Summer in Texas means triple-digit heat, a suspicious amount of construction on every major highway, and superintendents scrambling to make sure every classroom has a teacher before school begins. Hiring season is chaotic, and given the pressure to be fully staffed, it can be tempting to hire that perfectly qualified relative of a board member who just happens to be looking for a teaching job.

Abbott has reappointed the original ten judges to their divisions within the Texas Business Court.  The Texas Business Court began operations in September 2024 and is dedicated to handling special and complex business cases. The court is divided into 11 geographical divisions, but only five are currently operational with two judges apiece.  “Businesses choose Texas in record numbers because Texas delivers results,” said Abbott. “The Texas Business Court has resolved complex commercial disputes with unmatched speed and expertise. Hundreds of cases already filed and scores resolved prove these judges fuel Texas’ status as the economic engine of America. I have reappointed these skilled judges to protect that success and to ensure that Texas’ business jurisprudence is on steady ground for years to come.”  The court’s establishment is one recent addition in a long line of the state’s business-friendly endeavors. ExxonMobil cited the establishment of the Texas Business Court as one of the reasons the company moved its legal domicile from New Jersey to Texas. view article

An arrest affidavit concerning a Forney ISD teacher reveals two incidents involving violence with special need students, as well as the suspect's previous criminal history when known by a different name at a different school district. view article

A federal judge decided that Fort Worth ISD will not be forced to reinstate educator Shayma Alzubi as principal of Western Hills High School. Judge Mark Pittman of the Northern District of Texas issued his decision Tuesday after he found the reassignment — and later promotion — did not harm Alzubi’s employment. The district reassigned her after receiving threats over her social media posts. view article

A former Stockdale Independent School District teacher was sentenced to 13 years in prison after he was accused of having an improper relationship with a student. In a news release Thursday, 81st Judicial District Attorney Audrey Gossett Louis announced sentencing for Peter Aaron Leach, who will serve the term at a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility. view article

An arrest warrant obtained by WFAA is shedding new light on the "misconduct" that led to multiple Forney ISD employees being removed from their school. WFAA previously reported that Crosby Elementary School's principal had been let go from the district amid a multi-agency investigation that also implicated a number of aides and a teacher who worked for FISD. view article

The parents of a second-grade student have filed a lawsuit against Plano ISD, a Brinker Elementary principal and former teacher Paul Campbell — alleging school officials ignored warning signs before Campbell was arrested on child sex crime charges earlier this month. The lawsuit, filed Thursday, names Plano ISD, Brinker Elementary Principal Jennifer King and Campbell as defendants. It was brought on behalf of the parents of a minor identified as Janie Doe. view article

The criminal case against former Plano ISD teacher Paul Campbell is expanding as a newly filed civil lawsuit broadens the focus beyond the former educator to include the school district and the principal of Brinker Elementary. Since Campbell's arrest earlier this month, police have filed three additional felony charges of indecency with a child by sexual contact. view article

The criminal case against former Plano ISD teacher Paul Campbell is expanding as a newly filed civil lawsuit broadens the focus beyond the former educator to include the school district and the principal of Brinker Elementary. Since Campbell's arrest earlier this month, police have filed three additional felony charges of indecency with a child by sexual contact. view article

The lawsuit filed by a bullied student’s family against Winnsboro ISD has been settled, according to court documents. The federal civil suit was settled for $25,000, awarded to the student in the case who was the target of abuse at school. The student will receive the money and any accrued interest when he turns 18 years old. view article

More victims have come forward in a child sexual abuse investigation involving longtime Plano ISD teacher Paul Campbell, according to Plano Police. Campbell, who taught at Brinker Elementary School for 28 years, faces three additional warrants for indecency with a child. The 64-year-old was booked into the Plano City Jail earlier this month on a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child. view article

A new conflict-of-interest policy for Fort Worth ISD will create what board President Pete Geren calls a new standard for school board ethics in Texas. However, elected trustee Michael Ryan says the state-appointed board of managers has no business rewriting the rules — and that the proposal would mean only the wealthy could run for school board. view article

A now-former teacher in New Caney ISD has been charged with injury to a child over allegations she hurt a student while employed at Kings Manor Elementary. Faith Cosme, who was indicted in Montgomery County on June 16 according to court records, was arrested earlier this month and is currently out on bond. view article

A new policy would guide Fort Worth ISD leaders in tackling major real estate sales as they examine what to do with closed schools and Farrington Field. The proposal comes after FWISD community members expressed concern at board meetings and listening sessions about the sale of public properties. Their worries stem from a Texas-appointed board of managers making decisions rather than elected trustees, whose governing authority was removed. view article

The fallout from a Pasadena police sergeant's resignation reached the city council chambers Tuesday night, where members pressed for transparency over the department's use of Flock Safety cameras. view article

