In the News

WASHINGTON — Eight of America's most prominent bankers had been grilled for more than two hours at the House Financial Services Committee by the time Austin Rep. Roger Williams got his five-minute period to engage them.

The Republican, often ebullient, was solemn-faced.

He sized up the finance barons gathered on Capitol Hill that spring morning — the likes of JP Morgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, Bank of America's Brian Moynihan and Goldman Sachs' David Solomon — and told them that they each must answer a straightforward question.

Glen Rose resident Melissa Graddick said she knew she'd found her calling in December 2016 after gazing across the grounds of the Appomattox Courthouse National Historical Park in Virginia.

"I saw these beautiful wreaths sitting on these graves of Civil War soldiers," Graddick said. "I took a picture and went over and picked one up and the tag on it read Wreaths Across America."

Before that, Graddick had never heard of the organization.

FORT HOOD — The day began with overcast skies, soon followed by a light rain. But by the time the ceremony began, the sun was shining and the U.S. flags at the Nov. 5, 2009, Memorial were flapping in the breeze.

Roughly 200 people had gathered at the memorial: Family members and friends of the 13 who were killed and 31 wounded 10 years ago by ex-Army Maj. Nidal Hasan; survivors, to include the Department of the Army policeman who ended Hasan's shooting spree; U.S. Congressmen; members of the community; and members of the committee who made the memorial possible.

"When our world needed him most, he and his fellow Soldiers answered the call and put their lives on the line in service to the greatest generation," Congressman Roger Williams, District 25, told the crowd gathered Friday to honor Jose Manzano-Somera.

Manzano-Somera, of Georgetown, was presented with the highest honor bestowed to a civilian – the Congressional Gold Medal, during a ceremony at the West Atrium inside III Corps Headquarters, surrounded by his family and friends.

FORT HOOD, Texas — As a boy growing up in the Philippines during World War II, Jose Manzano-Somera's family opened their home to the American soldiers who filled their hometown.

Eventually, Manzano-Somera would join the soldiers as the war ended and serve as part of the New Philippine Scouts of the U.S. Army, a unit that helped track down and eliminate bands of Japanese fighters that refused to surrender.

Thursday, Johnson County Judge Roger Harmon said, to the best of his knowledge marked the first visit by a sitting president to the county. State Rep. DeWayne Burns, R-Cleburne, countered that he's not so sure.

"I read somewhere, but I'm not sure if it's true, that [President Roosevelt] stopped on a train in Grandview for a stump speech on his way to Fort Worth," Burns said. "If that's true I'm not sure if that happened when he was first running for president or after he already was president."

Public schools around the country would receive funding for safety measures, such as metal detectors and bulletproof windows, designed to protect students and teachers during school shootings in a new bill before Congress.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's abrupt delay in launching a massive deportation effort aimed at families in several American cities — including Houston — drew responses divided along partisan lines.

After exchanges via news release, Twitter and a phone call, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi successfully lobbied Trump to hold off on deporting immigrants around the country. Trump announced the delay in Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids via Twitter on Saturday.