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Texas woman bought guns for son who was planning school shooting

(NYT) — A woman in Texas has been charged with aiding in the commission of terrorism after she purchased guns and tactical gear for her 13-year-old son who had repeatedly expressed interest in committing a school shooting, according to the San Antonio police and court documents.

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Ashley Pardo, 33, who was arrested Monday, was “not concerned” with her son’s behavior, the police said, and purchased the weapons for the boy as a reward for babysitting his younger siblings.

On Monday, the boy went to Jeremiah Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio after telling his grandmother that he was “going to be famous,” according to an arrest affidavit. He left after briefly appearing at the school. The boy was later detained off campus, according to a letter to families from the school’s principal, Felismina Martinez, that was posted on Facebook.

The boy faces terrorism and weapons charges, the police said.

The San Antonio police chief, William McManus, said the charges against the boy and his mother were based on “the simple fact that the young man was apparently planning some act of violence based on the things that we found out he was doing, and the mother was assisting him.”

He said at a news conference Thursday that Pardo appeared to be “unconcerned” with her son’s behavior. It was the first time authorities have charged someone in Bexar County, where San Antonio is the county seat, with terrorism since the charge was created under a 2023 state law, McManus said.

According to Pardo’s arrest documents, she had been informed of her son’s drawings and violent ideations but was “dismissive” with law enforcement, child protective services and school officials.

Conservative Republicans revolt over domestic policy bill

WASHINGTON (NYT) — Conservative Republicans in the House were in open revolt Thursday over their party’s major legislation to deliver President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda, threatening to derail the tax and budget measure over concerns that it would add too much to the deficit.

In the latest indication of the dissent in the GOP’s ranks, two Republicans, Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, told reporters they planned to vote against approving the legislation in the Budget Committee in a session planned for today.

Roy’s and Norman’s opposition alone would be enough to block the measure from reaching the floor, upending the party’s drive to push the legislation through the House before a Memorial Day recess. A number of other conservative, anti-spending Republicans sit on the panel and suggested they could follow suit.

The bill would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cut and temporarily enact his campaign pledges not to tax tips or overtime pay. Cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and subsidies for clean energy would partly offset the roughly $3.8 trillion cost of those tax measures, as well as increased spending on the military and immigration enforcement.

Republicans like Roy are demanding changes to the bill, arguing that their leaders did not go far enough to cut federal spending. Some had earlier insisted that the final product add nothing to the deficit. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group that calls for lower deficits, estimated that the bill would add roughly $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade.