First big storm of season could reach hurricane force and is expected to bring potentially heavy rains and flooding

Tropical Storm Edouard headed toward the US Gulf coast early on Tuesday and was expected to strengthen significantly – possibly reaching hurricane force – before bringing potentially heavy rains and flooding into parts of Texas and Louisiana.

The storm was upgraded on Monday night from a tropical depression, and forecasters with the National Hurricane Center (NHC) expect it will make landfall in Texas later on Tuesday.

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© Photograph: NOAA/AP

© Photograph: NOAA/AP

© Photograph: NOAA/AP

For years, conservative litigants flocked to Judge Reed O’Connor’s district. Now, North Texas has become a favorite destination of the Justice Department.

© U.S. Courts, via Reuters

Federal prosecutors planned to charge an immigration agent arrested in connection with a shooting in Minneapolis. Then the agent walked free.

© Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

Ignore Iran, the Epstein files, and your wallet – not to mention Trump’s plummeting approval ratings

Don’t mention the war! Or the economy, for that matter. Or the Epstein files. Or Natalie Harp. Or “affordability”, which, as Donald Trump recently said at a rally, is a word that was “never used” by the media before he took office. Best not to talk about anything that affects ordinary people or embarrasses the president, really. Instead, let’s all rejoice in Trump’s latest triumph: renaming Lake Ontario, which is shared by Canada and the US, as Lake America.

On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to America-fy the lake’s name on US maps and documents, which is an excellent use of time and resources. I suppose we can at least be thankful that the president, who is trying to slap his own name on everything from airports to the Kennedy Center, didn’t decree that the body of water be called Lake Trump.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

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© Photograph: Al Drago/Pool/Al Drago - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Al Drago/Pool/Al Drago - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Al Drago/Pool/Al Drago - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock

Candidates’ attacks are focused on illegal immigration, faith and stock trading.

© Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

Many Republicans are hoping for financial support from President Trump, whose fund-raising power in the party remains unmatched despite his low poll numbers.

© Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

Judge rules Christian Castro, accused of shooting man and lying about it, cannot be held pending extradition request

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer charged with shooting a man and lying about it during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis was released from a Texas jail on Thursday, after a judge refused to order his return to Minnesota.

Christian Castro was released at the break of dawn from a detention center in Brownsville. He motioned his hand toward a few camera operators and a reporter crowding around him and quickly got into an SUV that drove off.

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© Photograph: Michael Gonzalez/AP

© Photograph: Michael Gonzalez/AP

© Photograph: Michael Gonzalez/AP

The two states have waged an unusual court battle over the agent facing charges over a shooting in Minneapolis. The agent could be released from jail on Thursday.

© David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

The judge’s message to people offended by drag performances was, “Just don’t go.” Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to appeal again.

© Brandon Bell/Getty Images

‘This is a profoundly flawed decision that endangers our children and is an affront to Texas values,’ Ken Paxton says

A federal judge has, for a second time, struck down a Texas state law banning drag performances in settings where children may be present.

In a ruling issued on Tuesday, US district judge David Hittner said Texas cannot enforce its drag show ban. He said that the measure improperly restricts speech and violates the first amendment of the US constitution.

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© Photograph: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

© Photograph: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

© Photograph: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

Christian Castro charged with assault after allegedly shooting Venezuelan man and remains in custody in Texas

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A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent accused of firing his gun and wounding a Venezuelan man in the leg is caught in an interstate extradition dispute between Texas and Minnesota – and could walk out of a Texas jail as soon as Wednesday after a federal judge refused to intervene.

Christian Castro is charged in Minnesota with assault and falsely reporting a crime by another, in relation to the incident in which he was involved in the wounding of 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in January.

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© Photograph: Yuki Iwamura/AP

© Photograph: Yuki Iwamura/AP

© Photograph: Yuki Iwamura/AP

A surrogate refused to have an abortion after the fetus was diagnosed with a serious heart problem. She fled to Texas and had the child. Now she wants a judge to give custody to her instead of the biological parents.

© LM Otero/Associated Press

The Republican Senate candidate announced the plan with a graphic flagged as ‘Made with AI’

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Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the US Senate in Texas, has unveiled plans to tackle the “negative impact” of datacenters amid a growing backlash across the political spectrum.

Paxton, endorsed by Donald Trump but facing a close contest against Democrat James Talarico, posted a “Texas first” datacenter plan on X with a graphic that the social media network flagged as “Made with AI”.

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© Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

The president’s border wall plan could damage or destroy ‘the oldest-known books in North America’

On an overcast summer morning, Carolyn Boyd, an archeologist at Texas State University, stood at the foot of a cave in west Texas, looking up toward a series of towering murals painted on a rock wall. Three massive human-like figures soared toward an overhang that had sheltered the painting from the elements since they were drawn here perhaps 4,000 years ago.

An artist herself, Boyd knows how hard it would have been to paint these long, crisp lines. Before starting, the bands of Indigenous hunter-gatherers who lived in this west Texas valley, where the Pecos River empties into the Rio Grande, would have spent weeks pulverizing gypsum, hematite, limonite and manganese to make paint. They would have gathered massive quantities of sotol stalks to fold its fibers into scaffolding. The painting itself would have required teamwork and precision, with people at the bottom guiding artists on the wall as they painted figures stretching up to 30ft tall.

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© Photograph: Roque Planas/The Guardian

© Photograph: Roque Planas/The Guardian

© Photograph: Roque Planas/The Guardian

A century ago, Mexican American families came together to build an adobe church near the border in West Texas. Can its bell toll again as the wall expansion nears?

With opposition to the centers mounting, many Democrats and a growing number of Republicans are campaigning against them.

© Aubrey Trinnaman for The New York Times

As Republicans have embraced tough measures to clear the streets, no group has led the way more than the Cicero Institute, founded by the venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale.

© Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters

An appeals court reduced the award to the parents of one victim to $6 million from $49 million, citing a Texas damages cap. The conspiracy theorist owes over $1 billion in other cases.

© Nic Antaya for The New York Times

Appeals court slashes judgment to $1.5m in a significant legal victory for the rightwing Infowars founder

A Texas appeals court has slashed the $50m judgment to $1.5m against Alex Jones, founder of the rightwing platform Infowars, over falsely calling the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, a hoax.

The ruling does not affect a $1.4bn judgment against Jones in Connecticut, but is a significant legal victory for Jones after he and his company, Free Speech Systems, were found liable for damages for claiming the mass shooting didn’t happen.

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© Photograph: David J Phillip/AP

© Photograph: David J Phillip/AP

© Photograph: David J Phillip/AP

The pen Mr. Paxton pocketed more than a decade ago has resurfaced as a campaign issue.

Why so many kids in Minnesota aren’t getting vaccinated.

A federal agent facing assault charges in Minnesota has been jailed in Texas since May. Gov. Greg Abbott has not granted an extradition request.

© Christopher Lee for The New York Times

The Trump administration has been carving a path through some of the beloved national park’s major natural attractions.

Muslim communities have been growing for decades, particularly around Dallas. Now, conservatives want to roll up the welcome mat.

© Desiree Rios for The New York Times

Brandon Herrera, long an anti-establishment outsider, is trying to help the party defend a red-leaning House district in West Texas. It’s proving messy.

© Jordan Vonderhaar for The New York Times

Over the objections of environmentalists, local sheriffs and some state leaders, the Trump administration appears to be moving ahead with border infrastructure in one of Texas’ most beloved parks.

© Brian Finke