Let the Sun Shine In
What to know: A Texas state representative is battling a local education foundation over transparency.
The TPPF take: In Texas, education foundations are supposed to support public school districts through fundraising, making donations, and offering other supportive services.
“However, as documented in a recent report, these foundations sometimes blur the line when it comes to their own operations and the districts they serve,” says TPPF’s Judge Shepard. “In a few cases, troubling evidence shows that they’ve grown into powerful quasi-governmental entities that operate outside of the state’s transparency laws and ethical expectations.”
For more on educational foundations, click here.
New World Screwworm
What to know: The New World Screwworm has spread to New Mexico, as Texas counties are declaring disaster.
The TPPF take: While Mexico defends its “sovereignty,” cartels are importing a flesh-eating parasite into Texas and the U.S.
“Elements of the Mexican state continue to protect cartel networks moving high-risk biological material toward the U.S. supply chain,” says TPPF’s Ammon Blair. “In 2024, Mexico exported roughly 1.25 million head of live cattle to the United States at an estimated value of $1.3 billion. After the pause in the live cattle trade, Mexico rapidly expanded processed beef exports to the U.S., with exports rising 23 percent in the first four months of 2026 as cattle that would have been shipped live were instead finished and slaughtered domestically.”
For more on the New World Screwworm, click here.
Illicit Aid
What to know: Mexico continues to send aid (and comfort) to the Cuban regime.
The TPPF take: The relationship between Mexico and Cuba constitutes one of the most complex and singular in the Western Hemisphere.
“Over more than six decades, this relationship has been shaped by a combination of strategic cooperation, ideological affinity, and silent competition in the field of espionage,” says TPPF’s Alicia Galván López. “Mexico not only served as a bridge between Havana and the West, but also as fertile ground for covert operations during the Cold War. In recent years, under the government of Morena, the relationship has taken on new risks that have reignited debate regarding political influence, structural cooperation, and potential threats to democratic institutions.”
For more on Mexico and Cuba, click here.