Around 30 people recently gathered at a Fort Worth co-working space to discuss ways to build a more inclusive community for all of Tarrant County’s residents. “Welcome to the one-year anniversary of the 817 Gather,” Nydia Cardenas, the event organizer, told the crowd. “Whether it’s your first time or your 12th time, you are welcome here.”

The monthly meetings, held every third Sunday and organized by the 817 Podcast, a weekly morning show focused on local politics, have become a hub for collective action to combat the influence of right-wing extremism and recent efforts by Tarrant County’s three GOP commissioners to consolidate power through precinct-level redistricting.

On June 3, 2025, county commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez joined fellow Republican Tim O’Hare, the county judge, in approving one of seven proposed redistricting maps, overriding strong public opposition and the dissenting votes of Democratic commissioners Roderick Miles, Jr. and Alisa Simmons.

That decision weakens minority representation into Precinct 2, which is currently held by Simmons, while packing minority groups into Miles’ Precinct 1 ahead of the March 2026 primary. Those elections will determine the party nominees for the county judge race and the commissioner seats in Precincts 2 and 4.

The effort to redraw Tarrant County along partisan lines has galvanized several progressive-minded groups to organize and collaborate like never before.  

Chris Tackett, a Tarrant County activist who founded See It, Name It, Fight It to combat local right-wing extremism, was at the recent grassroots gathering and told the Texas Observer that county Republicans fear losing the county judge seat. Flipping control of a more favorably drawn Precinct 2 could serve as a buffer that allows Republicans to retain a majority on the Commissioners Court even if Republicans lose the top county position in the November 2026 general election. “There are enough voters out there who can absolutely turn an election and blow up what they are trying to do,” he said. 

Cardenas, who has worked for over a decade as a consultant and mentor with minority-owned businesses and startups, used the recent 817 Gather meeting to announce her candidacy for Precinct 4 commissioner. It’s a decision, she told the Observer, that was spurred, in part by the recent months-long battle to prevent gerrymandering in Tarrant County, which is the top battleground county in Texas. Republican incumbent Manny Ramirez won that seat in 2022—part of a conservative wave election in Tarrant—by 18 points, giving Republicans a majority on the court. O’Hare was also elected that year by 6 percentage points. 

For years, she’s been a key community organizer for progressive causes that have sought to push back on the influence of right-wing churches and Christian Nationalists in local politics. Cardenas pointed to the Fort Worth City Council’s vote in late 2024 allowing Mercy Culture Church to move forward with its large trafficking-recovery shelter— despite vocal neighborhood opposition—as an example of the growing influence of radical Christian groups in local government. Mercy Culture’s leaders have openly supported Republicans like O’Hare and Krause while characterizing opponents as “warlocks.” 

Community meetings, including this one organized by the 817 Podcast, have galvanized Tarrant County residents in recent months.
(Photo by Marc Arjol Rodríguez)

Since O’Hare, Krause, and Ramirez took office, they’ve created an “Elections Integrity Unit” to prosecute local voter fraud cases, even though a 2020 state audit found no evidence of widespread election meddling in Tarrant County. The Republican commissioners recently approved funding for a new Law Enforcement Training Center at the request of Sheriff Bill Waybourn at a cost of $60 to $75 million, despite widespread condemnation of the sheriff’s handling of in-custody deaths at Tarrant County Jail.  

Those 817 Gather meetings have drawn together local activists like Tackett and his wife, Mendi, along with Tarrant4Change director Alexander Montalvo and other grassroots group leaders. In the spring of 2025, the group learned that the Commissioners Court was preparing to vote on hiring the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a conservative law group from Virginia, to advise on changes to district boundaries for the 2026 elections. “It sounded like it was just going to happen, and nobody was paying attention,” Montalvo recalled.

Leading up to the April vote, the grassroots activists prepared to speak at the commissioners court meeting and to attend one of four public input sessions organized by the county. Since O’Hare won his election in 2022, commenting publicly at Commissioners Court meetings has become difficult and even dangerous for residents trying to exercise their First Amendment right to petition their county leaders.

