Highlights from in and around the world of Texas politics

A tough Texas anti-"sanctuary cities" bill that threatens to throw county sheriffs and small-town constables in jail if they refuse to help enforce federal immigration law looks to be on the fast-track toward passage in the state's Republican-controlled Legislature. The proposal cleared a House committee 7-5 without debate Wednesday, setting up a floor vote soon.

Sean Spicer tries on humility: ‘I screwed up’

A contrite Sean Spicer ditched his usual defiance Wednesday and asked the public to forgive him for remarks a day earlier in which he credited Adolf Hitler with refraining from using chemical weapons during World War II. "I made a mistake," the White House press secretary said during an appearance at the Newseum in Washington, where he was interviewed by MSNBC's Greta Van Susteren.

During border visit, Sessions outlines immigration plan

Attorney General Jeff Sessions toured the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday and unveiled what he described as a new get-tough approach to immigration prosecutions under President Donald Trump. The nation's top law enforcement official outlined a series of changes that he said mark the start of a new push to rid American cities and the border of what he described as "filth" brought on by drug cartels and criminal organizations.

Military lawyers sue Pentagon over carcinogens at Gitmo housing

Lawyers who work at a camp at Guantanamo Bay filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging that the Pentagon failed to properly investigate health hazards at facilities there that contain carcinogens. The lawyers, who work at the facilities for several weeks in a year, say the US Navy failed to follow up on reports of high cancer cases among young and otherwise healthy people who work at Camp Justice, the complex where they work on detainees' cases.

FAA Warns Drone Pilots to Not Fly Near Military Bases

As drones start flooding the skies and regulations over drone use proliferate, the Federal Aviation Administration is constantly updating its guidance for both hobby and commercial drones. And while the latest rule might seem so obvious as to not need a federal administrative order, the FAA and Department of Defense are warning drone pilots to avoid flying over U.S. military bases , lest they face fines or jail time.

Sessions makes case for increased criminal prosecutions of migrants at U.S. border

In an unusual move for the head of the U.S. Justice Department, Attorney General Jeff Sessions traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to speak with Department of Homeland Security personnel on Tuesday to make the case for increased prosecutions of migrants. Sessions, a long-time proponent of tougher immigration enforcement during his time in the U.S. Senate, told U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Port of Nogales in Arizona that more illegal immigrants should be prosecuted as criminals.

The Latest: McCain: America can stop both IS and Assad

U.S. Senator John McCain says stopping Syrian President Bashar Assad's "murderous rampage" does not preclude America from fighting the Islamic State group. "The United States is the most powerful nation on earth, we can do both at the same time," the Republican senator said at a press conference in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Obama Administration’s Zeligby Victor Davis Hanson Susan Rice is…

The Benghazi deceptions, the selling of the Iran deal, the Bergdahl trade - one 'expert' kept turning up to peddle falsehoods. usan Rice is the real version of Woody Allen's cinematic character Zelig, who in the movie of the same name popped up almost anywhere as an expert on anything.

North Korea calls US aircraft carrier dispatch outrageous

A U.S. Marine soldier conducts the U.S.-South Korea joint Exercise Operation Pacific Reach in Pohang, South Korea, Tuesday, April 11, 2017. North Korea is vowing tough counteraction to any military moves that might follow the U.S. move to send the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its battle group to waters off the Korean Peninsula.

Upstate New York Man Sentenced to 33 Months in Crystal Meth Case

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that on Friday, April 7, 2017, Justin R. Brennan, 37, of Queensbury, New York, was sentenced in the United States District Court in Burlington following his guilty plea to Conspiracy to Distribute Five Grams or More of Methamphetamine. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss sentenced Brennan to 33 months in prison followed by three years of post-release supervision.

Sessions’ Justice Dep’t will end forensic science commission

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday he is ending an Obama-era partnership with independent scientists that aimed to improve the reliability of forensic science, as longstanding concerns remain about the quality of such evidence in court cases. The Justice Department will not renew the National Commission on Forensic Science, a panel of judges, defense attorneys, researchers and law enforcement officials that had been advising the attorney general on the use of scientific evidence in the criminal justice process.

US Congress Calls for Action on Honduras in Response to Murders of Land and Environmental Activists

In two strongly worded letters to the new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, almost 80 United States legislators on Friday expressed their grave concern at the risks facing activists who defend their land and the environment in Honduras. A recent Global Witness report exposed how more than 120 land rights defenders have been killed since 2010.

Guerrilla Lobs Bombs at Romanticized History of ’70s Violence

Before we get to everything else about Showtime's Guerrilla -how it's intelligent, insightful, resonant, well-acted and all that-let's deal with the mysterious question of why a show about an underground black-nationalist terrorist group of the 1970s, written and produced by Americans, would be set in Great Britain. To be sure, London had its share of political terrorism in the 1970s.