Texas continues to crack down on noncitizens voting. New actions were announced Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas and the Texas Secretary of State.
In the northern district, U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould announced that seven non-citizens were charged with unlawfully voting in federal elections or falsely claiming U.S. citizenship in Tarrant County.
Six were indicted on Sept. 10; one was charged by a criminal complaint on Sept. 11. All seven have been arrested. Federal agents arrested one on Sept. 11, five on Sept.14 and one surrendered to federal authorities on Tuesday.
“Federal elections belong to American citizens – period,” Raybould said. “When individuals who are not citizens cast ballots or falsely claim citizenship, they violate federal law, undermine the integrity of our electoral process and erode the public’s confidence in the fairness of our elections. These charges send a clear message: We will enforce the law. We will hold offenders accountable. And we will safeguard the voting process for the citizens it is meant to serve.
“These are not isolated incidents in North Texas,” he added. On the same day that several noncitizens were indicted, an illegal foreign national from Mexico was sentenced to 36 months in prison for aggravated identity theft, identity theft, “voting by an alien in a federal election” and false statements of citizenship, his office said.
Charges include “voting by an alien in a federal election and false statement of citizenship in order to register to vote,” and making false statements in relation to naturalization.
Those charged include a 67-year-old Nigerian citizen and lawful permanent resident (LPR, Green Card holder) in Tarrant County; a 27-year-old Nigerian citizen and LPR; 41-year-old Mexican citizen and LPR; a 69-year-old Indian citizen and LPR; a 20-year-old citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo and LPR; a 38-year-old Mexican citizen and LPR; and a 36-year-old Mexican national in the country illegally who was ordered to be deported in July and remained a fugitive until he turned himself in.
Homeland Security Investigations and FBI Dallas field offices conducted investigations with assistance from the OAG’s Election Integrity Unit and Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office.
Also on Tuesday, the Texas Secretary of State referred 117 cases to the OAG to investigate noncitizens who have potentially voted in federal elections. The referral “is part of a larger update on Texas’ ongoing efforts to review voter citizenship ahead of the Nov. 3 Election,” the office said.
“By law and according to our Constitution, citizenship is a requirement to vote in Texas, and we have a duty to ensure that only eligible voters participate in our elections,” Secretary of State Robert Howden said. “We also have a responsibility to make sure eligible citizens can exercise their right to vote, which is why we are taking great care with this data and conducting additional layers of due diligence.”
Last fall, the SOS ran the names of 18 million registered voters in Texas through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database. The process identified 2,724 potential noncitizens on Texas’ voter rolls. The list of names was referred to county registrars to conduct their own investigations pursuant to state law.
The SOS also partnered with the Texas Department of Public Safety to manually review the 2,724 names. They also asked counties to report back the results of their local investigations, the SOS said.
The additional review narrowed the number of potential noncitizens by showing that 578 voters demonstrated citizenship. Among them were 506 whose passport information had been added to SAVE after the SOS’s initial data comparison. The SOS then advised counties to reinstate these registrations if they had been removed.
The SOS announcement comes after the SOS identified nearly 3,000 noncitizens on the voter rolls in Texas last October, The Center Square reported.
The SOS analysis of voter rolls crosschecked with SAVE began last year after the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security made available the SAVE database to state governments. The Biden administration had denied states access to the database contrary to federal law, prompting Texas and 16 states to sue for access.
In 2024, Texas removed 6,500 noncitizens from its voter rolls and requested information on noncitizens from DHS/USCIS, The Center Square reported. This included a list of 454,289 registered voters in Texas “who have never had their citizenship verified.” It requested access to crosscheck the data with federal citizenship data, which the Biden administration rejected.
Last year, Texas was one of the first states to participate in a pilot program with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to perform voter list maintenance using SAVE.
If found guilty, the offenses result in the foreign nationals losing their LPR status and being deported, according to federal law. The Mexican national with a deportation order faces expedited removal, authorities have told The Center Square.
