Indian Tribe Building Casino in Polk County Offsite of Main Reservation  The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe has announced that it is building a new casino resort on land owned by the tribe but not located on its reservation.  The proposed Class II casino would be built near Leggett, Texas, on land that is not on or contiguous to the main reservation.  On December 6, 2023, the Biden administration adopted new rules allowing tribes to acquire and transfer land into trust for the development of casinos. The rules went into effect on January 11, 2024.  These rule changes were opposed by state and local authorities because the process by which tribes would be allowed to acquire land to develop casinos would circumvent local stakeholders.  Until the adoption of this rule, tribes were generally prohibited from this activity. view article

Texas A&M has a long list of distinguished graduates. Michael Bennett later won a Super Bowl and then founded a design firm, Rick Perry became governor and served as U.S. Secretary of Energy, and Lyle Lovett is a country music legend. Another alum, Arch “Beaver” Aplin III, went on to create Buc-ee’s, a Texas institution that is part gas station part mega-store. view article

The Houston Chronicle asked four special education advocates, parents and experts to help decode Texas' often-confusing and ever-changing special education system for parents. Those panelists covered legal rights, common challenges and concrete strategies families can use to advocate for their children effectively within the school system.  view article

Gov. Greg Abbott has announced Jerome Greener will lead Texas’ new DOGE-style agency.  Texas has a new state agency aimed squarely at shrinking the reach of government.   Created earlier this year through Senate Bill 14, the Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office is charged with identifying unnecessary regulations, reducing red tape, and setting best practices for how state agencies adopt rules and measure their costs.  Gov. Greg Abbott, who has characterized the new agency as the Texas DOGE, said the goal is to rein in the “administrative state” and make government more accountable to the public. “Texans deserve a government that protects individual liberty and fosters economic opportunity,” Abbott said. “Through the Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office, we will cut red tape, streamline regulations, and put a check on the growth of the administrative state.” view article

As tens of millions of children head back to school, parents and teachers are grappling with questions about how much artificial intelligence (AI) is too much.The education system will be one of the primary laboratories for the global AI experiment, according to author Joe Allen.  “Schools—to the extent that they either mandate or encourage the adoption of AI—are going to be massive petri dishes in which we’ll find out whether it’s better to maintain traditional cultural norms, or if we turn every child possible into a cyborg,” he told The Epoch Times.  No one knows what the long-term effects will be, said Allen, who authored “Dark Aeon: Transhumanism and the War Against Humanity.” view article

When Texas legislators conceived of the Texas Energy Fund in the spring of 2023, its goal of jump-starting the construction of more natural gas power plants to support the state’s strained power grid seemed reasonable. In the two years since that vote, however, experts say the energy market has turned against the development of gas-fired power plants. Experts and energy companies say the fund’s $7.2 billion worth of low-interest loans and bonus grants may not be appealing enough to overcome those economic headwinds.  “It is a challenging market for natural gas developers right now, and it has been for a good amount of time” said Walt Baum, CEO of Powering Texans, a trade association representing Calpine, Constellation, NRG and Vistra, the state’s four largest operators of dispatchable power. view article

One Texas school cracked the top 10 list of Best Colleges in U.S. view article

The Fort Worth Democrat was confined in the Capitol overnight after refusing to be shadowed by state police, a requirement for lawmakers who had left the state over the GOP redistricting plan.  State Rep. Nicole Collier, a Fort Worth Democrat who has been on the floor of the Texas House since Monday afternoon, filed a lawsuit challenging the chamber’s authority to put members under police surveillance, according to a filing obtained by Courthouse News.  Collier is among the Democrats who participated in a two-week walkout to delay passage of a new congressional map that aims to give the GOP five additional seats in the 2026 midterms. Around two dozen of them returned Monday, allowing the House to resume business, but they were only allowed to leave the chamber if they agreed to be shadowed by state law enforcement officers. view article

LAMPASAS — On a blistering June morning, Andy Sipocz brushes his fingers through the thick, sawgrass fronds rising higher than his head beside a creek in the Texas Hill Country.Around him, rocky limestone lines Yancey Creek, streaked in subtle reds and browns — evidence of millennia of mineral deposits and weathering.  Sipocz, a natural resources coordinator and biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, is one of more than three dozen staffers gathered here to begin laying the groundwork for what will one day be Texas’ newest state park — about a two hour drive northwest of Austin.  Wearing cargo shorts and pants, hiking boots, and sun-brimmed hats, the TPWD team winds its way down a steep hill — no trail in sight. That’s the point. They're here to determine where the trails should be. Today’s mission: conduct early-stage natural resource surveys and habitat assessments to support the park’s future design. view article

Publisher David Flash has been documenting the happenings in Jeff Davis County since 2020. Last year, he was banned from county buildings over allegations of harassment.  ODESSA — Rarely do Jeff Davis County commissioners’ meetings generate commotion in the county of fewer than 2,000 residents. A recent budget meeting was the exception.  David Flash paced around the room, lined with rows of wooden chairs inside this Far West Texas county courthouse, and took photos.  The independent publisher of the Big Bend Times regularly attends these meetings, documenting and recording live footage for the website and social media, where he has amassed 285,000 followers on Facebook.  His presence in the room — and county at large — has vexed officials. view article

   Talia Natterson is a sophomore at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, a private school in Los Angeles, California. She writes for her school publication, Crossfire.