Southwest Airlines takes shot at Luka trade, trying to cool backlash over ending free checked bags policy
Former Mavericks star Luka Doncic is a very sensitive topic among Dallas fans following his trade to Los Angeles Lakers just last month.
But the branches are out -- the shade has been thrown. Is it funny, tone deaf or petty? No matter what you decide, it's created quite the social media buzz not only among public figures and athletes, but also a national food chain. And you can guess which one.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Southwest Airlines (@southwestair)
Texas-based Whataburger' response is among the nearly 8,000 comments: "Do Whataburger bags still fly free?"
The Atlanta Falcons also dropped their opinion: "Delta Airlines >>>"
Former NFL star wide receiver Terrell Owens just responded with laughing emojis.
Southwest ends two free checked bags policy
Earlier this week, Southwest dropped a bombshell. Beginning on May 28, passengers will be charged for their first and second checked bags.
The move comes as Southwest, the nation's fourth-largest airline, has been under intense pressure from an activist investor to improve its financial performance after struggling to keep pace with changing customer preferences post-pandemic.
The airline said only its Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred members and passengers who book their Business Select fares will still receive two free checked bags.
A 54-year history broken.
Just last September, Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said the policy would remain in place.
Many who fly Southwest expressed their feelings of betrayal and sadness.
"The free bags have always been a reason to go Southwest," a customer told CBS News Texas. "I'm going to have to shop around now."
More policy changes for Southwest
The airline also recently announced its first-ever layoffs, launched its first redeye flights, and intends to end its long-running open seating policy next year. Instead, the airline will offer seat assignments and sell extra legroom seats for an additional fee.
On May 28, Southwest will add a heavily discounted basic economy fare class that will guarantee a flyer a seat on a plane but will likely come with restrictions similar to other carriers' basic economy offerings.
But Southwest remains hopeful that customers are still going to love flying with its airline due to its hospitality.
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As Trump pushes Apple to make iPhones in the U.S., Google's brief effort building smartphones in Texas 12 years ago offers critical lessons
The executives were well aware of the difficulties they would face in manufacturing a smartphone in the U.S. As with any great tech industry moonshot, the challenge was part of the appeal—and they embraced it. 'Conventional wisdom said it wasn't possible,' the company crowed defiantly in a blog post announcing the new America-made smartphone. 'Experts said that costs are too high in the US; that the US has lost its manufacturing capability; and that the US labor force is too inflexible.' Soon, tens of thousands of shiny, new touchscreen phones began rolling off the assembly line at a plant in Fort Worth, Texas every day, and what seemed like a risky endeavor began to look like it could be a milestone—a bold bet on American manufacturing at a time when smartphone giant Apple relied on factories in China, home to cheap labor and legions of suppliers eager to produce electronic components. That was 2013. And the company behind the bet was Google, which had acquired legacy phone maker Motorola Mobility and was leveraging its modern tech prowess and vast resources to make the Moto X smartphone a success. Just a year later, it was all over. Google sold the Motorola phone business and pulled the plug on the U.S. manufacturing effort. It was the last time a major company tried to produce a U.S. made smartphone. The story of Google's short-lived on-shorting experiment has been largely forgotten, a footnote in the internet search giant's nearly three-decade history of business initiatives and projects. But Google's experience, particularly where it succeeded, where it discovered unexpected benefits, and where it stumbled, are newly relevant amid President Trump's campaign to pressure Apple, and other tech companies, to build their gadgets on U.S. soil. In just the past few weeks, the President has demanded that Apple reshore a big part of its iPhone production from Asia or face tariffs of at least 25%. The Google Motorola case study provides critical lessons about U.S. smartphone manufacturing that are still applicable today, as well as numerous intriguing what ifs. Was the project doomed by the economic realities of globalization, the competitive landscape in the smartphone business, or were Google's shifting corporate priorities ultimately to blame? Could more time, or more effective marketing, have made a difference? To piece together the history, Fortune spoke with five former Motorola employees who were directly involved in the company's U.S. assembly push, as well as numerous industry experts and analysts. 