Bexar County: Nearly 18,000 mail ballots reported locally, versus just 8 on the state website.
Fort Bend County: More than 75,000 in-person votes reported locally, versus just over 41,000 on the state website.
The explanation: “Problems with Texas' election management system, including delays and errors in entering voting data.”

Before yall generalize Indian-Americans for voting Republican, keep in mind that 61% voted for Kamala in 2024 against 32% for Trump, one of the highest rates for Democrats outside of African-Americans.

A North Texas teacher allegedly sent students some seriously bizarre digital messages.

Then, according to federal prosecutors, he told the FBI the students were the ones sending them.

Landon Beck, 32, was indicted Oct. 7 on a federal charge of making false statements to investigators after an investigation into his communications with students through Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD's internal messaging system, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas.

The FBI alleges Beck, who worked for the district since March 2023, sent students photos of an adult man defecating outdoors, images depicting a digital rectal exam, photos of adult men kissing and cartoon or "meme" images of male genitals.

Prosecutors also allege he discussed a pornography website with a special needs student and called another special needs student "wee ta did."

During interviews with federal agents on July 9 and July 30, Beck allegedly denied sending the inappropriate content and claimed the messages instead came from special needs students, according to the indictment.

The 32-year-old is now charged with making false statements to federal agents and faces up to five years in federal prison if convicted. 

Source: Houston Chronicle via MSN (non-paywall version).

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/north-texas-teacher-allegedly-sent-students-poop-porn-and-genital-memes/ar-AA2fZv0R

The owners of Three Z Printing have given about $662,000 in federal donations since 2012, all to Republicans and mostly to Trump committees (FEC).

• CEO gave $125,000 to the Trump 47 Committee in 2024 and $244,600 to Trump Victory in 2018–2020.

• His son, a Three Z owner and board member who lives in the Dallas area, gave $70,000 to the Trump 47 Committee in 2024.

• NRCC donations. CEO gave about $23,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2017–2020. That’s the only federal committee recorded paying SnailWorks, the mail-tracking firm tied to the mailers’ barcodes (FEC). SnailWorks says the NRCC wasn’t this client, and those donations were years ago.

• Republican House candidates. Son gave to Julia Letlow (R-LA), Jodey Arrington (R-TX) and BULLDOG PAC in 2022. Bill gave to Esther Joy King (R-IL) and others in 2020.

• A Texas presence. Son has lived in Flower Mound, Dallas and Frisco (FEC), so a Three Z owner has ties to North Texas.

• Three Z sells political mail and the exact services used here. Its direct-mail page lists “Political Mailings,” mail tracking through Informed Visibility, the USPS service that companies like SnailWorks use, and on-site bulk mail entry. That fits the barcode we decoded and the permit on your envelope. It’s consistent with Three Z running the whole job, though it isn’t proof.

—-

EDIT:

I want to be clear about what we do and don’t know:

Three Z is owner of the bulk mail permit. They may or may not have been involved in the design, and may or may not have financed them.

That said, the deep MAGA ties make "just an unwitting vendor" harder to believe.

The scale makes it more circumspect. A job of that size means someone there knew the job existed and who was paying.

—

SOURCES:

Reporting on company behind the mailers:

https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/texas-transgender-mailers-lawsuit-sender-investigation-october-2026/

Federal Election Commission records

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=zerrusen&two_year_transaction_period=2012&two_year_transaction_period=2014&two_year_transaction_period=2016&two_year_transaction_period=2018&two_year_transaction_period=2020&two_year_transaction_period=2022&two_year_transaction_period=2024&two_year_transaction_period=2026

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=zerrusen&contributor_city=teutopolis&contributor_state=IL&two_year_transaction_period=2012&two_year_transaction_period=2014&two_year_transaction_period=2016&two_year_transaction_period=2018&two_year_transaction_period=2020&two_year_transaction_period=2022&two_year_transaction_period=2024&two_year_transaction_period=2026

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=zerrusen&contributor_state=TX&two_year_transaction_period=2012&two_year_transaction_period=2014&two_year_transaction_period=2016&two_year_transaction_period=2018&two_year_transaction_period=2020&two_year_transaction_period=2022&two_year_transaction_period=2024&two_year_transaction_period=2026

The city of Temple's recent news release about implementing and testing its Drone as First Responder (called DFR) program left out some history. In June, a police drone was first on the scene of an accident involving an 18-wheeler on Interstate 35 that caused a head injury.

That’s because the drone caused the crash.

The day the promotional news release was sent to news media, the city released documents to the Telegram after months of stonewalling access to the public records.

The city release of documents confirmed a police drone flew through the windshield of a Peterbilt tractor-trailer truck in June, cutting the face of a Canadian driver and sending him to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Temple.

Source: Temple Daily Telegram

https://www.tdtnews.com/news/central_texas_news/article_402a22bc-5551-45f2-a2ea-ea98df750bbb.html

Edit: Formatting

Trying to be healthy but struggling to keep my weight under control now that I'm in my forties (and while I continue struggling with a hormonal imbalance causing insulin resistance...). Despite keeping up with my Metformin treatment (which I take for the PMOS-induced insulin resistance, not diabetes nor pre-diabetes as I don't have either), what I've done a little more than a decade ago to manage through diet and exercise isn't working anymore. (What a difference being 43 rather than 32 makes!)

I'll save you the different episodes of my life-long weight-loss journey, but at this point in my life, I feel like I'm all out of options and need to turn to GLP1 agonists like Ozempic and Wegovy. We discussed a newer one called Foundayo with my endocrinologist who provided me with a sample for it. But after my poor experience with appetite reducers a few years ago, I don't want to start something that I can't finish, so I called Express Scripts to check on coverage and was told that the UT Select BCBS has a blanket exclusion of all GLP1 agonists.

The nice lady who informed me of that agreed with me that it didn't make sense not to cover that despite my BMI being 32 and let me develop serious health conditions like clogged arteries (my cholesterol is already a little high...), but didn't have a solution. I need to call my endocrinologist office this Monday and see if they really can't help me get it covered by insurance like the doctor seemed to suggest on Friday. But I don't know the first thing about fighting your insurance for medication coverage, so welcome tips from others insured through the University of Texas System.

The name on the ballot says Ken Paxton, but James Talarico’s real opponent increasingly looks to be Elon Musk.

The Texas trillionaire has already invested more than $150 million into trying to stop Talarico from beating Paxton, and is now all over his social media platform over the last two days with posts and ads calling the Democrat “a creep” who “hates Texas” and has “pure evil” ideas.

For more than a year, Talarico has been pushing a message about taking on the billionaires, and while he’s alluded to Musk in speeches, he hasn’t talked about him as directly as he is this week.

"In all likelihood, if you have seen an attack ad on your TV, that was Elon," Talarico said during a rally at the University of North Texas in Denton earlier this week. "If you've gotten lies in your mailbox, that was Elon. If you've received a text message saying scary things about me, that was Elon, too. Ken Paxton is funded by one dude."
But he didn’t stop there. 

“Elon Musk wants our land,” Talarico said. “He wants our water. He wants his very own personal U.S. senator. He is trying to buy Texas.”

Hi everyone, my partner and I are running a quick survey for people who ride CapMetro. We are doing a research project for our school which is focused on CapMetro! Whether you ride the bus or the train every single day, or you've only taken it a few times, we would incredibly appreciate your feedback! Time to complete: 2 to 3 minutes. Privacy: All responses are completely anonymous and used strictly for academic research.

Take the survey here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSerCgtH9enkTv9FR5xQKw3eh3BGDY6iEvMLLNfYVFdFhdtMog/viewform?usp=header