Cruz, O'Rourke trade attacks during testy 1st Texas debate

Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Beto O'Rourke repeatedly traded barbs during a testy first debate Friday night, underscoring how a Texas Senate race that long looked like a cakewalk for the conservative incumbent now appears to be anything but one.

Cruz went on the attack moments after stepping on the stage, charging that his opponent suggested that police officers embodied "modern-day Jim Crow" laws in response to a question about a Dallas policewoman who shot and killed her unarmed, black neighbor after mistakenly entering his apartment, thinking it was her own.

O'Rourke responded that the accusation was "simply not true." Cruz appeared to be referring to O'Rourke previously suggesting that inherent biases in the criminal justice system promote racism.

Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, left, and Democratic U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke, right, take part in their first debate for the Texas U.S. Senate in Dallas, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. (Tom FoxThe Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool)

Later, when Cruz tried to say O'Rourke wanted to abolish the Second Amendment, the Democrat said it wasn't so, and the candidates sniped while the moderators pleaded for them to stop and for the audience to stop hooting. O'Rourke said Texas was ready for a senator who will protect the Second Amendment while imposing small restrictions to save lives and prevent mass shootings. He suggested those were supported by "gunowners and non-gunowners alike," but when he said the common GOP refrain after gun violence of offering "thoughts and prayers" wasn't enough, Cruz bristled.

"I'm sorry you don't like thoughts and prayers," he said. "I will pray for anyone in harm's way."

Cruz was also asked whether Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's accuser could say anything that might make him question his support for the nomination. Cruz said "absolutely," but didn't elaborate while calling the allegations serious.

Democratic U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke takes part in a debate for the Texas U.S. Senate with Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, in Dallas, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. (Tom FoxThe Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool)

Democrats have long dreamed of flipping heavily Hispanic Texas, the country's largest red state, and transforming the national electoral map. O'Rourke is giving up his El Paso-based U.S. House seat to try and upset Cruz, even though his party hasn't won any of Texas' two dozen-plus statewide office races since 1994, America's longest political losing streak.

The debate at Dallas' Southern Methodist University also saw Cruz criticize O'Rourke's past support for legalizing marijuana, evoking his older half-sister, Miriam, who died of a drug overdose. O'Rourke, meanwhile, has been open about his 1998 arrest for drunken driving in El Paso, but said for the first time Friday that he did not try to flee the scene, as a witness suggested in the police report. He called the incident a "terrible mistake"

The pair will square off again next weekend in Cruz's hometown of Houston, and a third and final debate is set for San Antonio three weeks before the Nov. 6 election.

Cruz didn't speak to the media afterward except to say he thought the debate "went great." But O'Rourke said the senator "has a tendency to mischaracterize a position."

"If he's talking about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem at a football game to call attention to injustice in this country, he'll talk about flag burning," O'Rourke said. "If we're talking about ending the war on drugs, the war on people, and some people over other people in this country, and ending the prohibition on marijuana, he'll talk about legalizing heroin and cocaine. No one wants to do any of that."

An ex-punk rocker who has attracted glowing attention from national liberal circles for his high-energy campaign and monster fundraising, O'Rourke has been mentioned as a possible 2020 Democratic vice presidential candidate and even a 2020 White House hopeful. Though he may not knock off Cruz, the argument goes, a close loss could only further boost his national profile.

O'Rourke, however, has repeatedly insisted he has no political plans beyond this race.

He's visited all 254 Texas counties, including areas that Democrats long ago gave up on — a fact he mentioned repeatedly during the debate. Cruz dismissed many such visits as photo-ops.

Cruz finished second in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. But a variety of polls show that O'Rourke is staying within striking distance — prompting Cruz to go negative in ads lately, attacking his opponent for defending NFL players' right to protest during the national anthem and his opposition to the Trump administration's hardline stance on immigration.

President Donald Trump has announced that he'll rally in Texas for his once bitter rival Cruz next month — previously unthinkable in a state where Republicans usually rack up landslide victories.