In July 2024, both a local pastor and a former lawmaker were banned from the Commissioners Court and issued trespass warnings for expressing concerns about the alarming number of deaths occurring at Tarrant County Jail. At one meeting, O’Hare warned the public that breaking decorum or speaking beyond the allotted limit “may result in arrest and prosecution.” This year alone, multiple speakers have been arrested for yelling or clapping during county meetings that have been reduced from weekly to biweekly, and, more recently, to monthly sessions where county budgets are approved and vendors are paid.  

Ann Zadeh, a former Fort Worth city councilmember and one of the 817 podcast hosts, told the Observer that she advises people to prepare one-minute speeches, even though they are allowed a full three minutes under the court’s own rules. “O’Hare often cuts off speakers well before their three minutes are up,” she said, calling his approach “authoritarian.” 

Tackett said the network of grassroots groups spotlighted the voices of public speakers who were opposed to the redistricting. Ahead of the June vote, Chris said their effort culminated in 600,000 views across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Discord. 

“When we talked to people who were showing up to the meetings, whether at Commissioners Court or the precinct meetings, we had people who were saying that they saw the video and wanted to show up and speak,” he said. “It became almost contagious for folks to realize their voice had power.”

On June 4, the day after the county Republicans passed their redrawn map, five local plaintiffs filed a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas challenging Tarrant County’s newly adopted Commissioners Court map. The complaint argues that the map violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and infringes on the 14th and 15th Amendments by diminishing the voting power of minority communities. 

The lawsuit describes a map drawn with a clear intent, stating that the redistricted map “gerrymanders the County to eliminate one of the two existing majority-minority precincts and instead packs the bulk of the County’s minority voters into a single precinct while cracking others across the remaining three precincts. [The map] surgically moves minority voters from District 2 to District 1 while just as carefully moving Anglo voters from District 1 to District 2.”

Tarrant County’s spokesperson did not respond to the Observer’s request for comment. O’Hare has not hidden his agenda, saying in one televised interview in May that he’s redistricting Tarrant County “to put another Republican on the Commissioners Court. Period.”

Commissioner Simmons told the Observer that the redistricting was a racially motivated effort to “silence the voices of African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities.” She said it was important to have the help of grassroots activists fight back locally against a national MAGA agenda. “He is carrying out the edict of Project 2025 at the local level,” she said, referring to the top-down effort by conservatives to roll back civil rights and personal freedoms. “It is happening right here in your own backyard. This is where you have to pay attention.” 

Montalvo said any gerrymandered map bases its protections on recent voting patterns while he predicts that 2026 will see a “seismic shift” in turnout. “Tarrant County has the potential to be the election story of the 2026 midterm election cycle, not only in Texas, but in the country,” he said. He noted  that 48 percent of voters in state Senate District 9, which has been reliably Republican for decades, recently voted for Democrat Taylor Rehmet, who now heads into a runoff against Southlake right-winger Leigh Wambsganss. 

Local Republicans, Montalvo continued, may have analyzed the county’s demographics and voting partners, but they are misguided in two key areas. “Human hubris and human ingenuity are two things we can’t quantify,” he said. “I think the hubris of this racial gerrymandering is going to come back to bite the Republicans because of the human ingenuity of what you’re seeing amongst grassroots organizing.”

The post In Tarrant County, a Grassroots Coalition Pushes Back on Christian Nationalists appeared first on The Texas Observer.

By CALEIGH WELLS, Associated Press

The pollution from food is sneaky. Because the apple sitting on your kitchen counter isn’t really causing any harm.

But chances are good that you didn’t pick it from a tree in your backyard. It required land and water to grow, machines to harvest and process, packaging to ship, trucks to transport and often refrigerators to store. Much of that process releases planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

That’s why the global food system makes up roughly a third of worldwide, human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EDGAR FOOD pollution database.

Meanwhile, roughly a third of the U.S. food supply is lost or wasted without being eaten, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It might never get harvested, it might spoil in transit or the grocery store might reject it for being the wrong size or color. That’s a big reason why some consumers are looking for less-wasteful alternatives ranging from farmers markets to delivery services for produce that didn’t meet supermarket size or appearance standards.

“There’s a whole breadth of opportunities to purchase food,” said Julia Van Soelen Kim, food systems adviser with the University of California Cooperative Extension.

