Latest news with #GregAbbott
Daily Mirror
6 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Lottery winner lands huge £65m jackpot prize - but she doesn't receive a penny
The woman, from Texas, filed the legal action after she bought a lottery ticket using a third-party carrier app. The eye-watering prize has been left unpaid for months A furious lottery winner has launched a lawsuit against a jackpot commission after she claims her £65m prize had been left unpaid for three months. The woman, from Texas, filed the legal action in Montgomery County on May 19 after she bought a lottery ticket on February 17 for the "Lotto Texas" game using a third-party carrier app, Jackpocket. According to the lawsuit, the woman purchased her winning £65 million ticket via the app, which was legal at the time. However, just a week after her win, the lottery commission banned the courier service over its legality. The lottery winner, only identified in the case as "Jane Doe", had verified her win on March 18, but the Texas Lottery Commission has withheld payments. The lawsuit alleges they are retrospectively applying new rules to invalidate her win, which she claims is illegal. The unhappy woman previously said: "I've gone through frustration and being sad and stressed, and now I'm just angry. I literally spent $20. I didn't spend $26 million to run every single possible combination of numbers." "Every Texan knows what that should mean when it comes to the lottery – if you win, you should get paid," the suit says. "It shouldn't take a lawsuit to get paid when you win the lottery. But that's exactly what has happened here.' It comes as the Lottery Commission's recent ban on third-party services has led to several investigations and resignations. In April, the commission voted to prohibit couriers from selling tickets online following several high-profile incidents, including a £70.33 million jackpot win in 2023 involving bulk ticket purchases through a courier and this latest £65million win. The concern over using apps such as Jackpocket to purchase lottery tickets online through licensed retailers has sparked investigations about potential misuse. Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced authorities would be investigating the woman's winning ticket. "Texans must be able to trust in our state's lottery system and know that the lottery is conducted with integrity and lawfully," the governor said in a statement in February. Texas Lottery executive director Ryan Mindell resigned in April following serious concerns of courier services. "The proliferation of couriers in the state has raised serious concerns that the integrity, security, honesty, and fairness of lottery games is being undermined by the continued activity of courier services," he said in a statement. A spokesperson for the commission said the lawsuit is 'being reviewed under the Commission's claim validation requirements and is the subject of external investigation. "The agency does not have additional information to provide, as it does not comment on pending litigation and investigations," the spokesperson added.
The Herald Scotland
13 hours ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Trump's National Guard immigration enforcement could divide states
Guard troops under state authority are not subject to laws barring the military from directly participating in civilian law enforcement activities. The Trump administration, according to CNN, is assessing whether DHS can send requested National Guard troops sourced from red states -- such as from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's Texas -- into blue states like California, where Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is unlikely to authorize his troops to support DHS/ICE under state orders. Stephen Miller, the White House's deputy chief of staff for domestic policy, has previously floated the idea of such deployments. "You go to the red state governors and you say, 'Give us your National Guard.' We will deputize them as immigration enforcement officers," Miller said in a 2023 podcast interview with conservative activist Charlie Kirk. "If you're going to go into an unfriendly state like Maryland, when then it will just be Virginia doing the arrest in Maryland." Legal experts and former DHS officials who spoke with USA TODAY emphasized the unprecedented nature of such a proposal. John Sandweg, an attorney who served as ICE's acting director and as acting general counsel for DHS, said using the Guard for interior enforcement in unwilling states would "push the envelope of the idea of the state militia and National Guard." Sandweg said such an arrangement would be "very consistent with everything we're seeing" from the Trump administration, which relied on an obscure law only used once before (to break a U.S. Postal Service strike in 1970) when Trump overrode Newsom and took control of a significant portion of the California National Guard. The DHS request, if filled, would also radically depart from the Guard's historical role in immigration enforcement, which has been limited to border security under every administration since that of former President George W. Bush. The White House referred USA TODAY to DHS, which did not immediately respond to an inquiry. The Pentagon did not respond to a query from USA TODAY. "We very much support President Trump's focus on defending the homeland on our southern border, as well as supporting law enforcement officials doing their job in ICE in Los Angeles," Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth said at a June 11 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Return of ICE partnership program The DHS proposal called for the 20,000 National Guard troops operating under what is known as Title 32 authority. In that situation, the federal government picks up the tab but governors retain command authority. But the request memo, which USA TODAY obtained, specifies that the Guardsmen would then work for ICE through a partnership program known as 287(g). In recent months, the Trump administration has dramatically increased ICE's reach through the 287(g) partnership program by reestablishing its "task force" model. ICE confirmed receipt of questions from USA TODAY regarding the 287(g) program but did not respond before publication. The 287(g) program, which began in 1996, allows DHS and ICE to delegate immigration enforcement authority to local and state law enforcement agencies, whose officers then receive training from ICE. The state and local authorities are "deputized to enforce certain aspects of immigration law," according