Today's Headlines

STATE

Texas rejects insurance rate increase for coastal homeowners, businesses

Texas' chief insurance regulator has shot down a proposed 10% insurance rate hike for many Gulf Coast homeowners and business owners.

Texas Insurance Commissioner Cassie Brown on Monday rejected the increase for residential and business policyholders sought by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, the state's insurer of last resort for homes and businesses on the Gulf Coast.

Such an increase "would be unjust and unfair because of the hardships (it) would impose on the coast," Brown wrote in a Monday filing rejecting the proposed increase. Brown cited school district officials, business groups and property owners who testified in public meetings that the increase would be unaffordable.

Brown's rejection comes as Texas property owners face some of the highest insurance premiums in the nation and lawmakers eye ways to rein in those costs. Homeowners' insurance rates in Texas grew by more than 23% last year, outpacing every other state, according to an S&P Global analysis — the result of numerous extreme weather events as well as rising property values.

Laredo enters its sixth day of a boil-water notice after E. coli is discovered in water system

McALLEN — Laredo is entering its sixth day of a citywide water boil notice after traces of E. coli were discovered in its public water system.

Now officials in this South Texas city are scrambling to repair old water pipes that could have been at the center of the crisis.

While the underlying cause remains unclear, Mayor Victor Treviño said Tuesday an investigation done in coordination with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality narrowed the potential source of the contamination to an area in central Laredo. Outdated infrastructure is a likely factor, he said.

"Unfortunately, the same investigation shows that the overall problem is multiple years in the making and we are now playing catch up to a problem that has grown to what it is today," Treviño said during a press conference Tuesday.

NATION

Election certification in Georgia is mandatory, judge rules

ATLANTA — Certifying elections is a required duty of county election boards in Georgia, and they're not allowed to refuse to finalize results based on suspicions of miscounts or fraud, a Fulton County judge ruled Tuesday.

Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney rejected claims brought by Fulton County election board member Julie Adams, who voted against certifying this spring's presidential primary.

McBurney ruled that Georgia law requires certification and county election boards don't have any discretion not to do so.

"If election superintendents were, as plaintiff urges, free to play investigator, prosecutor, jury, and judge and so — because of a unilateral determination of error or fraud — refuse to certify election results, Georgia voters would be silenced," McBurney wrote. "Our Constitution and our election code do not allow for that to happen."

NC Gov.: Mark Robinson, other candidates are using Helene disinformation to 'sow chaos'

RALEIGH, N.C. — Disinformation and misinformation are harming the ability of storm-battered communities in Western North Carolina to receive federal aid at the time they need it most, Gov. Roy Cooper and FEMA Administrator Deanna Criswell said Tuesday.

The remarks come after a man was arrested and charged with going armed to the terror of the public after allegedly roaming Rutherford County and saying he was going to harm FEMA workers. Criswell decided to pause door-to-door canvassing efforts in the area, which have since resumed.

"Frankly, it's heartbreaking to see words or acts of hatred toward anyone, let alone federal responders who are here to help people in this critical time. So let me be clear: I take these threats seriously and the safety of these responders is, and will remain, a priority for me and my team," Criswell said.

As of Tuesday morning, FEMA had approved more than 71,000 applications for its Individual Assistance program in the Helene-impacted counties, with survivors receiving more than $99 million. More than 171,000 people have applied for aid, said Lucas Hitt, a FEMA spokesman.

North Carolina gubernatorial candidate sues CNN, porn store employee for defamation

North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson announced Tuesday he was suing CNN and a porn store employee for defamation.

CNN published a story last month regarding Robinson's alleged racist and sexually explicit posts on message boards of the porn site NudeAfrica, where he detailed his preferences, described himself as "black Nazi" and derided Martin Luther King Jr., among other things.

Roughly two weeks before CNN's story, local North Carolina outlet The Assembly reported Robinson was a frequent customer at multiple porn stores in Greensboro during the 1990s and 2000s.

The fallout from the stories led multiple campaign staffers to resign and many high-profile Republicans to distance themselves from Robinson as he refused to step down from his position as lieutenant governor while denying the allegations.

Attorney: 900 to 1,000 filed sex abuse claims in Archdiocese of Baltimore bankruptcy case

BALTIMORE — Somewhere between 900 and 1,000 people have filed claims in the Archdiocese of Baltimore's bankruptcy case, alleging they were sexually abused as children by people in the Catholic Church's employ, an attorney said in court.

Edwin Caldie, a lawyer for a committee of abuse survivors tasked with representing the interests of all victims in the bankruptcy case, put forth that estimate at a status hearing Tuesday.

WORLD

North Korea blows up roads, prompting South to fire warning shots

North Korea blew up sections of roads in its own territory that are part of links once used to connect the southern part of the peninsula with the north, in a show of defiance after it accused Seoul of flying drones over Pyongyang.

North Korea detonated bombs north of its eastern and western borders at around noon on Tuesday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. South Korea's military later fired off warning shots within its border, according to the JCS, which also confirmed there were no reports of damage in South Korea from the detonations.

A video released by the South Korean military showed smoke billowing from roads following an explosion, with North Korean troops monitoring the operations nearby.

South Korea strongly condemned the move, calling it an "extremely abnormal" act that violates inter-Korean agreements. The roads were built as a cooperative project between the two Koreas, with Seoul providing materials and equipment for construction.

Israel vows it will make its own decision on how to attack Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted the country is free to act as it chooses in a counter-strike against Iran after a report suggesting his government is heeding U.S. pleas to keep nuclear and energy facilities off its target list to limit the risk of escalation.

"We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interests," Netanyahu's office said Tuesday.

Israel and the U.S. have been conferring regularly on how to retaliate for Iran's Oct. 1 ballistic-missile salvo, a dilemma that's jangled nerves across the Middle East and in energy markets. The debate has tested the relationship between Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden, who has sought unsuccessfully to secure a cease-fire in the country's conflicts with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A report in the Washington Post said the Israeli premier had agreed to limit the response to military targets. The newspaper cited two officials familiar with the matter who it didn't identify.