The Public Utility Commission will vote to greenlight three proposals to build first-of-their-kind transmission lines after approving two massive lines last month.   The Public Utility Commission of Texas will consider approving the buildout of three 765-kilovolt transmission lines spanning nearly 800 miles — roughly the size of Texas’ largest congressional district — to deliver electricity to the oil and gas industry and support the state’s booming industrial sector.   The hearing will take place Friday at 9:30 a.m. and can be watched online. view article

Texas can be more transparent with how much it spends to temporarily house foster children and with what its private contractors are spending to provide foster care services for half of the state, a new state report shows.  The state’s Legislative Budget Board said in its 2026 Strategic Fiscal Review that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services could shore up financial reporting in those two areas and did not indicate the agency was misspending state dollars. Without detailed expenditure information, it makes it tougher for lawmakers to assess whether the spending is justified, the LBB indicated.  How well Texas’ foster care privatization efforts are going — nearly a decade after it started — is expected to be a major lawmaker focus next year, especially after the state fired its largest foster care contractor this summer and as attorneys for the state work to convince a federal judge to dismiss a 15-year lawsuit that has forced the state to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to fix foster care conditions. view article

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is seeking a fourth four-year term in 2026, and faces Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D-Austin) and Libertarian Pat Dixon in November.  Abbott is a prolific fundraiser who has long leveraged the power of incumbency to collect enormous checks from wealthy business interests like energy CEO Kelcy Warren and school voucher supporter Jeff Yass.  In recent years, he’s also been so safe in his position that much of the money could be spent helping other candidates, like the millions he spent knocking out voucher critics in the 2024 GOP primary. view article

  Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign is launching its first direct attack against Democrat gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa, branding her “Gender Bender Gina” over her voting record on gender mutilation policies involving children.   In a Tuesday email, the Abbott campaign pointed to Hinojosa’s 2023 vote against Senate Bill 14, which prohibited physicians from performing gender mutilation surgeries on minors or prescribing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones for the purpose of transitioning a child’s biological sex.The legislation also prohibited the use of public money to provide the procedures. Hinojosa voted against the measure before it was ultimately approved by lawmakers and signed into law by Abbott.  Abbott’s campaign also targeted Hinojosa over her opposition to House Bill 1106 during the most recent legislative session. That legislation amended the state’s definitions of child abuse and neglect to provide that a parent’s refusal to affirm a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity does not, by itself, constitute abuse or neglect. The measure was approved by lawmakers and signed by Abbott in June 2025. view article

On the campaign trail, the governor said dismantling city-owned utilities will save customers money by introducing competition. view article

President Donald Trump went to bat for fellow Republican Ken Paxton on Wednesday, but not before taking a few vicious swings at the U.S. Senate candidate’s clothes, appearance and TV presence.  Trump’s backhanded compliment, if you can even call it that, came during a meeting with GOP congressional candidates in Washington, D.C. Although Paxton wasn’t there, the Texas attorney general and his turbulent Senate campaign appeared to be on Trump’s mind. view article

The former Houston legislator left the Democratic Party over its stance on gender-transitioning care for minors, and is now embraced by Republicans.  Thierry served four terms in the Texas House as a Democrat representing a Houston district, but lost her primary in 2024 after breaking with her party to back bills that barred doctors from providing transition-related medical care to children and teens. view article

From school takeovers to college affordability, the Democrat and Republican are rolling out their education priorities ahead of November’s election. view article

Abbott, who is seeking reelection, wants recommendations on how to implement shortened programs to ease student costs and meet workforce needs.  Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Wednesday to work on pathways for students to earn bachelor’s degrees in three years.  Such a program could have college students take about 90 hours of classes instead of 120 to earn a degree, thus reducing the cost of higher education, shortening the time for degree completion and allowing the state to respond to workforce demands quicker, state leaders said.  “Texas students are our future leaders and the workforce of tomorrow,” Abbott wrote in a statement announcing the directive. “They deserve the option to receive a degree in a high-demand, high-wage field in less time as a means to reduce the overall cost of securing a degree.” view article