A lawsuit over the admission of a transgender woman into a University of Wyoming sorority will start with opening arguments Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver.
The day in court comes three years after several women within the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority - an Ohio-based national, women-only nonprofit - filed a suit in Wyoming’s U.S. District Court over the admission of Artemis Langford, a transgender woman, into the organization’s chapter at the University of Wyoming. Langford is the first openly transgender woman to join at sorority at the university. The case is Holtmeier, et. al v. Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, et. al. Proceedings are scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. Mountain time Monday and will live stream at youtube.com.
In March 2023, several women within the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority at the University of Wyoming sued the national sorority organization, including Mary Pat Rooney, president of the Fraternity Council; Kappa Kappa Gamma Building Co. and Langford.
The plaintiffs were seeking declaratory relief, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, monetary damages, costs and attorneys’ fees.
Following an amended complaint in which the plaintiffs added an additional defendant in April, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss in June 2023. U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson granted the motion to dismiss without prejudice on Aug. 25, 2023.
Johnson granted the relief on First Amendment grounds, stating the sorority council’s decision to admit a transgender woman was within its First Amendment rights regarding freedom of expressive association.
Johnson also doubled down on the fact that the sorority’s definition of a woman had remained unchanged since 2018. The judge also said any new definition to exclude transgender women would have to be implemented through the organization’s bylaw amendment process.
The federal court in Wyoming effectively ruled that the sorority members were not entitled to a biological women’s-only sorority – despite the Kappa Kappa Gamma bylaws stating they are, in fact, entitled to a women’s-only sorority – because the word “woman” is subject to an individual’s own interpretation.
Since Johnson’s first motion to dismiss was granted in August 2023, the plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, but the appeal was struck down in July 2024 for lack of jurisdiction since the U.S. District Court in Wyoming had not issued a permanent decision.
A nonprofit organization based in Washington D.C. called Independent Women’s Forum has continued to support the plaintiffs since the case was initially filed. An attorney working for the Independent Women’s Law Center, May Mailman, appealed the case in June 2024 on behalf of the plaintiffs, who include Hannah Holtmeier, Allison Coghan and Haley Rutsch.
In response, defendants filed another motion in February 2025 for the U.S. District Court in Wyoming to issue a deadline for the plaintiffs to amend their complaint. Johnson granted this motion and gave the plaintiffs 30 days to amend the complaint, to which they did. But the defendants then filed a motion to dismiss that complaint at the end of June 2025.
Johnson granted the defendant’s June 2025 motion to dismiss with prejudice one month later in August. The plaintiffs filed an appeal with 10th Circuit again in September 2025.
The Independent Women’s Forum told The Center Square that it will be in Denver on Monday for the 10th Circuit proceedings.
Beth Parlato, the senior legal counsel of Independent Women's Law Center (part of the forum), told The Center Square that the organization is looking forward to Monday’s arguments and the opportunity for the women to make their case in front of a federal court.
“At its core, this case is about something remarkably simple: a women’s sorority should be for women," Parlato said. "The notion that an organization founded to provide sisterhood and community for women can redefine ‘woman’ to include a man and then require its female members to accept a male into the intimate spaces where they live, sleep, and change, is unconscionable,”
The Independent Women’s Law Center said it hoped the court will allow the plaintiffs to move forward with their claims and have the opportunity to be heard.
“They should not lose their rights to privacy, dignity, and the very sisterhood they were promised simply because Kappa’s leadership decided that the word ‘woman’ no longer has an objective meaning,” Parlato said.
Thursday marks one year since the assassination of Christian and conservative leader Charlie Kirk, who will be honored during a Turning Point USA service in the evening.
"The Freedom Built to Last Memorial Honoring Charlie Kirk" program will start at 6:30 p.m. Thursday Mountain time at the UCCU Center at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Speakers include Glenn Beck, host of "The Glenn Beck Show," founder of Blaze Media & Torch and bestselling author; Frank Turek, speaker, author and president of Cross Examined Ministries; Andrew Sypher, TPUSA chief field officer, and Caleb Chillicut, Utah representative to TPUSA's College Department. The service will live-stream at YouTube, X, Facebook and Rumble.
