(The Center Square) – Texas House Democrats left Austin for Chicago on Sunday  in an attempt to prevent the state House from voting Monday on a redistricting bill.

“As of today, this special session is over,” Democrats said in a statement.

The redistricting bill advanced out of committee on Saturday along party lines and was scheduled for a floor vote on Monday.

In order for the House to convene to conduct business, it must have a quorum – two-thirds of its members, 100, must be present. Even though Republicans hold a majority, they don’t have enough members to meet quorum on their own. The Texas House is comprised of 88 Republicans and 64 Democrats.

House Democrats argue the redistricting bill is illegal and have vowed to fight it.

“The choice was clear,” Texas House Democrats said. “Stand by while [Gov. Greg] Abbott silences millions of Black and Latino voters or use every tool available to stop this assault on our democracy. This corrupt special session is over.”

Within months of entering his second term, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice sent a letter to Abbott raising concerns about the 2021 redistricting plan, requesting him to redistrict. Abbott cited the DOJ’s concerns in his call to add redistricting to the special session, which began July 21. The new redistricting plan likely would net at least five new Republican seats by moving Democrat incumbents to other districts and creating seven new districts (7, 9, 20, 30, 32, 34, 35), The Center Square reported.

Democrats also repeated their claim that they care more about the Hill Country flood victims than Republicans do and emergency funding should be prioritized.

“For two weeks, while the families in the Texas Hill Country mourned the loss of over 130 Texans in catastrophic floods, Democrats fought to make their relief the legislature’s top priority,” they said. “Instead, Governor Abbott and Republican leadership used the tragedy as political cover. After thousands of Texans testified against this corrupt bargain in hearings across the state, their pleas were ignored. Governor Abbott has turned the victims of a tragedy into political hostages in his submission to Donald Trump. We will not allow disaster relief to be held hostage to a Trump gerrymander.

“As of today, this corrupt special session is over.”

By leaving the state, legislative business is halted, including passing any relief measures for flood victims.

Several lawmakers who fled the state went to Chicago for a second time – after a House delegation went to Chicago and Sacramento a week ago to meet with Democratic governors to devise a strategy to block the Republican redistricting effort, The Center Square reported. Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to meet them at the airport.

Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu, who previously met with Prizker and again went to Chicago, said more information would be provided after they land. State Rep. Christina Morales, who also joined Wu on the first Chicago trip, posted a video of her entering the airport saying, “It’s time to take this fight on the road.”

Other Democrats posted videos of themselves at the airport. State Rep. James Talarico said, “My Democratic colleagues and I just left the state of Texas to break quorum and stop Trump’s redistricting power grab. Trump is trying to rig the midterm elections right before our eyes. But first he’ll have to come through us. It’s time to fight back.” State Rep. Chris Turner posted an image of himself in front of an airplane saying it was a “good day to fight for our democracy” and asked for donations.

Also on Sunday, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, issued a statement, saying, “The Texas House will be convening at 3:00pm tomorrow. If a quorum is not present then, to borrow the recent talking points from some of my Democrat colleagues, all options will be on the table.”

He’s referring to potentially arresting state lawmakers who break quorum, disrupt legislative business in violation of House rules. Four years ago, the Texas Supreme Court ruled state lawmakers could be arrested, The Center Square reported.

House Democrats repeated a maneuver they used in July 2021 when they absconded for Washington, D.C., to prevent voting on election reform, The Center Square reported. That year, Abbott had called a special session to address 11 legislative items. Because Democrats absconded, legislative business halted. In August 2021, he called a second special session. When Democrats returned, the legislature eventually passed the reforms.

Unless House Democrats return for business to continue, Abbott is expected to call a second special session to begin around August 20, 30 days after the first session began on July 21.

(The Center Square) – Consumers across the country are bracing for higher prices on everything from coffee to cars as President Donald Trump’s full suite of “Liberation Day” tariffs go into effect next week. 

Some public companies had previously delayed price hikes, but that could change as more tariffs become effective.

Prices for clothes and shoes could jump. In the short term, consumers could pay 39% more for shoes and 37% more for clothes, with shoes and apparel prices expected to gain 18% and 17% higher in the long term, respectively, according to the latest figures from the Yale Budget Lab. That group projected that the tariffs would increase average household costs by about $2,400 annually.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest business lobby, reported that manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers are paying higher prices for goods and services. At the same time, “they are slowly beginning to raise the prices they charge their customers,” said Neil Bradley, executive vice president, chief policy officer, and head of strategic advocacy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Countries with the highest tariffs include Syria (41%), Laos (40%), Myanmar (40%), Switzerland (39%), Serbia (35%) and Iraq (35%). Some countries could face higher rates, including Brazil, depending on final rates, most of which Trump set unilaterally. 

Trump cut deals with about two-thirds of the United States’ major trading partners. Those nations mostly came in under 19%. Most got 15%. So far, the United Kingdom has the lowest rate at 10%. Trump extended the deadline for several other key trading partners, including Canada, Mexico and China. 