See the latest fundraising totals, where the money is coming from and how super PACs are spending in what’s poised to be Texas’ most expensive Senate race.  The race for Texas’s senate seat is shaping up to be one the most expensive competitions in the nation. Democratic nominee James Talarico is setting records, raising more at this stage of the race than any Texas general-election candidate in the past decade and posting the largest quarterly haul of any active Senate race.  GOP nominee Ken Paxton is lagging behind, having raised less than a quarter of what his rival has since the start of the race. Despite his fundraising disadvantage, Paxton benefits from new rules on how national party committees can spend in coordination with candidates and, like many cash-strapped Republicans, is leaning heavily on fundraising in coordination with other candidates and party groups. view article

The Louisiana Republican is visiting four districts, each of which are majority Hispanic and were carried by Donald Trump in 2024. The seats could help decide control of the House this fall.  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 House GOP majority, and is attempting to defy political history and headwinds by maintaining or expanding it this November. To do so, Republicans may need to pick up all three Democratic-held seats in South Texas that the Texas Legislature redrew to favor the GOP. Additionally, Johnson’s party is playing defense in the region in a couple districts targeted by Democrats. view article

With just 72 days to go until November's midterm elections, some Republicans find themselves worried about losing Texas -- a state President Donald Trump won by nearly 14 percentage points in 2024. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is not one of them.Abbott sat down with ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Friday at the Texas governor's mansion in Austin, Texas, and made clear he believes Texas voters will see this election as a contrast between Democrats and Republicans.  "What matters in elections is not in August, what matters in elections is November," Abbott said. "There's a choice at the ballot box. And when those voters go in, they're going to choose between common sense that's offered by Republicans versus the crazy that's offered by the Democrats." view article

He also backed the DATA Act, a bill by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, that would let data centers build off-the-grid power systems exempt from federal regulation. view article

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has ordered school districts unaffected by a recent court ruling to comply with a state law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms beginning Sept. 1.  The Aug. 25 directive came less than a week after a federal judge in San Antonio blocked the statute from taking effect in 11 school districts named in ongoing litigation filed by 16 multifaith and nonreligious families with children in public schools.  Paxton echoed supporters of Senate Bill 10, who say the 16-by-20-inch classroom displays are a way to honor the nation’s history and help instill traditional values.  “From the beginning, the Ten Commandments have been irrevocably intertwined with America’s legal, moral and historical heritage,” Paxton said. “Schools not enjoined by ongoing litigation must abide by SB-10 and display the Ten Commandments.” view article

CORPUS CHRISTI (Nexstar) — In 1994, Democrat Bob Bullock was re-elected as the Texas Lieutenant Governor. He wasn’t the only Democratic candidate elected that cycle, but he was the most prominent — as Governor Ann Richards lost her re-election bid to future President George W. Bush.Since then, the Democrats haven’t won a single major race where all Texans had a say. Between elections for Governor, Lt. Gov., Attorney General, U.S. Senate, Comptroller, Agriculture Commissioner and Public Lands Commissioner Republicans have gone 53-for-53.  With such a hefty losing streak, the conventional wisdom is that breaking the cycle of defeat is an uphill battle. But Texas Democratic nominee for Attorney General Nathan Johnson doesn’t see it view article

Residents and industry leaders at odds over transmission lines at legislative hearingThe growing backlash surrounding 765 kv lines, as well as data centers, was tackled at a nine-hour House hearing that included testimony and recommendations but no definitive answers.  Flashes of yellow were all around the Texas Capitol grounds on Wednesday as legislators gathered to consider two of the most controversial issues in Texas politics: data centers and transmission lines.The color — displayed on bandanas, pins, shirts and dresses — has become the symbol of a grassroots movement dedicated to blocking the buildout of 765-kilovolt transmission lines across the state. A coalition of those groups gathered on the steps of the Capitol building in the morning as testimony got underway for the House Committee on State Affairs’ interim meeting dedicated to the backlash against the transmission lines and data centers. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday he plans to call for a ban on school districts employing anyone with an H-1B visa, a move that could cost hundreds of Texas teachers their jobs. At a news conference in Austin, Abbott said the ban was part of a sweeping effort to stamp out “indoctrination in the classroom” that includes forbidding schools from accepting gifts or partnerships with foreign governments. “Bottom line is this: foreign influence of any kind has no place in our classrooms,” Abbott said at a Tuesday news conference in Austin. view article