Three Laredo educators were arrested for injuring special-needs elementary school students.   Three Laredo teachers were barred from working in Texas schools after they were arrested for intentionally injuring special education students.   Parents claim school administrators knew about the abuse for months but failed to act—putting more students at risk of harm and the school district at risk of a lawsuit.   The educators worked together at Nye Elementary in the United Independent School District. The alleged abuse occurred in March and April and was captured on classroom surveillance camera video.   United ISD police began investigating on April 27 in response to a parent’s complaint. Parents of other students in the class were notified of the allegations on May 6.   Special education teacher Laura Elsa Sillas and aides Patricia Alviso Lopez and Martha Patricia Ramirez were all arrested by the United ISD Police Department on May 20 and booked into the Webb County Jail. view article

The so-called “speculative scam” comes at a time of unprecedented public fury at municipal governance. view article

The recapture program shifts property tax revenue from wealthier school districts to property-poor districts.  view article

A former elementary school teacher in Magnolia ISD is facing one charge of having an inappropriate relationship with students. But parents are telling ABC13 it should be more, as they've been warning the district about the teacher for years. view article

Parents in Magnolia ISD accuse a former teacher of having an inappropriate relationship with a student that could have been stopped years ago. They said they’ve been complaining about Jason Maldonado for years. But nothing was done until he was placed on leave last December and then arrested this May on one charge of having an inappropriate relationship with a student. view article

Midland ISD trustees will vote Tuesday, July 21, 2026, on whether to authorize a constitutional lawsuit targeting Texas’ mandatory school property-tax rate and recapture system, a case that could force lawmakers to rewrite major parts of public-school finance if the district ultimately prevails.  The board’s agenda lists the proposal as Item 9.6: “Discussion and Possible Board Action to Authorize Litigation Challenging Texas Foundation School Program under Article VIII, Sec. 1-e of Texas Constitution.” Board President Josh Guinn will present the item during the 5:30 p.m. meeting at Bowie Fine Arts Academy.  A 74-page draft petition attached to the public agenda names Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, in his official capacity, and the State of Texas as proposed defendants. The document remains unfinished. It leaves the judicial district blank and uses placeholders for taxpayer plaintiffs, confirming that Midland ISD has not filed the case. view article

After a deadly shooting inside a Comal ISD high school left a teacher wounded and a student dead, one parent says their search for answers about school safety has been met with a price tag he can’t afford. Oscar Sanchez’s two daughters attend Hill County College Preparatory High School. view article

Midland ISD trustees will vote Tuesday, July 21, 2026, on whether to authorize a constitutional lawsuit targeting Texas’ mandatory school property-tax rate and recapture system, a case that could force lawmakers to rewrite major parts of public-school finance if the district ultimately prevails.  The board’s agenda lists the proposal as Item 9.6: “Discussion and Possible Board Action to Authorize Litigation Challenging Texas Foundation School Program under Article VIII, Sec. 1-e of Texas Constitution.” Board President Josh Guinn will present the item during the 5:30 p.m. meeting at Bowie Fine Arts Academy.  A 74-page draft petition attached to the public agenda names Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, in his official capacity, and the State of Texas as proposed defendants. The document remains unfinished. It leaves the judicial district blank and uses placeholders for taxpayer plaintiffs, confirming that Midland ISD has not filed the case. view article

How a man once ordered to pay libel damages helped launch an investigation into Islamic private schools  Nearly a decade ago, a British court ordered a man named Sam Westrop to pay the equivalent of more than $173,000 in libel damages after he published an article on his website calling the founder of a London-based Islamic TV channel a “convicted terrorist.”  Westrop eventually admitted the underlying evidence for the claim was not reliable, according to court filings, and corrected the story on his website.  “There simply was no evidence to support the allegation of terrorism,” the judge in the case wrote.  Years after that ruling, Westrop made similar claims about a group of Islamic private schools in Texas that had applied to the state’s new voucher program. He alleged the school leaders had connections to Islamic extremist or terrorist groups, such as Hamas. Westrop shared his research as early as last fall with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, which oversees the voucher program that awards eligible families taxpayer dollars for private education or homeschooling. view article

Attorneys say the federal agencies are using children as “bait” to detain sponsors, leaving kids waiting in shelters for months.   On an early April morning, two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents approached Y.R. in the parking lot of her Dallas-Fort Worth area apartment as she was about to head to her construction job.  Y.R., a 37-year-old undocumented Honduran immigrant who came to the U.S. in early 2022, had spent nearly a year been filling out government forms and submitting to a background check and DNA test to get custody of her niece and nephew, who had been stuck in a federal shelter after they crossed the Texas-Mexico border in the spring of 2025. view article