A truck mounted with a portable billboard of a February 2016 Trump tweet declaring, "Why would the people of Texas support Ted Cruz when he has accomplished nothing for them?" was parked near Friday's debate site. It's frequently hit Texas political events since Trump announced plans to visit.

Asked Friday about Trump's 2016 criticism, which included making fun of Cruz's wife's appearance and suggesting that his Cuban-born father had a hand in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Cruz said, "I could have chosen to make it about myself," but instead he said he worked with Trump to further Texas interests.

That ignored Cruz drawing the ire of many Texas conservatives for refusing to endorse Trump during the 2016 Republican National Convention. He eventually supported his party's candidate, though.

O'Rourke criticized Cruz during the debate for failing to rebuke Trump administration tariffs against China, which he said would hurt Texas trade interests.

Things are likely to stay nasty in coming weeks.

Asked what he admired about O'Rourke, Cruz managed to compare him to socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. O'Rourke drew laughs by replying simply of Cruz: "True to form."

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — At least 90 people were injured in Argentina's capital when a passenger train struck an empty boxcar on the tracks and derailed Friday, authorities said, a rare collision that fueled questions about basic safety.

The train was on its way from Buenos Aires to the northern suburbs when it derailed around 10:30 a.m. on a bridge in the trendy neighborhood of Palermo, safety officials said.

While it was not immediately clear why the idled boxcar had been on the bridge, Argentina's railway union said several meters (yards) of copper cable used to carry power along the tracks had been stolen from the railway, disabling the signaling system intended to prevent such accidents.

Union leaders fiercely opposed to libertarian President Javier Milei's economic austerity blamed the government for its failure to invest in public infrastructure.

“We have been demanding for 10 days that the stolen signaling cables be repaired," rail union leader Omar Maturano told the country's independent Radio Con Vos station. “The government said there was no money for spare parts.”

Prosecutors said they were investigating.

“There is not enough information about the mechanics of this accident,” Buenos Aires Mayor Jorge Macri said from the crash site where he praised the swift evacuation of victims.

Dozens of injured were treated at the scene and 30 people taken to hospitals in moderate to serious condition, at least two by helicopter with chest trauma and broken bones.

Alberto Crescenti, director of the city's emergency service, said rescuers with police dogs had helped 90 people trapped in the derailed train, lowering some by rope from the highway overpass scattered with twisted metal and shattered glass.

Dazed passengers staggering out of the derailed boxcars told local media the train had stopped on the bridge for several minutes before starting up again and slamming violently into the other train, jolting passengers and veering off the rails in a jumble of sparks and smoke.

Officials at the Argentine rail authority, Trenes Argentinos, said service on the popular rail line had been suspended, complicating travel for many commuters.

The collision brought increased scrutiny to rail safety in Argentina, where a string of train crashes from 2012-2014 left over 50 people dead and hundreds injured. It emerged at the time that outdated infrastructure, delays and human error had left the railway system vulnerable to crashes, prompting the government to invest in new safety and braking systems.

With Argentina's economy spiraling and anti-government protests gripping the streets, the crash quickly spawned contradictory narratives, with both government officials and leftist union leaders using the incident to further their agendas.

“The rail company has been totally degraded because there's no budget," said Maturano, from the rail union.

President Milei reposted comments on social media blaming his left-leaning predecessors for neglecting public infrastructure and running up a massive budget deficit.

In the midst of Argentina's worst economic crisis in two decades, police have repeatedly reported would-be cable thieves being electrocuted in the act. Those who succeed wreak havoc on the rail system in stealing metal to sell to scrapyards, where local media says the going rate is about $7 a kilogram ($3.18 a pound).

The Argentine website Infobae in February called copper cable theft “a trendy crime for the crisis.”

Police tape off the site after a passenger train collision in the Palermo area of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A paramedic transports an injured commuter after two trains collided in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Railway workers inspect a passenger train after it collided with another in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Franco Dergarabedian)

Railway workers inspect a passenger train after it collided with another in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A police officer talks to a commuter who was injured when two trains collided in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A train wagon that collided with another stands on the rails in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Paramedics transport injured commuters after two trains collided in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)