'We felt scrappy and felt we could carve out a niche for ourselves,' recalled Steve Mills, who was Motorola Mobility's chief information officer at the time and who is now chief operating officer at Foresite Cybersecurity. Many of the former Google insiders described starting the effort with high hopes but quickly realized that some of the assumptions they went in with were flawed and that, for all the focus on manufacturing, sales simply weren't strong enough to meet the company's ambitious goals laid out by leadership. The phone at the center of the plan, the Moto X, stood out from the pack not just because of where it would be produced. Motorola would offer consumers who purchased the phone directly on its website the option to customize the device, with dozens of colors and materials, eventually including bamboo and walnut backs, as well as special touches like personalized engraving. The company hoped that offering customized phones would give it an edge over rivals Apple and Samsung, which sold only standardized lineups. And the customization was well-suited to the on-shoring plan: By making phones in the U.S., Motorola would be able to deliver them to domestic customers within four days, instead of making them wait, while also saving on shipping costs. In its marketing, Motorola played up the device's pedigree as a patriotic alternative to the foreign-produced competition. The plant's opening celebration was such a big deal that then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry and billionaire Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban showed up. The factory in Fort Worth, about an hour's drive from Dallas, was operated by Flextronics, a contract manufacturer now known as Flex. To save on costs, workers at the plant handled only final assembly, using components that were imported from Asia. The cost of labor was of course higher than in China – workers were paid an hourly wage that was about three times more than in China, company executives said at the time. But it was an acceptable trade-off, given the other advantages. Dennis Woodside, who was then the CEO of Motorola Mobility, said in an interview at the time that the customized phones were being sold at a profit. In addition to the customized models, Motorola sold standardized versions of the Moto X to wireless carriers – an arrangement that helped ensure a base level of demand and production at the factory. While Apple does not produce customized versions of its iPhone, the company would likely face many of the same complications, plus new ones, if it quickly shifted iPhone manufacturing to the U.S. as Trump has called for. Higher labor costs are still a reality. And domestic suppliers are limited, with most based in China. As a result, Apple would have to raise iPhone prices astronomically—at least initially—to make a profit, experts said. Instead of $1,000, U.S.-made phones would have to retail for as much as $3,500, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives estimated in a recent research note, concluding that Apple ever producing the devices domestically is a 'fairy tale.' Over the past six months, to reduce its exposure to Trump's tariffs, Apple has accelerated a years-long shift in its sourcing of iPhones. Rather than China, its main manufacturing hub and initially the target of Trump's highest import taxes, the company now ships most of its U.S.-bound phones from India, where tariffs are lower. How the trade war will ultimately play out is still in flux. Trump has delayed some of his import taxes and is still negotiating others. But his comments in May on conservative social network Truth Social show he opposes Apple's current workaround. In his message, he insisted Apple's iPhones 'must be built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else.' Apple CEO Tim Cook has described Asia as better for manufacturing than the U.S. The reason has nothing to do with the difference in wages, he insisted in an interview at a Fortune conference in 2017. China stopped being a low-cost labor destination years ago, according to Cook. Rather, the country's advantage is the far greater availability of skilled workers, such as the tooling engineers who create designs and molds for components, and who he praised for their precision. 'In the U.S., you could have a meeting of tooling engineers and I'm not sure we could fill the room,' Cook said on stage. 'In China you could fill multiple football fields.' In an effort to appease Trump, Apple this year promised to spend $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years. Some of that money, the company said, will go to producing servers in Houston for its data centers. But Apple hasn't mentioned anything about bringing iPhone manufacturing back home to the U.S. When it came to the Moto X, Flextronics, from the outset, anticipated a shortage of skilled engineers in the U.S. To get around the problem, it drafted engineering talent from its factories across the globe, including from Hungary, Israel, Malaysia, Brazil, and China, and splurged on moving them to Fort Worth just to get the operation running as quickly as possible. 