The White House said Thursday that Trump would continue to be open to deals that benefit America. 

Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro said the trade group hopes to see more deals to lower tariffs in the coming week.

“Constant shifts in tariff policy make it increasingly difficult for U.S. companies – especially startups and small businesses – to plan, invest, and compete globally,” he said. “CTA continues to urge the administration and Congress to pursue a predictable, forward-looking trade agenda rooted in fairness, and collaboration with, trusted partners. American innovation thrives when markets are open, trade rules are clear, and businesses are free to focus on creating jobs and bringing groundbreaking technologies to market.”

He added: “We expect the administration will use the next seven days before the tariffs go into effect on August 7 to negotiate further deals with trading partners, including with our northern friend and neighbor Canada, to lower tariffs, provide greater certainty, and eliminate barriers to trade.”

Businesses could still get relief through the courts. On Thursday, a panel of 11 appellate court judges scrutinized Trump’s tariff authority, asking attorneys on both sides of the case tough questions about the president’s authority to restructure global trade without help from Congress. The court didn’t rule on the tariffs on Thursday but is expected to do so in the coming weeks.

Trump has said he wants to use tariffs to restore manufacturing jobs lost to lower-wage countries in decades past, shift the tax burden away from U.S. families, and pay down the national debt.

A tariff is a tax on imported goods paid by the person or company that imports the goods. The importer can absorb the cost of the tariffs or try to pass the cost on to consumers through higher prices.

(The Center Square) – Agencies across the federal government are developing data centers across the United States and implementing AI technology in health research after the announcement of President Donald Trump’s AI Action Plan on last week.

The AI action plan includes more than 90 federal policy actions aimed at rolling back environmental regulations, increasing domestic data center outputs, and integrating AI into operations.

“This plan galvanizes federal efforts to turbocharge our innovation capacity, build cutting-edge infrastructure, and lead globally, ensuring that American workers and families thrive in the AI era,” said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

While the plan did not lay out a specific budget to develop AI, some moves inside the administration showcase how the administration is partnering with industry to develop AI centers and using it in health research.

The Energy Department named the Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky, and Savannah River Site as locations for private partnerships to build AI centers.

Each site is located on federal land and owned by the government. The Energy Department will open each site for private development and investment in AI.

“DOE looks forward to working with data center developers, energy companies, and the broader public in consultation with states, local governments, and federally recognized tribes that these projects will serve to further advance this important initiative,” said the department.

The AI action plan proposes eliminating “red tape and onerous regulation.” This includes allowing federal agencies to limit funding to states where AI regulations “may hinder the effectiveness of that funding or award.”

Legislatures in Idaho, Tennessee and Kentucky have not passed laws limiting data center development in the various states. However, South Carolina passed a regulatory change in April that increased price rates for electricity for large users, like data centers.

The South Carolina legislature has also looked at implementing a tax incentive limit on data centers, with the goal of preventing rate hikes for residents.

The regulations in Idaho, Tennessee, Kentucky and South Carolina could point to how the Trump administration expects states to regulate AI as its plans to develop data centers across the country.

The Energy Department will take submissions from private industry to further develop AI on the sites in Idaho, Kentucky, Tennessee and South Carolina and could select partners by the end of the year, a department press release said.

Golestan Radwan, chief development officer of the United Nations Environment Program, warned against the rapid development of AI data centers.

“We need to make sure the net effect of AI on the planet is positive before we deploy the technology at scale,” Radwan said.

While the energy industry braces to develop AI, the National Institutes of Health announced development of an AI agent that can analyze gene sets to help researchers understand complex molecular data.

The AI agent, GeneAgent, analyzes molecular data and helps scientists draw conclusions about how different diseases and conditions affect groups of genes individually and together.

A news release from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the AI agent “can lead to a better understanding of how different diseases and conditions affect groups of genes individually and together.”

In the statement, NIH recognized that AI is prone to “hallucinations” where content can be false, misleading or fabricated. The department said it tested the agent on more than 1,000 gene sets in preexisting databases to give the AI agent a genetic baseline with which it can analyze future gene sets.

Two human experts manually reviewed 10 randomly selected gene sets evaluated by GeneAgent to see if its self-review capabilities worked and found that 92% of GeneAgent’s decisions were correct.

Previous studies of AI’s impact on the health care landscape assert that the tool can save billions in research and development costs. 

“The ability to reduce workflow and refocus most of a doctor’s attention on providing outstanding patient care has been made possible by systems that use AI and better data management,” wrote a team of NIH scientists. 

The research team has also verified GeneAgent’s analysis of mouse melanoma cells as part of the testing process.

“GeneAgent was able to offer valuable insight into novel functionalities for specific genes,” the news release said. “This could mean knowledge discovery for things such as potential new drug targets for diseases like cancer.”