And during the week of Thanksgiving, this decision is especially high stakes because lots of grocery shoppers are buying for extra guests, and more food can mean a bigger climate impact.

Here are tips for reducing impact by shopping beyond the grocery store.

The community supported agriculture box

Jane Kolodinsky, professor emerita at the University of Vermont and director of research at Arrowleaf Consulting, has bought her produce directly from a local farmer for 30 years.

It’s called Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA. At the beginning of every harvest season, Kolodinsky pays that farm a fee. Then, once per week, she picks up a box of produce at the farm. Some CSA programs pick the produce, while others let you customize. Some deliver. An online database shows which farms participate in CSA programs.

Since the food is grown nearby, there is less processing and packaging. “There’s a smaller carbon footprint for purchasing locally compared to global or national food distribution channels,” said Van Soelen Kim. “When they’re local, they’re traveling less distance, so less gas, less fuel.”

Local farmers are also likely to grow whatever works best for the area’s climate and season. “When things are in season, they need less storage time, so less electricity for cold storage,” said Van Soelen Kim, who added that can also mean a smaller food bill.

It’s not pollution-free, because the crops still require land and water, and the food does travel some distance. But CSAs avoid many steps in the modern food supply chain.

That model is challenging for consumers who want to maintain the same shopping list year-round. Shopping in-season requires more flexibility. “I would encourage consumers to think, ’OK, year-round we want some hand fruit that’s firm,’” she said. “So maybe it’s apples, and then it’s pears, and then its gonna move to kiwis, and then is gonna move to pluots.”

And in colder regions, she said there is still local produce. It’s just more likely to be dried, frozen or canned.

FILE – Customers browse farmer’s market displays in Union Square, Jan. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie, File)

The farmers market

Kolodinsky said the oldest alternative food system is the farmers market, where vendors gather and sell directly to consumers. Growers also sell at farm stands that aren’t tied to a centralized, scheduled event.

Farmers markets allow consumers more flexibility to pick the produce than a typical CSA. They also offer seasonal produce and less packaging and processing than a grocery store. Many also accept payment associated with government food assistance programs.

Plus, these models cut down on waste because customers are more tolerant of produce that’s not a uniform size and shape, said Timothy Woods, a University of Kentucky agribusiness professor.

“It doesn’t matter to me if one cucumber’s a couple inches longer than the other one,” he said. “Less waste means more efficient utilization of all the resources that farmers are putting out to produce that crop in the first place.”

FILE – Shiitake mushrooms are displayed at the stand of a farmer who sells “ugly” produce at a discount at a farmers’ market in San Francisco, June 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Haven Daley, File)

Other delivery services

Farmers who sell to grocery stores typically have to meet high standards, Woods said. For example, there could be onions that never got big enough or the carrot that grew two roots — vegetables that are just as safe and tasty to eat. There’s also surplus harvest.

“They will intentionally not pick certain melons that are undersized out in the field. And so you’ll have gleaning programs that will be people that are saying, ‘Those are perfectly good cantaloupe that are out there. We’ll send a team out there to pick those,’” said Woods.

He said services delivering food that doesn’t meet supermarket size or appearance requirements, such as Misfit Markets or Imperfect Produce, have become more popular in recent years.

Van Soelen Kim said there isn’t a lot of data yet on whether these services have a significantly lower climate impact. They reduce food waste, but the food might come from far away.

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Misfits Market refreshes its online selection weekly. Customers then fill a box of often discounted groceries that might have misprinted labels or are undersized or blemished. They are delivered via a company truck or third-party courier such as FedEx. The company’s founder and CEO, Abhi Ramesh, said it minimizes emissions by having set delivery days instead of offering on-demand delivery.

“By doing that, we batch all of our deliveries together. So it is one van to your ZIP code on that day. One truck that goes from our warehouse on that date,” he said.

Ramesh said sometimes a farmer’s market or CSA is even better at offering nearby seasonal food than his company. But for a lot of the country, those services go away when the harvest season ends. “And so your local grocery store, believe it or not, is still transporting that from California. But the difference is we’re able to go and transport the food waste piece, which reduces a ton of emissions.”