'We had to bring in a very cultural cast of characters,' said Mark Randall, who led Motorola's supply chain and operations. Rank and file assembly line workers, along with supervisors and managers, were easier to recruit locally because of the area's status as a telecom manufacturing corridor, he added. Of the nearly 3,800 staffing the facility at its peak, most didn't require intensive training. Production at the plant, equivalent in size to nearly eight football fields, started in the summer of 2013. The operation was in a former Nokia phone factory, in an industrial park designated as a foreign trade zone and with its own airport for cargo. The location meant that Motorola would pay lower tariffs on certain components it imported from Asia. The savings would only kick in, however, if the company decided to export some of the phones it produced there to other countries. Randall, who is now a supply chain consultant and startup board member, described Texas as a friendly home for manufacturing. In just one example of the warm welcome, the state gave Motorola a tax break for worker training, he said. Setting up the Moto X plant required installing a massive amount of equipment, including conveyor belts and other machinery. Some, like certain testing machines, were shipped from China. Workers wearing smocks and gloves to protect the electronics from dirt and lint stood at blue tables set in neat rows while they went through the many steps required to finish a phone. Computer screens glowed above each station. Fitting plastic parts, like the phone's back cover, tended to be done by hand. Robotics was used for adding components like touch screens and for testing certain parts during assembly to make sure they worked properly. As production ramped up, process engineers, who sometimes patrolled the assembly line with stopwatches, looked for bottlenecks and rejiggered the assembly line. Like with any plant, the effort to squeeze out more efficiency was a constant focus. As the first Motorola phone designed under Google, Moto X generated considerable buzz. The Android device, which was priced at $579 for the unlocked entry version, had a rounded backside and pioneering voice control feature. Users merely had to say 'Okay, Google now' to activate the feature, to set up reminders and get driving directions 'It was a cool sexy phone,' said Mills, the CIO. 'I got it for my kids.' The mobile network carriers were also excited by the Moto X, though at least partly for self-serving reasons, according to Randall, the supply chain guru. If the device sold well, it would provide the carriers more leverage over Apple in negotiating the wholesale prices they paid for future iPhones. But ultimately, critics gave the Moto X mixed reviews. While they praised the ability to customize the device and its overall design, they dinged it for having underwhelming storage in the basic model (16GB) and inferior screen quality compared to the competition. As the Fort Worth plant revved up, workers quickly started pumping out up to 100,000 phones weekly. Initially, the plant's staff was overwhelmed, forcing Motorola to briefly backtrack on its promise to deliver phones to customers within four days. But over time, the volume dipped considerably. In the first quarter of 2014, Motorola sold 900,000 Moto X handsets worldwide compared to Apple selling 26 million of its new iPhone 5s during the same period, according to Strategy Analytics. Five months after Moto X debuted, Motorola slashed its price to $399. After nine months, the factory was down to 700 workers, or less than one-fifth of what it had earlier. Within the first few weeks, Randall said it was clear to leadership that the Moto X was underperforming. The team had to ramp down production. While not a complete failure in terms of sales, the phone wasn't a huge success either. Employees said they expected future models to do better, after improving the phone's design. Many blamed a limited marketing budget compared to the big money that Samsung and Apple spent on print ads and TV commercials. Because Moto X was a brand new model, they argued it needed a splashier ad campaign to get the word out or a more convincing message. One of the company's big assumptions about the phone had turned out to be wrong. After betting big on U.S. assembly, and waving the red, white, and blue in its marketing, the company realized that most consumers didn't care where the phone was made. 'One of the learnings was that assembled in America wasn't resonating,' said Mark Rose, a senior director of product management with Motorola at the time who now coaches product managers as a consultant. Apple wouldn't necessarily face the same challenges as Motorola, if it opened a U.S. smartphone plant. Their vast difference in size could make a big difference. Because of sluggish demand, Motorola struggled to achieve the cost savings from making Moto X in huge numbers. Apple, on the other hand, with annual U.S. iPhone sales in the tens of millions, could more easily cash in on the economies of scale. For Motorola, the challenge it faced was compounded by its decision to let shoppers customize their phones when ordering them online. Fully assembling those devices ahead of time, which would have helped make the plant run more smoothly, was impossible. It also led to higher return rates, an expensive problem for any company, because customers were more likely to be disappointed with the color scheme they chose. Apple, with its standardized lineup, doesn't have the same worries. Thanks to its successful track record, Apple also has significant control and leverage over its suppliers to negotiate lower prices for its iPhone components. Motorola, with its back-in-the-pack position and the uncertainty about