Another GOP Rep. Charged With Domestic Assault and Battery

Two have died from the cyclospora outbreak, ICE added nearly a million DNA profiles to the FBI's criminal database last year, and Texas inmates are baking to death in 110-degree cells

Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.

The Arkansas Republican nominee for Benton County judge was booked on false imprisonment, aggravated assault, and domestic battery charges. Two Michigan residents have died from the cyclospora outbreak traced to Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce. ICE may have added as many as 919,908 DNA profiles to the FBI’s criminal database in a single year, most from people with no conviction. And Texas inmates are literally baking to death as prison temperatures regularly exceed 110 degrees.

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GOP Nominee for Judge Booked on Domestic Violence Charges

Arkansas State Representative Austin McCollum really wanted to be in the courtroom, just not like this.

McCollum, the Republican nominee for Benton County judge, was taken into custody on Saturday over an alleged domestic incident. He was charged with first-degree false imprisonment, aggravated assault on a family or household member, and third-degree domestic battery.

Republican officials were quick to condemn McCollum, presumably because Trump hasn’t endorsed him. Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the allegations “appalling” and demanded he resign and drop out. Attorney General Tim Griffin said he was “appalled and disgusted.”

Lieutenant Governor Leslie Rutledge withdrew her endorsement effective immediately. The state party called the alleged violence “disgusting,” but the Republican Party of Benton County wouldn’t go so far as to distance itself from McCollum, only saying it was “closely following developments.”

McCollum was released Sunday on a $10,000 bond. No word yet on whether he plans to drop out, but his campaign website is already a blank white page, so he’s halfway there.

First Two Deaths From Cyclospora Outbreak Reported

If only there were some kind of federal agency that could have prevented this.

Health officials reported Monday two deaths linked to cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness caused by a parasite that spreads through food or water contaminated with human feces. Both had significant underlying conditions that may have been worsened by the infection and dehydration.

The parasite causes severe diarrhea that can last from a few days to more than a month. It is usually treated with antibiotics, and deaths are uncommon in the United States. However, it can be dangerous for infants, older adults, pregnant people, and anyone with a weakened immune system.

This is the worst year on record for the illness. Since May 1, the CDC has confirmed or is investigating more than 18,000 cases across 45 states, with 423 hospitalizations. Michigan sits at the center of a nine-state outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms, logging 11,234 infections and 193 hospitalizations alone.

Officials say they are cautiously optimistic the Michigan outbreak is waning, with weekly cases down from around 3,500 to just over 2,000. Only in 2026 would just two thousand people a week getting a fecal parasite from lettuce count as good news.

ICE Collected Nearly a Million People’s DNA

Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and also a DNA sample.

The federal government is funneling the genetic profiles of nearly everyone in ICE custody — including young children — into an FBI database built for criminal investigations. New research from Georgetown Law estimates ICE alone may have added as many as roughly 920,000 profiles in 2025.

The vast majority of people in ICE custody have no criminal conviction (being undocumented is typically a civil offense). Once a profile enters CODIS, police anywhere can compare it against unsolved crimes, now or decades from now, as the physical sample sits in a federal lab indefinitely.

In fiscal 2020, ICE collected 3,609 DNA samples. The FBI’s “detainee” index grew by roughly 995,000 profiles in 2025 alone — more than 2,700 people a day, every day, for a year. Georgetown projects DHS will supply more than a third of the entire criminal DNA index by 2030.

Hugo Moreno-Mendez refused the swab four times. He was charged with a misdemeanor that ICE itself said in 2021 it had never seen prosecuted, taken to trial, and sentenced to time served.

Texas Prisoners Are Literally Baking to Death

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the lengths the state will go to avoid buying an air conditioner.

Instead of AC, Texas assigns inmates a computer-generated “heat-sensitivity score” that is supposed to flag those medically at risk during extreme heat. A federal judge called the system arbitrary, inadequate, and ineffective, noting that a 90-year-old with hypertension still failed to qualify.

Bernhardt Tiede has diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. In 2023, he suffered a stroke in a cell that court documents say regularly exceeded 110 degrees. He sued. Right before trial, the state dropped him from his own case by pointing to a policy update prioritizing inmates 65 and older.

John Castillo went to the water cooler 23 times before he was found unresponsive with a core temperature of 107.5. Patrick Womack was found at 106.9 in a cell registering 96.6, long enough that rigor mortis had set in. Elizabeth Hagerty told doctors she couldn’t keep fluids down, and they sent her back to her cell. She died two days later, a month short of release.

TDCJ’s position on all three is that heat wasn’t the real cause, but rather the underlying conditions were. A 2022 JAMA study estimated 271 heat deaths in un-air-conditioned Texas prisons over two decades. Not a single one occurred in a climate-controlled facility.

The fix would cost about $1.5 billion. A bill to phase in climate control by 2032 died when Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick never assigned it to a Senate committee. It died from lack of attention, which is also how the inmates die.

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