to Texas A&M law professor Huyen Pham. Once qualified, participating personnel from local/state agencies with task force agreements can join up with ICE-led immigration enforcement task forces, according to the agency website. But concerns over racial profiling by partner agencies and relative inefficiency compared to other programs led DHS to terminate all task force agreements during the Obama administration. The Trump administration has rapidly revived the model. Publicly available ICE data shows that between Inauguration Day and June 12, the administration inked 287(g) task force partnerships with 338 new local and state law enforcement agencies. That includes four states where the National Guard's state leader has signed an ICE task force agreement: Texas, Florida, Louisiana (via its parent agency, the Louisiana Military Department) and West Virginia. More: More than 600 local police agencies are partnering with ICE: See if yours is one of them It's unclear what specific roles Guard troops from those states play alongside DHS, though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis included the Florida National Guard in a list of agencies he thanked for their role in an April series of statewide immigration raids. But whether 287(g) task force participants can operate across state lines is another, legally untested matter. Joe Maher, who was the top career lawyer in DHS from 2011 to 2024, said interstate use of the authority was "never proposed" during his time with the department. Pham described the idea as "uncharted territory." Although Trump during his first administration deployed red state National Guard troops in state-controlled status into Washington, D.C. to quell civil unrest in June 2020, without the consent of local officials, experts believe there are constitutional problems with federal task forces taking state-controlled Guardsmen into unwilling states. But some, including legal scholars from New York University's Brennan Center, have argued a potential loophole exists unless Congress bans using the National Guard to enforce the law in other states without gubernatorial consent. Citing Alexander Hamilton's writing in the Federalist Papers, Maher said the framers "didn't think of having one state's militia or National Guard ... do law enforcement in another state that does not want that to happen." The Insurrection Act One state's adjutant general, who requested anonymity to discuss future operations, said he believes the administration is unlikely to take National Guard troops into unwilling states unless the Insurrection Act is invoked. The Insurrection Act allows the president to use active duty troops -- including National Guard members federalized under presidential authority, as 4,000 members of the California National Guard currently are -- to directly enforce laws without restriction. At that point, state consent largely wouldn't influence deployment decisions. Trump directed the Pentagon and DHS to study using the act for immigration enforcement in an executive order signed the first day of his second term. Although he has not invoked the Insurrection Act amid the anti-ICE protests or the ongoing deportation push, Trump said he would consider doing so if ongoing unrest worsened. Former Rep. Bill Enyart, D-Illinois, a retired two-star general who led the Illinois National Guard, said using the Insurrection Act for a deportation push would be "an overreach by the federal government." Enyart, also an attorney, argued that previous invocations of the law to override governors -- such as when President John F. Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard to enforce racial integration at the University of Alabama -- were "defending the civil rights" of the states' citizens. "This is pretty clearly a different situation," Enyart said. Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook and Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Greg Abbott Launches $20 Billion Texas Water Plan
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed two major bills into law on June 18, launching a landmark $20 billion investment aimed at tackling Texas' growing water shortages. Final funding approval for part of the plan will require voter consent in a November statewide ballot. Newsweek contacted Abbott for comment on Thursday via email outside regular office hours. Texas faces mounting water challenges driven by rapid population growth, frequent droughts and rising demands from agriculture and industry. Leaking infrastructure and dwindling supplies threaten quality of life and economic growth. Abbott's plan aims to secure the state's water future while addressing ongoing environmental concerns. Texas suffered from severe drought in the summer of 2023, with only 11 percent of the Lone Star State drought free, according to the U.S. Drought Map, though more rainfall improved the situation in 2024. In September 2024, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said the state loses "about a farm a week" because of water shortages. Details of the Water Investment The bills signed by Abbott-Senate Bill 7 (SB 7) and House Joint Resolution 7 (HJR 7)-target repairing aging water systems and investing in new supply sources. Half of the $20 billion allocation is earmarked for infrastructure upgrades and the other half will support projects such as pipelines and desalination. Voter Approval and Immediate Funding The plan requires voter approval of HJR 7 in November to dedicate $1 billion a year from state sales tax revenue, beginning in 2027. However, the $2.5 billion allocation for the Texas Water Fund is secured regardless of the November ballot result. The Texas Water Development Board will oversee project selection and funding distribution as the state shifts to a coordinated, regional strategy for water management. Texas Water Context Water scarcity is a recurring crisis in Texas. Years of drought, persistent population increases and intensified industrial use have stretched existing systems, forcing some cities to consider restricting development. The state also faces a backlog of expensive infrastructure repairs, with Houston alone reporting a $4.93 billion need because of leaking pipes according to city officials. Texas Governor Greg Abbott: "We lose about 88 billion gallons of water a year because of broken, busted, and aged pipes." State Senator Charles Perry: The new law represents "a cultural shift from the way we do water in Texas" and moved the focus to coordinated regional strategies. Texas voters will decide on final funding through a constitutional amendment in November. If passed, the initiative will set aside $1 billion annually for water projects, beginning in 2027, with immediate funds supporting urgent infrastructure needs across the state. Related Articles Texas Defunds Border WallGreg Abbott To Sign Texas Property Tax Bill: What To KnowTexas' Largest Newspaper Trashes Greg Abbott Protest Move: 'Expect Better'Texas to Deploy Thousands of National Guard Troops for Anti-Trump Protests 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Newsweek