It was just after noon in Orem, Utah on Sept. 10, 2025, when Kirk was shot and killed during a Turning Point USA event. Kirk, the founder and president of TPUSA, was doing a Q&A in front of nearly 3,000 people at Utah Valley University at the time of the shooting. Question-and-answer sessions were common for Kirk and his many campus appearances for TPUSA events.
President Donald Trump announced Kirk’s death on social media approximately two hours after the shooting.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.”
Kirk was 31. He left behind his wife, Erika, and two children.
On Sept. 12, 2025, Erika Kirk delivered a public address from TPUSA headquarters in Phoenix, where she pledged to continue his work. “The movement my husband built will not die. It will become stronger, bolder, louder, and greater than ever.”
It was also on Sept. 12, 2025, that authorities identified 22-year-old Tyler Robinson as the suspect in the assassination. Authorities said Robinson turned himself in at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, where he was booked on charges including aggravated murder and weapons offenses. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said that evidence included shell casings that had political messages. The Republican governor added that family members claimed Robinson “had become more political in recent years” and “was full of hate and spreading hate.”
Since Charlie Kirk’s death, interest in TPUSA chapters has risen dramatically, and not just in colleges, but for high school students in public, private, and homeschool settings. TPUSA noted many people also started attending church services and/or reading the Bible.
TPUSA supporters talked about this on Sept. 21, 2025, during a memorial service for Charlie Kirk. Thousands of people showed up to pay their respects at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, near Phoenix. Christian music was performed live between speeches. Videos of Kirk speaking to people at TPUSA events also appeared on monitors.
Erika Kirk said people have responded to his death the way that her late husband would have wanted.
“After Charlie's assassination, we didn't see violence, we didn't see rioting, we didn't see revolution. Instead we saw revival, with some people opening a Bible for the first time in a decade,” said Erika Kirk, who had just been named CEO and chair of TPUSA before the memorial service. “We saw people pray for the first time since they were children. We saw people go to a church service for the first time in their entire lives.”
Erika Kirk also spoke about Robinson.
“That man, that young man - I forgive him,” she said.
Trump told the large audience at the service that Charlie Kirk was a great man who played a big role in helping get the president back into office.
“He was violently killed because he spoke for freedom and justice, for God and country, for reason and common sense,” Trump said. “He was assassinated because he lived bravely, he lived boldly, and he argued brilliantly without apology. He did what was right for our nation.”
Trump later announced that he would posthumously award Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“It’s the highest civilian honor,” said Trump, who delivered on his promise on Oct. 14, 2025, which would have been Charlie Kirk’s 32nd birthday.
In addition to the president, the medal ceremony was attended by Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance, several cabinet members and congressional members, as well as a who’s who of conservative journalists and influencers.
Utah Valley University reopened campus for classes on Sept. 16, 2025.
Following months of court proceedings, Utah Fourth District Judge Tony Graf ruled on Sept. 2, 2026, that the prosecution’s evidence was sufficient for Robinson to be tried on seven counts, six of which are felonies. They include aggravated murder and multiple counts of witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray, the county’s top prosecutor, has said he will seek the death penalty if Robinson, now 23, is convicted of murder.
After Graf's ruling, defense attorney Kathryn "Kathy" Nester entered a plea of "not guilty" to all of the charges on Robinson's behalf.
During the hearing, Erica Kirk and Charlie's parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, sat in the Provo, Utah, courtroom, where Graf ruled that a hearing would take place Oct. 23 to determine the trial date. A lawyer representing Erika Kirk asked the judge to be certain to determine the trial date at the proceeding, noting justice shouldn't be delayed for Charlie Kirk's family.
