Area News

AUSTIN ⎯ Texas recorded a total of 14,461,300 nonfarm jobs after shedding 11,100 positions in September. Over the year, the state added 154,300 jobs for an annual growth rate of 1.1 percent, outpacing the national rate by 0.8 percentage points. Texas’ civilian labor force registered at 15,948,400 after adding 15,800 people over the month. Over…

ROUND ROCK, Texas—The Texas A&M Forest Service Leadership Institute kicked off its seventh cohort Oct. 13 to 15 in Round Rock. The institute is a leadership program that rallies existing and emerging leaders within the natural resources and incident response fields and increases their ability to enact meaningful change throughout Texas. “The Texas A&M Forest…

By Gabby Birenbaum, The Texas Tribune October 16, 2026 EDINBURG — The grills were firing ahead of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s football game Saturday when a woman in UTRGV orange came out from under her tailgate tent to greet Bobby Pulido. She had been to one of his concerts years ago, she…

By Tim Henderson, Stateline October 16, 2026 The sheer size of investment in data centers is drawing concern as it surpasses all other historical booms and crowds out other more job-creating ventures.  Until now, no industry had driven the U.S. economy with such force since the railroad expansion of the late 1800s, when titans battled…

By Tim Henderson, Stateline October 14, 2026 Inflation grew to a 3.7% annual rate in September, according to an Oct. 14 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from 3.4% in August.  In the last consumer price inflation report before midterm elections, with voters already fed up with higher prices, September’s number was…

By Christine Mai-Duc Oct 16, 2026 In March 2025, when California ran out of Medicaid funds to pay doctors and hospitals, the state borrowed $3.4 billion to keep the program afloat. It was, as a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom insisted, nothing new. Indeed, a handful of times over the years, the state had taken…

By Julie Appleby Oct 16, 2026 Late last month, the Trump administration announced that it had cut 760,000 people from the Affordable Care Act rolls, claiming fraud and improper enrollments and touting billions in potential taxpayer savings. Not all of those kicked off were fraudulently enrolled, KFF Health News has learned. Insurance industry sources said…

SHREVEPORT, La. (Oct. 15) – Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) is encouraging residential customers who may be struggling with electric bills to call before Oct. 31 to see what assistance programs, payment options and temporary bill support measures may be available for their accounts. “Many customers may qualify for programs or assistance they haven’t explored…