Area News

August 21, 2026 RRC Oil and Gas Division inspectors attend Electrical Power Awareness Training at the Quanta Advanced Training Center in La Grange. AUSTIN – Advancing the Commission’s efforts to broaden inspectors’ expertise in electrical safety to support wildfire prevention, a first group of fourteen inspectors from the RRC’s Oil and Gas Division attended Electrical…

By Shalina Chatlani, Stateline August 25, 2026 Part 1 of an occasional series on how people are being affected by the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies. EDWARDS, Miss. — Every now and then a freight train rumbles through, creaking and groaning on the rusted tracks that run along the edge of the largely deserted…

By Jackie Fortiér Aug 25, 2026 In January, Jeff La Marca got a prescription for the popular weight loss drug Zepbound, but he couldn’t afford the $750 monthly price tag. (Erica S. Lee for KFF Health News) In January, Jeff La Marca got a prescription for the popular weight loss drug Zepbound. But he couldn’t…

By Eva-Marie Ayala, The Texas Tribune June 4, 2026 An advocacy group is seeking a new federal appeals court hearing in its effort to defend the Texas Dream Act, a longstanding state law that allowed some undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. This summer, a three-judge panel of the 5th…

By Gabby Birenbaum, The Texas Tribune August 24, 2026 WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson is coming to South Texas this week to campaign with Republican candidates across four congressional districts, highlighting the importance of the region in the race for control of the lower chamber. Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, is currently governing a 218-212…

By Megan Menchaca, The Texas Tribune August 24, 2026 A shift to daily on-campus requirements has Texas A&M University-Victoria faculty in an “uproar” at the start of this semester after years of remote work that allowed many of them to live more than two hours away, officials from a professor advocacy group said. The new…

By María Méndez and Apurva Mahajan, The Texas Tribune August 25, 2026 Here’s what you need to know What’s on the ballot? What dates do I need to know? What do I need to know about Texas’ voter registration? What do I need to know about voting by mail in Texas? What do I need…

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access. By Natalia Contreras, Votebeat Aug 25, 2026 at 5:44am EDT Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Texas’ free newsletter here. Galveston County’s decision…

By Sneha Dey, The Texas Tribune August 25, 2026 Chronic academic underperformance at two Austin public schools has the district in jeopardy of severe state sanctions. Now, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath will decide what intervention looks like for the school district of nearly 70,000 students. Morath must either close the struggling schools or replace…

American scientific ingenuity in the form of sterile fly releases helped eliminate New World screwworm from the country in the 1960s. Now, ARS researchers are combining that ingenuity with next-generation tools to counter new resurgences of the pest threatening livestock and wildlife in New Mexico and Texas. “Releasing sterile screwworm flies is a proven, decades-old…