Partial remarks given at the 2025 MOLLY Prize Gala on May 28:

Suddenly, it’s become a bit of a sad time for the Texas Observer community. Later in the program, you’ll hear about Carlton Carl—our former publisher and longtime board member who passed away in March. Then, yesterday, we learned that the Observer’s founding editor, a legend of Texas journalism, Ronnie Dugger had died at age 95—peacefully and surrounded by family.

I had planned to talk about the Lege here tonight, but that just doesn’t feel right now. It’s not that I knew Ronnie terribly well; I believe I met him five times total, but he left an impression. Back sometime before COVID, when he was still driving, I recall him coming to use the office to bang out an op-ed about the threat of nuclear war for I don’t recall what news site. He would have been maybe 88 years old.

A conversation with Congressman Greg Casar (left) at the 2025 MOLLYs (Jordan Vonderhaar)

Last year, I reconnected with him at his little old house that backs up to Shoal Creek. The dementia was pretty advanced; the things he said just didn’t quite tie together, or he’d swap in wrong words without realizing it. But I’ll never forget what he was trying to communicate. I was there with other former Observer staffers, and he was trying to recruit us to a cause. Trump was a fundamental threat to democracy, he got the point across, and we needed to put our heads together and do something to stop him. The U.S., China, and Russia were all making a mess of world affairs, and similarly we needed to come up with some actionable ideas. And, crucially, the next time we met we needed to bring more people into the project.

I think for some people who’d known him for decades it would have been sad that he couldn’t quite articulate his ideas anymore. But for me it was inspiring. This was a man who simply never stopped waking up, reading The New York Times, being troubled by the injustices he saw, and feeling called to do his part to address them. As his daughter Celia told me after a visit, that was his “essence.”

Well, so it goes: Whether in journalism or electoral politics or more radical activism—whatever your project to improve the world—eventually our forebears leave us. And it’s up to us to look around, accept that sadly most of the evils they fought to end are still the evils we fight today, and take our shot at doing as well or better than they did in the time we’re given. 

In a way, I now think the reason for this little gathering tonight is to celebrate the miraculous fact that neither Molly [Ivins], nor Carlton, nor Ronnie lived to see the Observer die—a fact that in no small part can be attributed to their own actions… — GB

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The post Editor’s Letter: Introducing Our July/August 2025 Issue appeared first on The Texas Observer.

WASHINGTON — After a weekend of setbacks, the Senate will try to sprint ahead Monday on President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts despite a series of challenges, including the sudden announcement from one GOP senator that he won’t run for reelection after opposing the package over its Medicaid health care cuts.

An all-night session to consider an endless stream of proposed amendments to the package, in what’s called a vote-a-rama, was abruptly postponed, and it’s now scheduled to launch as soon as the Senate gavels open. With Democrats united against the Republican president’s legislation and eagerly lined up to challenge it, the voting could take all day.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the “hardest choices” for Republicans are still to come. His side plans to bring “amendment after amendment after amendment to the floor, so Republicans can defend their billionaire tax cuts and so they can try to explain their massive cuts to Medicaid to people back home.”

The hours ahead will be pivotal for the Republicans, who have control of the Congress and are racing against Trump’s Fourth of July deadline to wrap up work. The 940-page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as it is now formally titled, has consumed the Congress as its shared priority with the president, with no room politically to fail, even as not all Republicans are on board.

A new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law. It also said the package would increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion over the decade.

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership team has recalled lawmakers back to Washington for voting in the House as soon as Wednesday, if the legislation can first clear the Senate.

But the outcome remains uncertain, especially after a weekend of work in the Senate that brought less visible progress on securing enough Republican support, over Democratic opposition, for passage.

Senators to watch

Few Republicans appear fully satisfied as the final package emerges. GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who announced Sunday he would not seek reelection after Trump badgered him over his opposition to the package, said he has the same goals as Trump, cutting taxes and spending.

But Tillis said this package is a betrayal of the president’s promises not to kick people off health care, especially if rural hospitals close.

“We could take the time to get this right,” he thundered.

At the same time, some loosely aligned conservative Senate Republicans — Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming — have pushed for steeper cuts, particularly to health care, drawing their own warning from Trump.

“Don’t go too crazy!” the president posted on social media. “REMEMBER, you still have to get reelected.”

GOP leaders barely secured enough support to muscle the legislation past a procedural Saturday night hurdle in a tense scene. A handful of Republican holdouts revolted, and it took phone calls from Trump and a visit from Vice President JD Vance to keep it on track.

As Saturday’s vote tally teetered, attention turned to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who was surrounded by GOP leaders in intense conversation. She voted “yes.”

Several provisions in the package including a higher tax deduction for native whalers and potential waivers from food stamps or Medicaid changes are being called the “Polar Payoff” designed for her state. But some were found to be out of compliance with the rules by the Senate parliamentarian.

What’s in the big bill

All told, the Senate bill includes some $4 trillion in tax cuts, making permanent Trump’s 2017 rates, which would expire at the end of the year if Congress fails to act, while adding the new ones he campaigned on, including no taxes on tips.

The Senate package would roll back billions of dollars in green energy tax credits that Democrats warn will wipe out wind and solar investments nationwide and impose $1.2 trillion in cuts, largely to Medicaid and food stamps, by imposing work requirements, making sign-up eligibility more stringent and changing federal reimbursements to states.

Additionally, the bill would provide a $350 billion infusion for border and national security, including for deportations, some of it paid for with new fees charged to immigrants.

Democrats ready to fight

Unable to stop the march toward passage, the Democrats as the minority party in Congress are using the tools at their disposal to delay and drag out the process.