Texas lawmakers will examine Tuesday whether colleges are doing enough to protect research from foreign adversaries, while Gov. Greg Abbott plans to unveil measures aimed at limiting foreign influence in education during a campaign event later that day.  The House Higher Education Committee’s agenda does not name a specific law. However, its focus on screening, reporting, oversight and the Higher Education Research Security Council closely tracks House Bill 127, which committee chair Rep. Terry M. Wilson, R-Georgetown, authored last year. The law created the new council and set safeguards for certain researchers, foreign gifts, academic partnerships and work-related travel.  Texas universities must screen foreign citizens who are not permanent residents, as well as people with certain work, training or institutional ties to a foreign adversary, before hiring them into research jobs or giving them access to research data, according to the law. view article

EDINBURG — At 50 years old, Abel Gonzalez says he’s happy to be involved in his eight-year dream career of filmmaking, something he sees as fostering the budding film industry in the Rio Grande Valley. But, he still has some anxieties.  He’s worried that a family member — who’s a U.S. citizen — will be targeted by immigration officials because he speaks minimal English. He’s concerned that rural parts of the Valley are not adequately represented politically, and that environmental concerns over pesticides and chemicals in those areas receive little attention.   He’s also frustrated over stagnant wages. He said businesses often don’t want to pay competitive wages for services because they believe they can find someone just a few miles south in Mexico to provide the service for a cheaper price.   Gonzalez believes in voting as an important way for communities to make their voices heard about their concerns, but said underrepresentation continues to be a problem. He doesn’t see that changing anytime soon.   “We’ve been under Republican governorship for so long,” he said. “It’s like a big tanker truck that you can’t just turn around. You just have to move slowly.”    view article

Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico unveiled a veterans and military agenda Friday aimed at ending forever wars, strengthening support for military families and increasing the resources available to veterans for health care, housing and employment. view article

Education experts say the numbers confirm their early warnings: Finding a private school is challenging. view article

Campaigning for the U.S. Senate, Paxton says he was “delivered by God” to protect Texas from leftists. Talarico’s focus  Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico portray their U.S. Senate campaigns as a fight for the soul of America — one in which God plays an active yet vastly different role.  Talarico, believing God is on the side of the oppressed and the marginalized, focuses his message to voters on equity and protecting personal freedom.  Paxton sees God as on his side — a force safeguarding his ability to protect Texas and the nation from disaster at the hands of the “radical left.” view article

Hemp businesses and consumers asked to block state regulations on THC, but their lawsuit remains pending. view article

What information is accessible about a data center project can differ from place to place and depend on whether a project seeks out tax breaks, whether it needs local rezoning or special permits, and how it will get its power and water. view article

The state House Public Education Committee on Tuesday considered more than 30 bills aimed at making Texas public schools safer, including measures that would put more armed personnel on campuses and give districts money for sweeping security changes. The Legislature has made improving school safety a priority this session after 10 people, mostly students, were shot and killed at Santa Fe High School 10 months ago. The shooting spurred roundtable discussions and studies among policymakers, lawmakers and Gov. Greg Abbott in the immediate aftermath. “Out of that loss, we have an opportunity to devote ourselves and commit ourselves to seeing that their loss was not in vain and that future students, future teachers, future families in this state will, if at all possible, not have to experience what these individuals experienced,” said Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, during Tuesday’s hearing. view article

Property tax reform has been a top priority for Texas lawmakers from the start of the 86th legislative session. The early filing of identical, wide-reaching bills in the House and Senate in January—Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 2—sparked debate on the topic and earned pushback from many local entities that could be affected by the proposals. The twin bills propose to lower the cap for local entities’ annual tax revenue growth from 8 percent to 2.5 percent and to improve efficiency and transparency in the tax system. The proposals were fast-tracked for debate in both chambers after Gov. Greg Abbott declared property tax an emergency item in February, and dozens of related bills have been filed in their wake. view article

Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller are back on the lesson plan after a vote by the Texas State Board of Education. The committee voted 12-2, with one abstention, on Tuesday to continue teaching students about Clinton in high school history classes, according to State Board of Education Director Debbie Ratcliffe. The board also voted to keep Keller on the curriculum. The vote reverses a September preliminary decision to cut the women, along with 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater and several other historical figures, from the required curriculum. The board said then that the change was intended to streamline the curriculum for its 5.4 million students at the recommendation of volunteer work groups. view article

School finance was the big-ticket item this legislative session, said Emett Alvarez, Victoria Democrats Club president. "Education should be important to everyone," Alvarez said. "We are all taxpayers and are affected by it one way or the other." The Victoria County Democratic Party will host its club meeting Tuesday at VeraCruz Restaurant, 3110 N. Navarro St. Guest speakers will be Dwight Harris, former president of the Victoria chapter of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, and Ray Thomas, who is running for chief justice of the 13th Court of Appeals. view article

Will there ever come a day when our state leaders and lawmakers want to make Texas as good a place for children as it is for business? The 85th legislative session didn't seem often inclined in that direction, particularly in matters related to educating the state's schoolchildren. A massive funding failure for prekindergarten students. The state Senate's defeatist response to a solid House attempt at school finance reform. Out-of-proportion talk about vouchers for those attending private schools. But let's not overlook a couple of bright spots. Thanks to skillful work by three North Texas lawmakers, the state's youngest learners should eventually get the gift of better-prepared teachers. view article

Back in March, James Dickey, then the chairman of the Travis County Republican Party, showed up at the state Capitol to testify in support of House Bill 1911 — a proposal known as constitutional carry, or the ability to carry firearms without a license. It was a top legislative priority for the state GOP, and Dickey brought a message tailored for the Republicans on the House panel considering it: Don't forget the platform. "The plank which said we should have constitutional carry scored a 95 percent approval rate, outscoring over 80 percent of the other planks in the option," Dickey said, referring to the party platform — a 26-page document outlining the party's positions that is approved by delegates to its biennial conventions. Constitutional carry, Dickey added, "is something very clearly wanted by the most active members of the Republican Party in Texas." view article

Contention over where transgender people use the restroom has clouded much of the 2017 legislative session and has expanded to cover other issues such as property tax policy and school finance as lawmakers push to complete their work by Monday. After Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick served notice that the scaled-back version of the so-called bathroom bill recently approved by the Texas House was a non-starter in the Senate, the upper chamber in the predawn hours Wednesday made an end-run effort to save the stronger measure that fell victim to legislative deadlines. But by the time the sun rose over the Capitol, it was clear that the House would kill the measure again. view article

An effort to overhaul the state’s beleaguered school finance system has been declared dead after the Texas Senate Education Committee’s chairman said Wednesday that he would not appoint conferees to negotiate with the House. “That deal is dead,” Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, said. Taylor’s remarks come after his counterpart in the House, Dan Huberty, R-Houston, gave a passionate speech in which he said he would not accept the Senate’s changes to House Bill 21 and would seek a conference committee with the Senate. view article

The Texas House has voted to allow concealed carry permit holders to have guns in their locked cars parked outside schools. Tentative approval came late Tuesday night as an amendment to an otherwise unrelated bill on school boards. Final House approval should come Wednesday. The state Senate already approved a full, bipartisan bill seeking to do virtually the same thing. A similar, full bill had died in the House without reaching a floor vote but now lives on as an amendment. view article

A standoff between the Texas House and Senate over vouchers killed a major school finance fix Wednesday. The House tried to pump $1.6 billion dollars more into public schools. The Senate didn't want that much and countered by tacking on their own priority. The author of the House Bill 21 rejected the changes made to it in the Senate, saying they don't go far enough. Last year, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the system was barely constitutional. So the House approved pumping $1.6 billion additional dollars into it but that plan came out of the Senate reduced to $530 million. view article

Texas lawmakers have given final approval to a measure cracking down on inappropriate relationships between teachers and students. The bill requires principals and superintendents to report inappropriate teacher-student relationships or face jail time and fines up to $10,000. The teacher's family could also lose access to the teacher's pension. view article