Emergency responders say better tools and preparation also played life-saving roles after intense storms dropped heavy amounts of rain.  One year after catastrophic flooding killed more than 100 people along the Guadalupe River, another round of deadly July flooding swept across Central and South Texas, creating flash flood emergencies that forced evacuations and rescues along the Guadalupe and elsewhere.  But while the two July storms were sometimes similar in intensity and effect, they unfolded in unique ways — swift and concentrated last year vs. multiple rounds of heavy rain over days across a broad region this week.  And while weather officials said they took the same approach to issuing warnings, residents and responders on the ground said they had more tools available to them and the motivation of anxiety borne from last year’s horrific tragedy.  The result: A dramatically lower death toll amid widespread and catastrophic flooding.   “I mean, it’s so fresh in everybody’s memory, about the flood and about being so surprised that it got that big and that it made it far and all that kind of stuff,” said Center Point resident Kay Steadham, who felt people took emergency alerts more seriously this go around.   Last year’s flooding came from an exceptionally intense burst of late-night rain that pummeled a small area at the headwaters of the south fork of the Guadalupe River. Some 7 to 12 inches of rain fell mostly over three hours, propelling a huge and deadly wave of water downstream. The National Weather Service issued alerts through the storm, but the worst of the flooding happened overnight, in the dark while people slept. Some alerts may not have been received if cell service was lacking or phone alerts were disabled. Some people described getting alerts but not feeling worried because floods often happen in Flash Flood Alley. view article

Emergency responders say better tools and preparation also played life-saving roles after intense storms dropped heavy amounts of rain.  One year after catastrophic flooding killed more than 100 people along the Guadalupe River, another round of deadly July flooding swept across Central and South Texas, creating flash flood emergencies that forced evacuations and rescues along the Guadalupe and elsewhere.  But while the two July storms were sometimes similar in intensity and effect, they unfolded in unique ways — swift and concentrated last year vs. multiple rounds of heavy rain over days across a broad region this week.  And while weather officials said they took the same approach to issuing warnings, residents and responders on the ground said they had more tools available to them and the motivation of anxiety borne from last year’s horrific tragedy.  The result: A dramatically lower death toll amid widespread and catastrophic flooding.   “I mean, it’s so fresh in everybody’s memory, about the flood and about being so surprised that it got that big and that it made it far and all that kind of stuff,” said Center Point resident Kay Steadham, who felt people took emergency alerts more seriously this go around.   Last year’s flooding came from an exceptionally intense burst of late-night rain that pummeled a small area at the headwaters of the south fork of the Guadalupe River. Some 7 to 12 inches of rain fell mostly over three hours, propelling a huge and deadly wave of water downstream. The National Weather Service issued alerts through the storm, but the worst of the flooding happened overnight, in the dark while people slept. Some alerts may not have been received if cell service was lacking or phone alerts were disabled. Some people described getting alerts but not feeling worried because floods often happen in Flash Flood Alley. view article

Prosecutors said the bribes were intended to help fund her sister's judicial campaign.  view article

Arcola Mayor Fred Anthony Burton was arrested and booked into the Fort Bend County Jail on five felony charges after a grand jury indictment, according to online jail records.  Burton, 68, faces two counts of illegal voting, one count of misuse of official information, one count of tampering with a government record, and one count of fraudulently securing the execution of a document.   The illegal voting charges are tied to two separate Arcola elections, the municipal runoff held June 7, 2025, and the city’s general, joint, and special election held April 23, 2026. The indictments allege Burton helped, encouraged, or failed to prevent three people from voting when he knew they were not eligible to do so. view article

Three Alvin ISD employees have been fired after allegedly mishandling special education students in a classroom, according to Nolan Ryan Junior High's principal. Principal Dana Green said in a statement to Nolan Ryan Junior High families that the incident involving the inappropriate physical handling of students occurred in May, at the end of the 2025-26 school year. view article

The concern followed a recent unrelated case in which a Tomball ISD employee was indicted on federal wire fraud charges. view article

The ruling is being touted as a win for President Trump’s energy agenda.    A federal appellate court has cleared the way for the Delfin LNG deepwater port in the Gulf of America, rejecting a legal challenge by three left-wing environmental organizations. The groups had sought to vacate the project’s federal license.   The organizations failed to demonstrate that a single one of their members had suffered or faced an injury traceable to the project. The ruling is being touted as a win for President Donald Trump’s energy dominance agenda.   The port would feature a cluster of floating vessels moored miles offshore, liquefying natural gas and loading it onto tankers bound overseas.  The company asked the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard for approval.   In compliance with the Deepwater Port Act (DPA), MARAD notified Texas and Louisiana—as adjacent states—so their governors could approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve the project. Neither governor responded.  MARAD then published five federal register notices, held six public hearings in the two states, invited public comment four times, and prepared a 2016 environmental impact statement (EIS) exceeding 1,800 pages—analyzing the project’s effects on the environment, socioeconomics, transportation, and air quality. view article

More than a dozen attorneys and former law enforcement officials reviewed footage of the deadly ICE car pursuit for The Texas Tribune. They said ICE’s tactics were breaking with best practice and possibly the law. view article

More than a dozen attorneys and former law enforcement officials reviewed footage of the deadly ICE car pursuit for The Texas Tribune. They said ICE’s tactics were breaking with best practice and possibly the law. view article

There are new developments in the legal battle involving the now-reassigned Western Hills High School principal who is suing the Fort Worth Independent School District. view article