a day ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Greg Abbott Launches $20 Billion Texas Water Plan
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed two major bills into law on June 18, launching a landmark $20 billion investment aimed at tackling Texas' growing water shortages. Final funding approval for part of the plan will require voter consent in a November statewide ballot. Newsweek contacted Abbott for comment on Thursday via email outside regular office hours. Why It Matters Texas faces mounting water challenges driven by rapid population growth, frequent droughts and rising demands from agriculture and industry. Leaking infrastructure and dwindling supplies threaten quality of life and economic growth. Abbott's plan aims to secure the state's water future while addressing ongoing environmental concerns. Texas suffered from severe drought in the summer of 2023, with only 11 percent of the Lone Star State drought free, according to the U.S. Drought Map, though more rainfall improved the situation in 2024. In September 2024, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said the state loses "about a farm a week" because of water shortages. Texas Governor Greg Abbott takes a question from a reporter outside the West Wing after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on February 5, 2025, in Washington. Texas Governor Greg Abbott takes a question from a reporter outside the West Wing after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on February 5, 2025, in Washington. Andrew Harnik/GETTY What To Know Details of the Water Investment The bills signed by Abbott—Senate Bill 7 (SB 7) and House Joint Resolution 7 (HJR 7)—target repairing aging water systems and investing in new supply sources. Half of the $20 billion allocation is earmarked for infrastructure upgrades and the other half will support projects such as pipelines and desalination. Voter Approval and Immediate Funding The plan requires voter approval of HJR 7 in November to dedicate $1 billion a year from state sales tax revenue, beginning in 2027. However, the $2.5 billion allocation for the Texas Water Fund is secured regardless of the November ballot result. The Texas Water Development Board will oversee project selection and funding distribution as the state shifts to a coordinated, regional strategy for water management. Texas Water Context Water scarcity is a recurring crisis in Texas. Years of drought, persistent population increases and intensified industrial use have stretched existing systems, forcing some cities to consider restricting development. The state also faces a backlog of expensive infrastructure repairs, with Houston alone reporting a $4.93 billion need because of leaking pipes according to city officials. What People Are Saying Texas Governor Greg Abbott: "We lose about 88 billion gallons of water a year because of broken, busted, and aged pipes." State Senator Charles Perry: The new law represents "a cultural shift from the way we do water in Texas" and moved the focus to coordinated regional strategies. What Happens Next Texas voters will decide on final funding through a constitutional amendment in November. If passed, the initiative will set aside $1 billion annually for water projects, beginning in 2027, with immediate funds supporting urgent infrastructure needs across the state.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas' border wall plan appears to be facing a sad, silent death
Texas appears to have quietly stopped funding its plans to construct its own border wall with Mexico, which could mark the end of an embarrassing boondoggle designed to bolster one of President Donald Trump's early campaign slogans. For years, conservatives have framed the idea of a border wall as essential to immigration enforcement, despite a chorus of critics denouncing it as costly and ineffective. And Texas Republicans' decision to defund the project seems like a tacit acknowledgment of that reality. The Texas Tribune was first to report that a new state budget signed into law earlier this month includes no money for the wall, which was envisioned as covering more than 800 miles. But only a fraction of that was ever completed — at great cost to taxpayers. According to the Tribune: Four years after Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas would be the first state to build its own border wall, lawmakers have quietly stopped funding the project, leaving only scattered segments covering a small fraction of the border. That decision, made in the waning hours of this year's legislative session, leaves the future of the state wall unclear. Just 8% of the 805 miles the state identified for construction is complete, which has cost taxpayers more than $3 billion to date. The Texas Tribune reported last year that the wall is full of gaps that migrants and smugglers can easily walk around and mostly concentrated on sprawling ranches in rural areas, where illegal border crossings are less likely to occur. Some Texas Republicans seem intent on spinning this retreat from their ill-conceived idea as a victory of sorts, or at least downplaying it as a sign of GOP backtracking. A spokesperson for Gov. Greg Abbott told the Tribune that the Trump administration's immigration crackdown has allowed the state to adjust its enforcement plans. And state Sen. Joan Huffman, the state's lead budget writer, told the outlet that rather than paying for the wall, the budget authorizes money for state entities that are aiding Abbott's immigration crusade: a controversial project known as Operation Lone Star, which also has been denounced as a tremendous waste of time and money. The idea of a 'big, beautiful wall' between the U.S. and Mexico has become deeply ingrained in the MAGA movement — Trump's followers have used chants and costumes to celebrate it. And yet, the idea appears dead as a doornail in Texas, a state virtually under total Republican control. And at this point, the scattered remains of the state's border wall seem like little more than shrines to the president's ignorant policies. This article was originally published on