President Donald Trump said he would offer every eligible American adult a $5,000 “Trump Dividend” if Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House and Senate in the midterm elections.
“It’s $5,000 to every adult,” Trump told a crowd at the first-ever Republican midterm convention in Dallas Wednesday night. “If the Republicans win, you win.”
The president conditioned the dividends on spending the funds in the U.S. It was immediately unclear how the payments would be sent out, but Trump pointed to tariff revenue as a potential source of income. The payment plan would cost the government around $1.3 trillion, a massive figure of the government’s $7 trillion annual budget.
“The reason Democrats can’t do that is because they don’t do tariffs, they don’t take in money,” Trump said. “All they know is poverty and how to ruin our country, but we’re making a fortune.”
This is not the first time Trump has proposed offering a dividend based on tariff revenue. He proposed $2,000 tariff dividend checks last year to working-class American families, which have yet to be sent out.
The president tied himself closely with candidates across the country and called on voters to turn out as if he were on the ballot, an apparent acknowledgment of his ability to motivate Republican voters.
“I’m asking you to pretend I’m on the ballot,” Trump said. “I’m on the ballot, just one more time.”
He asserted that voters would choose between “common sense” Republicans and “crazy” Democrats. Trump pointed to stated policy priorities of the Democratic Socialists of America, including abolishing the U.S. Senate, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We’re not going to let communism happen, not here, not in America, not in our 250th year,” Trump said. “If they win, the greatest legislative body in history will, for the first time ever, be controlled by a communist caucus.”
Trump touted his legislative accomplishments over the last year, including the “One Big Beautiful Bill," immigration enforcement, and called for voters to elect Republicans in 35 races he identified as “swings.”
“If we lose, you’re going to lose your border, your tax cuts, you’re going to lose your safety and security, you’re going to lose your wealth,” Trump said.
He highlighted Ken Paxton, the current Texas Attorney General and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. Trump credited Paxton for the implementation of the administration’s border policies.
“He’s the greatest attorney general in America and he deserves to be your next senator,” Trump said. “We have the wall because of him. We have so many victories because of Ken.”
Paxton, who was endorsed by Trump, secured the Republican nomination over long-time Sen. John Cornyn, who Trump also praised for his support of the southern border wall.
“In the past 16 months, a historic record of zero illegal aliens have been admitted through your border in Texas,” Trump said. “They used to be running around, running rampant, killing people, destroying many houses and farms, and ruining property values and creating havoc all over the state of Texas.”
Trump also boasted of Michael Whatley, a Republican candidate for Senate in North Carolina, and slammed Roy Cooper, the former governor and Democratic candidate for Senate. He said North Carolina has become a “crime-ridden state.”
“Michael Whatley will straighten things out just like he did when he ran the Republican party when we won in a landslide election,” Trump said.
The president touted the no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and no tax on social security payments as part of his legislative priorities. He also boasted of deals throughout the country to advance domestic manufacturing.
“It’s like the golden age of America,” Trump said. “It’s the golden age of the automobile business.”
Trump praised Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune for advancing critical legislation over the course of his second term. The president’s introduction of Thune was met with jeers from the crowd in Dallas, which Trump asked to quiet down.
“John is working hard,” Trump told the crowd in an effort to quiet down heckles. “He’s got great opposition from the Democrat Chuck Schumer and these guys, they’re terrible.”
Throughout the evening, attendees heckled Senate Republicans, including John Barrasso to pass the SAVE America Act. The legislation would require proof of citizenship and identification in order to vote in the U.S. and would place restrictions on mail-in voting. Trump criticized Democratic holdouts on the bill for concerns over needing a photo ID to vote.
“They say it’s important not to have voter ID because it’s extraordinarily difficult for some people,” Trump said. “They have more [expletive] than any human being.”
Trump also addressed affordability concerns associated with rising gas prices as the U.S. conflict with Iran continues. He acknowledged the concern over rising gas prices, but said Iran could not have a nuclear weapon.