whether its new Moto X phone would be a hit, had little sway in comparison. Meanwhile, Motorola, along with most other Android phone makers, operate in an environment of intense competition that translates into low profit margins. Any extra costs, such as is the case with U.S. manufacturing from higher wages, can be financially painful. Apple's iPhone, however, is a premium product that sells at a high margin. As a result, the company could more easily absorb the additional expense of producing it in the U.S. Ultimately, Google's changing priorities played a major role in its decision in January 2014 to sell Motorola to China-based Lenovo for $2.9 billion. A few months later, with the sale of the phone maker still pending, Google announced it would shut down its Moto X assembly line in Fort Worth and shift production entirely to China and Brazil, where production costs were lower. Instead of trying to compete with Apple, Motorola, under Lenovo, would focus on making cheaper phones aimed at customers in developing countries. 'What we found was that the North American market was exceptionally tough,' Motorola president Rick Osterloh told the Wall Street Journal after announcing that the Fort Worth plant would close. Selling would eliminate another problem for Google: Griping by phone makers that used Android software in their devices. They complained that Google, after buying Motorola, competed directly against them. Google had to take the rebellion seriously. If those partners bailed on Android, it would be a huge blow to Google because it would make it more difficult for handset users to access its services. Another factor in the sale was Google's rationale for acquiring Motorola in the first place. In addition to buying a phone business, Google had gotten Motorola's huge patent portfolio that it hoped would help it fend off a growing number of lawsuits over Android. Apple, Microsoft, and other competitors had targeted Google and its phone making partners with claims that the operating system infringed on their intellectual property. In selling Motorola to Lenovo, Google kept most of the patents, tacitly acknowledging that they were more valuable to it than a handset business with disappointing sales. In the end, Motorola's failed U.S. adventure had little to do with where the Moto X was assembled, by all accounts. The phone simply didn't sell well enough to justify a U.S. assembly line. 'If it had sold better off the jump, the whole story would have been different,' said Gabe Madway, who worked in Motorola's public relations at the time and is now at online investment management service Wealthsimple. Randall, meanwhile, put it even more bluntly, saying the phone's failure 'had very much zero' to do with U.S. manufacturing and everything to do with the iPhone being a better device with bigger brand recognition than the Moto X. Of course, a lot has changed in 12 years that could make or break a new U.S. manufacturing push by a company like Apple. Factory automation, for example, has greatly improved, opening the door to more cost savings in any U.S. smartphone factory now compared to before. But some things haven't changed. Adding thousands of workers on short notice to speed up production of a device getting more sales than anticipated would be next to impossible to do in the U.S. In China, it's routine. 'If there was a ramp that went super well, the ability to flex that workforce is insane' Randall said about China. 'The ability to scale down that work workforce is insane.' Also, there are relatively few U.S.-based suppliers that could produce enough electronic components for millions of phones. And expanding the pool would likely take years. Meanwhile, importing parts, the obvious alternative, may be prohibitively expensive if Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs, proposed in April, fully kick in. It doesn't help that the president frequently changes his mind about the levies, making it difficult for companies to plan ahead for big investments like phone assembly plants. Mills, the former Motorola CIO, said Trump giving phone makers like Apple some wiggle room would make it easier for them to set up U.S. manufacturing. Instead of producing their phones entirely in the U.S, they could avoid tariffs by doing merely final assembly domestically, like Motorola tried. 'A big thing comes down to what Trump means by Made in America,' said Mills. Another idea is for Apple to set up a small operation domestically to produce a 'prestige or limited edition' iPhone, said Ross Rubin, an analyst with Reticle Research. It could charge a premium for the device, say $2,000, he said, and let Trump declare victory, letting Apple avoid the much more expensive alternative to onshoring a huge chunk of its iPhone production. What is clear is this: Motorola's Made in America experiment lasted just over a year, and in more than a decade since, no other major smartphone maker has dared to try something similar again. This story was originally featured on
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USAA Stands with Our Communities to Provide Support Amid Devastating Texas Floods
