Daily Briefing: Friday, October 23, 2026

Fort Bend County Tax Assessor-Collector Carmen Turner was arrested Thursday after a federal grand jury indicted her on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, Houston Public Media reported. Prosecutors allege she put two women on the county payroll as tax clerks and assigned them to care for her 81-year-old mother, and that Victor Ewing, the father of her adult son, drew county pay while working full time at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz of the Southern District of Texas said the scheme involved “tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Justin Simmons, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, said his office has a “handful” of investigations into alleged voter fraud in past elections, KSAT reported. “Most of these that we’re prosecuting right now are 2024, 2022, and so on, further back,” Simmons said. Two cases tied to the November 2024 election involve women from Del Rio and Midland.

Texas Comptroller Don Huffines created the Texas Fraud Investigation and Recovery Strike Team, or Texas FIRST, a statewide unit in the agency’s Law Enforcement Operations Division that will investigate government corruption, government fraud, sales tax fraud and unclaimed property fraud, according to the comptroller’s office. “No one is off limits,” Huffines said.

Fort Bend County commissioners voted 4-0 Thursday to approve an agreement that could give Tesla more than 35 years of tax breaks for a proposed solar manufacturing site south of Rosenberg, ABC13 reported. Under the deal, Tesla would pay no taxes on equipment and inventory for the first 10 years. The county’s economic development director said Tesla has not yet chosen a site.

Counties in Texas, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota and Washington have received notices from the Justice Department that it wants to station monitors at their elections on November 3, NPR reported. A department spokesperson said details on which jurisdictions will be monitored would be shared “closer to the election.” State officials were not notified at first, NPR reported.

Elections Alberta missed the 48-hour deadline in Alberta’s referendum regulations to finish counting ballots from Monday’s 10-question referendum, CBC News reported. “Despite the efforts of more than 47,000 election workers, it just hasn’t been possible,” the agency said, adding that it would keep counting until the job is done. As of early Thursday, it gave no estimate for completion.

The Hong Kong government said it “strongly condemns and firmly rejects” the British government’s latest six-monthly report on Hong Kong, according to a government statement. The statement said Britain “has no sovereignty, jurisdiction or right of supervision over Hong Kong” and defended the city’s national security laws.