“The places we bombed would have been turned into nuclear weapons,” the president said.
Trump recalled his initial decision to engage in military conflict with Iran and the pushback from members of his cabinet. He acknowledged the connection between military conflict and rising domestic costs but also issued a stern warning to Iran to refrain from future attacks.
"I would advise Iran to not get cute because we will have to hit them very hard," Trump said.
The president said he would work to combat fraud, lower healthcare prices, cut medical billing, credit card fees, to make tax cuts permanent, pass legislation to prevent future administrations from operating relaxed border enforcement policies and pass the SAVE America Act.
"Please pretend that I am running and get out and vote on November 3 or sooner," Trump said. "We have to have Congress, we have the have the majorities. We have to make sure [Democrats] don't have a chance to destroy our country."
"Together we will make America powerful again, we will make America wealthy again, we will make America healthy again, we will make America strong again, we will make America proud again, we will make America safe again and we will America great again," the president concluded.
(The Center Square) – Wisconsin has seen 32 fatalities from all-terrain and utility task vehicles this year and the DNR says that it will have additional law enforcement officers over the Labor Day weekend.
Eighteen of the fatalities were on UTVs and 14 on ATVs across the state with the most recent being two accidents on Aug. 17, including a UTV collision with a motor vehicle in Wilson and a 24-year-old passenger who was ejected from a UTV in Lafayette County.
"This is trending in the wrong direction as we continue to see an increase of injury and fatal ATV and UTV crashes – with plenty of riding season left this year," Lt. Jacob Holsclaw, DNR off-highway vehicle administrator, said in the enforcement announcement. "A large percentage of injury and fatal crashes involve riders not wearing helmets or seatbelts, operating without completing a safety course or with some level of impairment. I can’t stress enough that the public needs to regulate themselves every time they go out riding."
The DNR officers will be monitoring safety equipment, Operating While Intoxicated and other driving issues such as speeding.
The DNR maintains a list of fatalities on ATVs and UTVs in the state that includes where the operator had safety certification, if alcohol was involved and whether a helmet or safety belt were being used.
(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s wildlife managers say the state’s deer population is at risk because of a growing EHD outbreak.
The state’s Department of Natural Resources last week said it is tracking deer deaths related to epizootic hemorrhagic disease.
"An ongoing EHD outbreak has been confirmed in wild deer in Washington County and suspect cases are also being reported from northern Waukesha and Ozaukee counties. The DNR continues to catalogue all reports of potentially impacted deer, but sampling is prioritized in regions where the virus has not already been confirmed this summer," the DNR said in a statement. "The DNR is tracking this outbreak through reported sightings of recently dead deer in the area."
The DNR said it had received 100 reports of dead deer through the middle of August, but those reports have spiked. As of Monday, the DNR said it has received 600 reports of dead deer.
Some of those are in southeast Wisconsin, specifically Waukesha and Ozaukee counties.
EHD is often deadly for deer and has been a problem in Wisconsin for years. The DNR said EHD was first confirmed in 2002, but the outbreak began to grow in 2012.
There are now 24 counties that have or have had an EHD case.
"Department staff continues to monitor the deer herd for indications of HD and ask citizens to report any unusual observations of dead deer to the DNR," the department said. "In areas where HD regularly occurs, death rates are lower, usually less than 25% of the population, in areas where the disease rarely occurs. In Wisconsin, death rates can be much higher and high-density deer herds may have higher mortality rates."
Wildlife managers say there are clear signs of infected deer.
“Deer that are infected and have the most severe cases of the disease may be unafraid of humans, salivate excessively, have foam present around the nose (sometimes with blood), appear weak but in good body condition and may appear to have swollen areas of their body (typically the areas of the head and neck). Deer may also be found in or near water, as they can develop very high fevers and be dehydrated,” the DNR added.
But most EHD cases are confirmed only after the deer had died.
While EHD is often deadly for deer, the DNR said it is not a risk to humans.