Woods’ advice for using services like Misfits Market is the same as other channels: Eat seasonally, eat locally and look for minimal packaging.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By LEAH WILLINGHAM, Associated Press

BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — For the past several years, 75-year-old Miguel Laboy has smoked a joint with his coffee every morning. He tells himself he won’t start tomorrow the same way, but he usually does.

“You know what bothers me? To have cannabis on my mind the first thing in the morning,” he said, sparking a blunt in his Brookline, Massachusetts, apartment. “I’d like to get up one day and not smoke. But you see how that’s going.”

Since legalization and commercialization, daily cannabis use has become a defining — and often invisible — part of many people’s lives. High-potency vapes and concentrates now dominate the market, and doctors say they can blur the line between relief and dependence over time so that users don’t notice the shift. Across the country, people who turned to cannabis for help are finding it harder to put down.

Overall, alcohol remains more widely used than cannabis. But starting in 2022, the number of daily cannabis users in the U.S. surpassed that of daily drinkers — a major shift in American habits.

Researchers say the rise has unfolded alongside products that contain far more THC than the marijuana of past decades, including vape oils and concentrates that can reach 80% to 95% THC. Massachusetts, like most states, sets no limit on how strong these products can be.

Doctors warn that daily, high-potency use can cloud memory, disturb sleep, intensify anxiety or depression and trigger addiction in ways earlier generations didn’t encounter. Many who develop cannabis use disorder say it’s hard to recognize the signs because of the widespread belief that marijuana isn’t addictive. Because the consequences tend to creep in gradually — brain fog, irritability, dependence — users often miss when therapeutic use shifts into compulsion.

How a habit becomes an addiction

Laboy, a retired chef, began seeing a substance-use counselor after telling his doctor he felt depressed, unmotivated and increasingly isolated as his drinking and cannabis use escalated.

Naltrexone helped him quit alcohol, but he hasn’t found a way to quit marijuana. Unlike alcohol and opioids, there is no FDA-approved medication to treat cannabis addiction, though research is underway.

Laboy, who first smoked at 18, said marijuana has long soothed symptoms tied to undiagnosed ADHD, childhood trauma and painful experiences — including cancer treatment and his son’s death. Through decades in restaurant kitchens, he considered himself a “functional pothead.”

Lately, though, his use has become compulsive. After retiring, he began vaping 85% THC cartridges.

“These days, I carry two things in my hands: my vape and my cellular — that’s it,” he said. “I’m not proud of it, but it’s the reality.”

Cannabis eases his anxiety and “settles his spirit,” but he’s noticed it affects his concentration. He hopes to learn to read music, but sustaining focus at the piano has grown difficult.

He’s seen an addiction psychiatrist for six months, but he hasn’t been able to cut back. The medical system doesn’t seem equipped to help, he said.

“They’re not ready yet,” Laboy said. “I go to them for help, but all they say is, ‘Try to smoke less.’ I already know that — that’s why I’m there.”

Younger users describe a similar slide — one that begins with relief and ends somewhere harder to define.

Kyle, a college student, smokes cannabis out of a bong, Oct. 29, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Brain fog becomes ‘your new normal’

Kyle, a 20-year-old Boston University student, says cannabis helps him manage panic attacks he’s had since high school. He spoke on the condition that only his first name be used because he buys cannabis illegally.

In the Allston apartment he shares with fraternity brothers, they have a communal bong.

When he’s high, Kyle feels calm — and able to process anxious thoughts and feel a sense of gratitude. But that clarity has become harder to reach when he’s sober.

“I think I was able to do that better a year ago,” he said. “Now I can only do it when I’m high, which is scary.”

He said the brain fog and feeling of detachment develop so gradually they become “your new normal.” Some mornings, he wakes up feeling like an observer in his own life, struggling to recall the day before. “It can be tough to wake up and go, ‘Oh my God, who am I?’” he said.

Still, he doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon.

Kyle says cannabis helps him function — more than seeking professional treatment would. Doctors say that ambivalence is common: many people feel cannabis is both the problem and the solution.

A dream turns into a nightmare

Anne Hassel spent a month in jail and a year on probation for growing cannabis in the 1980s. She cried when Massachusetts’ first dispensaries opened — and left her physical therapy career to get a job at one.

Within a year, though, “my dream job turned into a nightmare,” she said.