Democrats forced a full reading of the text, which took 16 hours. Then Democratic senators took over Sunday’s debate, filling the chamber with speeches, while Republicans largely stood aside.

“Reckless and irresponsible,” said Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan.

“A gift to the billionaire class,” said Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.

“Follow what the Bible teaches us: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” said Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., as Sunday’s debate pushed past midnight.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, raised particular concern about the accounting method being used by the Republicans, which says the tax breaks from Trump’s first term are now “current policy” and the cost of extending them should not be counted toward deficits.

“In my 33 years here in the United States Senate, things have never — never — worked this way,” said Murray, the longest-serving Democrat on the Budget Committee.

She said that kind of “magic math” won’t fly with Americans trying to balance their own household books.

“Go back home,” she said, “and try that game with your constituents.”

___

Associated Press writers Ali Swenson, Fatima Hussein and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

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The Minnesota Department of Agriculture confirmed last week that the emerald ash borer has been found in the city of Wadena. It is the first time the emerald ash borer has been reported in Wadena County, where a tree-care company submitted the finding, according to a report from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

Wadena was one of several other areas in the state to be confirmed Monday for emerald ash borer, including new areas of Carlton County, and for the first time in Meeker, Murray and Otter Tail counties. In Otter Tail County, emerald ash borer was confirmed in Deer Creek. There are now 58 counties in the state with emerald ash borer.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is enacting emergency quarantines in Carlton, Meeker, Murray, Otter Tail and Wadena counties. All of Carlton County, excluding the Fond du Lac Reservation, will be quarantined. The entire counties of Meeker, Murray, Otter Tail and Wadena will be quarantined. The quarantines limit the movement of firewood and ash material out of the area.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture issues quarantines for all areas known to have emerald ash borer (EAB) to reduce the risk of further spreading the tree-killing insect.

Emerald ash borer was first discovered in Minnesota in 2009. The insect larvae kill ash trees by tunneling under the bark and feeding on the part of the tree that moves nutrients up and down the trunk. Often, the trees show several signs of infestation because of this. Woodpeckers like to feed on EAB larvae, and woodpecker holes may indicate the presence of emerald ash borer. Also, EAB tunneling can cause the bark to split open, revealing characteristic S-shaped galleries underneath.

Emerald Ash Borer gallery and exit hole.

A virtual informational meeting for residents and tree care professionals will take place from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on July 8. Experts from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture will give a brief presentation followed by a question-and-answer session. Find more information on the MDA website.

The public will also have an opportunity to provide input on the emergency quarantines before the quarantines become formal. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is taking comments on the emergency quarantine now through Aug. 8, and recommends adopting the quarantine on Aug. 11. The proposed quarantine language can be found on the MDA website.

Comments can be made during the virtual meeting or by contacting Mark Abrahamson, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, 625 Robert St. N, St. Paul, MN 55155; or by email at mark.abrahamson@state.mn.us.

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Today is Monday, June 30, the 181st day of 2025. There are 184 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On June 30, 1934, Adolf Hitler launched his “blood purge” of political and military rivals in Germany in what came to be known as the “Night of the Long Knives.”

Also on this date:

In 1918, labor activist and socialist Eugene V. Debs was arrested in Cleveland, charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 for a speech he had made two weeks earlier in which he denounced U.S. involvement in World War I. (Debs was sentenced to prison and disenfranchised for life.)

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In 1921, President Warren G. Harding nominated former President William Howard Taft to be chief justice of the United States, succeeding the late Edward Douglass White.

In 1936, Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone With the Wind” was released.

In 1958, the U.S. Senate passed the Alaska statehood bill.

In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that the government could not prevent The New York Times or The Washington Post from publishing the Pentagon Papers.

In 1971, A Soviet space mission ended in tragedy when three cosmonauts aboard Soyuz 11 were found dead of asphyxiation inside their capsule after it had returned to Earth.

In 1985, 39 American hostages from a hijacked TWA jetliner were freed in Beirut after being held for 17 days.

In 1994, the U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped Tonya Harding of the national championship and banned her for life for her role in the attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.

In 2009, American soldier Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl went missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan, and was later confirmed to have been captured by insurgents after walking away from his post. (Bergdahl was released on May 31, 2014, in exchange for five Taliban detainees; he pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, but was spared a prison sentence by a military judge.)

In 2012, Islamist Mohammed Morsi was sworn in as Egypt’s first freely elected president during a pair of ceremonies.

In 2016, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that transgender people would be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military, ending one of the last bans on service in the armed forces.

In 2019, Donald Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea, meeting Kim Jong-un at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.

In 2020, then-Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a landmark bill retiring the last state flag bearing the Confederate battle emblem. Boston’s arts commission voted unanimously to remove a statue depicting a freed slave kneeling at Abraham Lincoln’s feet.

In 2022, Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in to the U.S. Supreme Court, shattering a glass ceiling as the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Lea Massari (“L’Avventura”) is 92.
Actor Nancy Dussault (doo-SOH’) is 89.
Olympic track champion Billy Mills is 87.
Oceanographer Robert Ballard is 83.
Singer-songwriter Glenn Shorrock (Little River Band) is 81.
Jazz musician Stanley Clarke is 74.
Actor David Garrison (“Married…with Children) is 73.
Actor-comedian David Alan Grier is 69.
Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen is 67.
Actor Vincent D’Onofrio is 66.
Actor Deirdre Lovejoy (“The Wire”) is 63.
Actor Rupert Graves is 62.
Boxer Mike Tyson is 59.
Actor Monica Potter is 54.
Actor Rick Gonzalez is 46.
Actor Lizzy Caplan is 43.
Country music singer-songwriter Cole Swindell is 42.
Singer and actress Fantasia is 41.
Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps is 40.
Baseball player Trea Turner is 32.