Daily Briefing: Monday, October 26, 2026

New World screwworm cases in Texas and New Mexico have reached 65 since June, 12 of them still active, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data compiled by Texas Public Radio. Two cattle cases were confirmed Friday in Hudspeth County. The outbreak’s only wildlife case so far is a female elk taken by a hunter in Pecos County, and the Texas Animal Health Commission “will modify a previously established infested zone,” the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said in its October 21 release.

Texas Comptroller Don Huffines added a fraud reporting button to the front page of the Centralized Accounting and Payroll/Personnel System (CAPPS) so that every state employee sees it at login, according to his office. The button links to the whistleblower portal the agency’s Law Enforcement Operations division opened earlier in the week.

Elections Alberta finished counting referendum ballots Saturday night, about three days past its target, after counting 20,574,612 ballots by hand, CBC News reported. All five immigration questions passed, led by a requirement to show proof of citizenship to vote in provincial elections at 58 percent, and voters rejected all four constitutional reform questions. Results become official October 29. Premier Danielle Smith said the province will “proceed with caution” on most of the immigration changes.

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said on Fox News Sunday that Canada and the United States are “very close” to a trade deal, and blamed the “Canadian election that just happened, including Alberta separating” for making it “essentially impossible to negotiate with the Canadians,” BNN Bloomberg reported. Albertans voted against holding a binding referendum on leaving Canada. New 50 percent tariffs on some Canadian goods take effect at the end of the month.

The mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) expires Saturday, October 31, so the UN Security Council must act on it this week, according to the Council’s tentative October schedule. When it last renewed the mission, in Resolution 2797 of October 31, 2025, the Council asked the Secretary-General for a strategic review of the mission’s future mandate within six months.

Weatherford’s First Monday Trade Days will have an information table staffed by the Parker County team of the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) on Saturday, October 31, the TNM calendar shows.