow futures are up more than 200 points, and oil is at $85 and $28 a barrel. Now, there are some, there are the wars in Europe and the Middle East, and then there is the war at home over data centers. Some experts say not building them jeopardizes our economy and national security. If you're able to stop the building and growth of data centers, you're going to severely wound the American economy. And that's really bad for national security and it harms our ability to compete with countries like China. Patrick Hedger with Netchoice as data centers there actually have led to lower energy prices. Closer to us, state energy officials telling lawmakers power demand could double in six years. Local experts believe that could be higher electric bills. It's not just data center growth that's driving this. It's the state's population. Nearly 32 million people live here, which is one reason why the grid is getting a big test right now. So far, the grid has passed the test with no outages. Regulators are warning, though, about the future. Pablo Vegas, who heads the Electric Reliability Council, says that 90% of new generation is coming from wind and solar, and that's not reliable in a pinch. Which I don't think is a great way to operate a grid. He's urging lawmakers to incentivize the building of new natural gas-powered plants. Last week, Texas set a record for power demand. He says that's expected to double in the coming years, thanks to all the people moving here. That's Joe Morano. Centerpoint says it's preparing to make sure supply meets demand. David Holt with the Consumer Energy Alliance, as lawmakers want to ensure it's fair for everyone. We want to make sure that customers are covered, protected, and they're paying for the power that they're using. They're not paying for the power that these data centers then are building out. It is now 735. The city of Rosenberg is working on its next budget, a $2.3 million spending deficit could result in... A property tax increase, a suggestion getting pushback from the man in charge. I'm okay with looking at cutting some fat out of the budget. There is always wiggle room in every budget. So you look at that and then you look at the other cost-saving methods. Rosenberg Mayor William Benton says on top of cutting spending, they can also dip into city savings, but he will not support raising property taxes. So if you use THC products, be aware. New rules are now in effect.

After months of delays, new regulations in Texas will classify hemp products that contain more than trace amounts of THC other than Delta 9 as controlled substances. It's a ban on most consumable hemp products, and it includes edibles, gummies, and drinks as well as smokable products, pre-rolled joints, and topical products. The so-called total THC rules were supposed to take effect in March, but were put on hold several times while court injunctions were issued. Tanya J. Powers reporting. Protein is showing up in everything these days. You've got soda, you've got cookies, you've got chips, you've got cereal, ice cream too. But more of us are starting to look past the label. And a new survey finds more than half of Americans say they've been misled by products marketed as being high in protein as being healthier for you. When you flip over the package, right, they want to capture you on the front side, like protein, like this many grams of protein. But when you flip over the backside and you see a laundry list of words you can't pronounce, that's your red flag. Healthy living expert Paul Palford says extra protein does not erase the fact that you've got sugar, fat, or heavy processing. And at the end of the day, a protein cookie is a cookie. The Astros host the Rangers tonight. Coverage starts at 6 on Sports Talk 790. The game at 790 and KTRH. The Stroes, a half game behind the Rangers for first place in the AL West. I'm Cliff Saunders on Houston's news weather and traffic station news radio 740 KTRH. Info at the speed of Houston. Right now, Houston's morning news continues with Jimmy Amy Coney Barrett and the Houston Morning News team. 738 our time here in Houston's morning news. All right, there's been a lot of publicity. We've talked certainly about these Democrats socialists, especially this woman who was on Fox News Sunday, the national co-chair, Megan Reesner, I believe is her name, Megan Reisler. Yeah, the Democrat Socialist of America national co-chair. And the reaction to her has gotten a lot of people's attention. Including people on the left are going, oh my God, we don't need this right now. We don't need this. But how do the voters feel about it? We know that we've got Democrat, socialist candidates who are winning, but they're winning, you know, they're winning the primaries. They're winning, they haven't won a general election. We have to wait and see what happens with the general election. The only one who's won a general election is Zohran Mamdani. So Harris Faulkner on her Fox program yesterday. brought some voters on also as a man on the street voter reaction to the policies of the democrat socialist i wonder how that went reuben i want you to weigh in here based on what you've just heard but also what's important this midterm cycle well it's the most significant uh midterm that this country's going to have you have a cancer brewing here and it's building up very fast People looking at these small towns and villages and the mayor's offices. But I think it's going to go even further if we don't nip it in the butt. Right now, the socialists, and I don't call them socialists, they're actually communists. This is something that's going real fast. And if you don't get control of it, somehow it's going to absorb us. And I say get control, not negative.