Association commits $500,000 and activates employee volunteers to support SAN ANTONIO, July 05, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As first responders continue their efforts amid destructive flooding in Central Texas, USAA has committed $500,000 in philanthropic grants to help with search and recovery efforts and will activate employee volunteers to serve local communities. "The destruction and loss we are seeing in Texas is heartbreaking, and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected, especially the families of those who have lost loved ones and those who are still waiting to hear news," said Juan C. Andrade, President & CEO of USAA. "We have been part of this community for more than 100 years and we will show up with action, compassion and a willingness to help our neighbors and our members recover and rebuild. We are grateful to first responders for their ongoing and tireless efforts." USAA has committed $500,000 across multiple organizations to immediately respond to this event, including Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, Texas Search & Rescue, Red Cross and Salvation Army. Funding to these organizations addresses needs, including emergency sheltering and feeding, ground search and rescue, aerial search and disaster recovery assistance. This support is in addition to the $1.3 million that the Association has already committed this year to proactively provide support to organizations to serve our communities. With more than 17,000 employees in the San Antonio area, USAA also is activating its volunteer programs to work alongside Team Rubicon, a veteran-led disaster response organization, and other organizations on the ground. "Our mission to serve includes supporting the communities where we live and work. Service is in our DNA, and this is where the USAA family shows its heart," said Andrade. "This weekend's events are a reminder of how quickly lives can change and how important it is to support one another whenever and however we can." For those who would like to assist, please visit Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country. About USAA Founded in 1922 by a group of military officers, USAA is among the leading providers of insurance, banking and retirement solutions and serves 14 million members of the U.S. military, veterans who have honorably served and their families. Headquartered in San Antonio, USAA has offices in eight U.S. cities and three overseas locations and employs more than 38,000 people worldwide. Each year, the company contributes to national and local nonprofits in support of military families and communities where employees live and work. For more information about USAA, follow us on Facebook, Instagram or X (@USAA), or visit View source version on Contacts USAAexternal_communications@
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Texas Leads U.S. in New-Home Construction, Census Data Finds
If it feels like new neighborhoods are popping up all over Texas, you're not imagining it. A recent study ranked the Lone Star State as the leader in new residential construction, with more than one in five homes built in just the last 15 years. According to a report by The Steamboat Real Estate Group, 22.5% of currently occupied Texas homes were constructed after 2010 — the highest share of any state in the nation. Top 10 states with highest share of new-build homes, per Steamboat Real Estate Group That figure translates to roughly 2.5 million homes and may signal continued population growth and ongoing demand for housing in Texas' urban and suburban corridors. The report, based on U.S. Census Bureau data, highlights what many Texans have witnessed firsthand: breakneck residential expansion driven by job creation, rising migration, and a still-accessible housing market compared to coastal states. From sprawling master-planned communities around Austin, Dallas, and Houston to compact townhouse developments cropping up in overlooked corners of the state, Texas continues to attract newcomers seeking fresh starts, modern homes, and economic opportunity. Even without mentioning Austin, there's a reason the internet has adopted the phrase: 'Don't California my Texas.' North Dakota came in second on the list, with roughly 21% of its housing stock built since 2010 — a reflection of the state's brief oil boom and infrastructure push. Utah followed close behind, with 20.65% of its homes built after 2010. Other high-growth states such as Idaho, South Carolina, and North Carolina also landed in the top five, each surpassing 18% of homes constructed in the past decade. At the other end of the spectrum, older states in the Northeast recorded the smallest share of new housing. In Rhode Island and Connecticut, for example, fewer than 6% of occupied homes were built after 2010. New York and other high-density states also saw relatively low construction rates over that time. 'Interestingly, states located predominantly in the South or the West ranked highest in the study, with nine of the top states located in either region. What this tells us is that infrastructure is being heavily prioritized in these areas, with homebuyers, particularly first-time buyers being more exposed to affordability when it comes to buying a home as new build schemes often offer lower rates. 'It's important however, to ensure that thorough checks are made on newly built properties, not just for safety but to be financially responsible if you're investing into a property,' a spokesperson from The Steamboat Real Estate Group explained.