Hassel, 58, said some consultants pushed staff to promote high-potency concentrates as “more medicinal,” downplaying their risks. After trying her first dab — a nearly instantaneous, “stupefying” high — she began using 90% THC concentrate several times a day.

Her use quickly became debilitating, she said. She lost interest in things she once loved, like mountain biking. One autumn day, she drove to the woods and turned back without getting out. “I just wanted to go to my friend’s house and dab,” she said. “I hated myself.”

She didn’t seek formal treatment but recovered with the help of a friend. Riding her green motorcycle — once named “Sativa” after her favorite strain — has helped her reconnect to her body and spirit.

“People don’t want to acknowledge what’s going on because legalization was tied to social justice,” she said. “You get swept up in it and don’t recognize the harm until it’s too late.”

Community for those who want to leave

Online, that realization unfolds daily on r/leaves, a Reddit community of more than 380,000 people trying to cut back or quit.

Users describe a similar push-pull — craving the calm cannabis brings, then feeling trapped by the fog. Some write about isolation and regret, saying years of smoking dulled their ambition and presence in relationships. Others post pleas for help from work or doctors’ offices.

Together, they paint a portrait of dependence that is quiet and routine — and difficult to escape.

“When people talk about legalizing a drug, they’re really talking about commercializing it,” said Dave Bushnell, who founded the Reddit group. “We’ve built an industry optimized to sell as much as possible.”

A customer holds a gram of cannabis purchased from a dispensary on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in Brookline, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

What doctors want people to know

Dr. Jordan Tishler, a former emergency physician who now treats medical cannabis patients in Massachusetts, said low doses of THC paired with high doses of CBD can help some patients with anxiety. Many products have high levels of THC, which can worsen symptoms, he said.

“It’s a medicine,” he said. “It can be useful, but it can also be dangerous — and access without guidance is dangerous.”

Dr. Kevin Hill, an addiction director at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who specializes in cannabis use disorder, said the biggest gap is education, among both consumers and clinicians.

“I think adults should be allowed to do what they want as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else,” but many users don’t understand the risks, Hill said.

He said the conversation shouldn’t be about prohibition but about balance and informed decision-making. “For most people, the risks outweigh the benefits.”

By Brooke Baitinger, The Sacramento Bee

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One of the world’s best resorts is in California, according to Condé Nast Traveler.

The publication recently announced the winners of its 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards for the top hotels, resorts, spas, cruise lines and more.

Readers cast more than 757,000 votes in the annual survey, Condé Nast Traveler said.

The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe in Truckee, California, was No. 28 on Condé Nast Traveler’s list of the top 50 resorts in the world.

The five-star hotel also nabbed the title of the No. 1 best resort in Northern California.

In an Instagram post in October, Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe, said it was “proud” of both achievements.

What makes Lake Tahoe resort one of world’s best?

“The skiing is fantastic” at Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe, Condé Nast Traveler said, and “the location can’t be beat.”

The hotel, which opened in 2009, has about 170 rooms and suites with ample access to nature.

“Ski valets carry guests’ gear and escort them to the slopes,” Condé Nast Traveler said.

“Rooms in modern woodsy colors have dark-brown leather armchairs, floor-to-ceiling windows, gas fireplaces and private balconies with views of the mountain and Martis Valley,” the publication said.

The hotel offers several dining options for guests — including Manzanita, which serves up “French-inspired California cuisine” and “delicious” breakfast offerings including burritos, egg sandwiches and fresh pastries.

In addition to “legendary skiing” and “a rejuvenating slopeside spa,” Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe offers boating, hiking and golfing in the warmer months, the resort said on its website.

What are the top 10 resorts in the world?

According to Condé Nast Traveler, the top 10 hotels around the globe in 2025 were:

1. Como Uma Ubud in Bali, Indonesia

2. Wilderness DumaTau in Linyanti, Botswana

3. Alila Jabal Akhdar in Jabal Akhdar, Oman

4. Waldorf Astoria Park City in Park City, Utah

5. Maroma, A Belmond Hotel, in Riviera Maya, Mexico

6. Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa in Trancoso, Brazil

7. JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa in Khao Lak, Thailand

8. Paws Up Montana in Greenough, Montana

9. Baoase Luxury Resort in Willemstad, Curaçao

10. Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Krabi, Thailand

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