But we really got to get the message out. As a Republican, conservative Republican, we really got to get our message out there and make it stronger so that people, especially those who are in the middle, you've got the independent voters, you've got to keep an eye on. They will go with us this time around, I hope, if these guys continue doing what they're doing. Countries and leaders that have embraced socialism. has had such a tragic end to it, and the people are the ones that end up suffering the most. Social Security is a socialist program. Medicare is a socialist program. Snap benefits. So it really depends on how you define socialism. I think people try to exploit it as to what is being described as today. I don't know, desperation, lack of knowledge. I don't think they know the impact it could have. I don't know, ignorance. Anything goes as long as it's not a Republican is the way people feel, I think. How are they going to do all the stuff that was promised for you people when they voted for him? How is he going to do all that? Isn't that what we fought in Vietnam? Communism, which is kind of like the brother of... The cousin or utter of communism is socialism? Yeah, well, if communism is the husband, then socialism is the wife. They're pretty close. 740, time for a little traffic and weather together. We'll check out that drive again. Here's Sky Mike. We've got a lot of housekeeping here. First of all, 290. Let's check 404. They have, in fact, cleared that wreck. That was outbound coming off the ramp. If you're going up from uptown to 290 to go outbound, I do that all the time. That wreck is now clear. Looks like we're back to speed here. Now they've taken a right lane. Let me see if they know that. 225 inbound at 610. Onlines are showing that a shoulder. It is not my workwife, Christina Cruz, pulled it up. And sure enough, she says it's the right lane. I see it right there. This is inbound. Look out from Scarborough Lane here. Gulf Freeway, we cleared a minor thing at Park Place. We don't have the wreck yet at the Loop. Nord Freeway, we don't have the wreck yet at the Chepard Curve. That's southbound. And we are kind of thick now from Airtex. Again, right after Gulf Bank, you'll lose about three or four until you get to the Ferris wheel downtown. 69's terrible also. The East Tech's freeway. That's a lot of breaks right at the ballpark. Stopping and going down to the Big George. Remember, you could talk to us on your tip line, 713212T-IPS, or the free I-Heart radio app, Edna from Summerwood. Hey, Jimmy. I didn't hear the whole story because I was getting out of the shower. But I heard something about tattoos for a job. As soon as I already have a full sleeve tattoo on both calves, I'd be good with getting another tattoo, depending on where it is, not on my face, neck, or hands. I'd be good with it. All right, Edna, with the tattoos. I'm Sky Mike. It's your ability tree experts traffic. Center. No, we just have to see what kind of tattoo she's willing to get, right? I know. From our KTRH Generator Super Center, 24-hour Weather Center for today, plenty of sunshine.

Same thing for tomorrow and for Sunday. Although tomorrow, now Jeffino says, what, a little slight chance of rain, Jeff? That's the emphasis on slight. About a 10% chance, according to the weather service. And then a little bit of a better opportunity, about a 30% chance for maybe some straight of scattered showers and storms Saturday night. But they have put that into the forecast. Today, mostly sunny 99, heat index 105. Tonight mostly clear, low near 80. Now tomorrow with the sunshine. Now they're saying... high right around 100 degrees with that stray shower. Heat index around 109. If we hit that, it looks like we might need a heat advisory for tomorrow and then back to the upper 90s for Sunday with mostly sunshine to finish out the weekend. Fellas, have a great weekend. I've enjoyed it. You too. 80 right now with your official severe weather station. News Radio 740, KTRH. I always hit traffic on 59. Next on the 10. Your faster commute on 740 KTRH. 750 are time here in Houston's morning news. So Mays Middleton, who's running for Attorney General of the state of Texas, would like to prosecute Anthony Fauci. I'm not sure under what grounds he would try to. But I know a fellow Texan that does believe that Anthony Fauci needs to be prosecuted. And he knows exactly why Anthony Fauci took the fifth. And that would be Senator Ted Cruz. We have some audio to share with you coming up next. First, though, traffic and weather together. We're checking up the drive again with Skymine. It's getting ugly downtown East Tech's elevated solid breaks from the ballpark. We lose about four minutes this way, about about 14 minutes to the Med Center. Southwest Freeway, you were the first to know about that outbound wreck at Willie T. It's a right lane. Thank you, Kat, from Brookside Village. Also banana stickers. Cindy from Dayton, Edna from Summerwood. She's getting out of the shower. She's kind of on the hot side there, Jimmy. Oh, speaking of, I'm playing tomorrow night and you know. a wedding, and if I can find a place safe to drop my trailer, I want to go to the Shulenberg Festival Sunday. I'm in the Ability Tree Experts Traffic Center. Yep, get the chilly. Get the chilly. From our KTRH Generator Supercenter, 24-hour weather center for today. Mostly sunny. Right around 100. Same forecast for tomorrow, except tomorrow, throw a 10% rain chance in, and then Sunday, mostly sunny with a high again, right about 100. Currently 80, at your official severe weather station. News Radio 740, KTRH. Cliff is here from our newsroom, ready to fill you in on some of our top stories. A pair of South Texas hospitals are under formal state investigation over alleged birth tourism schemes. A new Forbes list says Joe Rogan is the top paid podcaster of the year at 82 million bucks. And go figure, Taco Bell's parent company says the cyclospora outbreak. is hurting sales. I can't imagine why. It's explosive news there. Get the latest news anytime at KTRH.com. Our next update is at 8 o'clock. Our 59 inbound at the loop is always a problem. KTRH time saving traffic. Next on the 10.

All right, it's a COVID update, except it's specifically about Dr. Anthony Fauci. Will Dr. Anthony Fauci be prosecuted for any possible crimes against humanity? After all, we're all human, aren't we? Yeah. I said yes, I say it again. If only there was a way to divert all the money that he made from COVID to at least paying some of these small business people, some sort of damages for... what government did in Dr. Anthony Fauci's name, in shutting people down. Senator Ted Cruz, speaking out about Anthony Fauci, he thinks he should be prosecuted and he thinks he knows exactly why Anthony Fauci took the fifth. The reason he had to plead the fifth is his alternative was lying to Congress, and that's something sadly Dr. Anthony Fauci has done repeatedly. What has become public now is his private diaries, and his private diaries reveal that he was lying to Congress and lying to the American people. day after day, week after week, month after month throughout the entire COVID pandemic. For example, in his diaries, he noted in January at the beginning of the pandemic that it was obvious that COVID did not originate in the wet market. And yet he went on national television. He told Congress, COVID came to the wet market, did not come from the Wuhan Institute for virology. It was not a leak from a Chinese government lab. Now, there's a reason for that, which is Dr. Anthony Fauci was responsible for releasing funds that funded what I believe was that was the research, the gain of function research that modified and created the COVID virus. So he was covering his own rear end when he was doing that, but he was deliberately lying. And you look at his diaries also that showed just a megalomaniac. I mean, he was just, he described himself as a rock star on TV. He was interested in being in TV rather than saving people's lives. And so he faced a challenge because, yes, the pardon that Joe Biden corruptly gave him to cover up from his criminality. That was retrospective. That covered past crimes. But if he went to the Senate and lied again yesterday, I believe the Department of Justice would prosecute him for lying to Congress under oath. And so Dr. Anthony Fauci was not willing to tell the truth that he was a craven liar who destroyed jobs, who destroyed lives, who destroyed the future of kids. Another lie that he revealed in his diary. is he was reveling and convincing Democrats in New York and California to shut down schools. He was thrilled that he convinced them to shut down schools. And then Dr. Anthony Fauci went on TV and said, oh, I wasn't for the shutdowns. I didn't urge anyone to shut down schools. That was a lie. And Maria, I think 10 years from now. Social scientists are going to look back at the school shutdowns during the COVID pandemic and view it as the most inexplicable, disastrous public policy decision in modern times. We now have the data that the learning loss due to Democrats shutting down schools for over a year is the highest that has ever been recorded.

And the racial gap, the gap between African-American and white students, the gap between Hispanic and white students grew more due to the Democrat shutdowns, due to Dr. Anthony Fauci's shutdowns than it ever has in the history of America. That's why he pleaded the fifth because he couldn't defend his own conduct. Yeah, but he'll never really pay for it. He's 85 years old. You could send him to prison tomorrow. How long is he going to be there? Hey, listen, y'all have a great weekend. I'll see you Monday morning, bright and early 5 a.m. Hope to see this afternoon at 1am 9.50, KPRC.