HOUSTON (AP) — Floodwaters in the Houston area and parts of Southeast Texas began to recede on Monday, allowing residents to begin returning to their homes and assess damages after days of heavy rainfall that pummeled the area and led to hundreds of rescues — including people who were stranded on rooftops. While officials in Harris County, where Houston is located, reported no deaths or major injuries from the flooding, Gov. Greg Abbott said there were at least three deaths in the state. Among those killed was a 4-year-old boy in North Texas who died after riding in a car that was swept away in fast waters. After days of heavy rainfall in the Houston area and other parts of Southeast Texas, Monday’s weather was dominated by mostly sunny skies and little if any rain. view article

Though recent rainfall is tracking above last year's totals for this time of year, the threat of wildfire remains a concern among officials as summertime conditions approach. In a joint press conference, Williamson County Emergency Services and Texas A&M Forest Service officials discussed strategies to prepare for this year's wildfire season. “Right now our seasonal outlooks for wildfire activity this summer, especially into the fall, is showing at normal. Of course, normal [in Texas] being that we are expecting some wildfires. Everything that is growing right now will eventually dry out later this year when the rain stops,” said Kari Hines, a spokesperson for Texas A&M Forest Service. view article

HOUSTON (AP) - High waters flooded neighborhoods around Houston on Saturday following heavy rains that have already resulted in crews rescuing more than 400 people from homes, rooftops and roads engulfed in murky water. Others prepared to evacuate their property. A wide region was swamped from Houston to rural East Texas, where game wardens rode airboats through waist-high waters rescuing both people and pets who did not evacuate in time. One crew brought a family and three dogs aboard as rising waters surrounded their cars and home. A flood watch was in effect through Sunday afternoon, as forecasters predicted additional rainfall Saturday night and the likelihood of major flooding.

Texans can expect more 100-degree days and longer wildfire seasons in the coming years, according to a new report from the state climatologist at Texas A&M University. Rising temperatures will also exacerbate severe weather conditions from droughts to strong rainstorms and flooding. State climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon used historic weather data to forecast climate trends through 2036—the year Texas turns 200—and beyond. The April 22 report is an update to information released in 2021. What you need to know In 2036, average temperatures in Texas are expected to be 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than averages from 1991-2020, researchers predict. view article

Dozens of families are dealing with the aftermath of high water getting into their homes. Channelview, at the mouth of the San Jacinto River, saw flooding over the weekend, but finally the water level is going down. The local school district is trying to help students and their siblings and parents recover from the disaster by canceling classes Monday. view article

4-year-old dies after being swept away in North Texas flood waters texas JOHNSON COUNTY — A 4-year-old child died after being swept away by flood waters Sunday morning. According to Johnson County Emergency Management, someone called 911 around 2 a.m. to report a car that was stuck in swift-moving water. The caller saw two adults and a young boy try to get out of the car and get to dry land. But all three were swept into the flood waters. Johnson County Emergency Management director Jamie Moore rushed to the scene off CR 528 in rural Johnson County. Police, fire and other first responders searched for the victims through the night. A man and woman were found around 5 a.m. and taken to a local hospital but the 4-year-old was found dead two hours later. view article

Dozens of evacuees, including the elderly and barefoot children, crowded in an old school building Friday, praying for clear skies on Monday.  LIVINGSTON — Clinton Jones looked across the emergency shelter Friday. His children were going stir crazy. His wife, Samantha, and mother-in-law, Lee Farrell, were making the best of the cots and blankets they received from the Red Cross. The 27-year-old’s family was one of thousands who fled their Southeast Texas homes as heavy rains saturated land in multiple counties and filled lakes and streams. An unknown total of homes, businesses and other property has been damaged this week by unrelenting storms stretching across Polk, Montgomery, Harris and other counties.  Thunderstorms will wrack the region throughout Saturday, and showers are likely on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Conditions along the Trinity River, which runs through Polk County, have become too dangerous for first responders to access, according to Polk County Emergency Management. Flooding has begun to encroach on subdivisions surrounding the lake to the East and West, evacuation crews began making their final calls for people seeking assistance. view article

HOUSTON (KIAH) – In response to inclement weather conditions north of Houston and Harris County, a few school districts in southeast Texas have announced closures and delays for Thursday May 2, impacting students and staff members. Shepherd ISD is closed today, for the safety of its students and faculty. This closure comes as a precautionary measure to avoid any potential hazards due to flooding and a severe weather conditions in the area. view article

Officials in several Texas communities have asked people to evacuate their homes as rivers overflow their banks from recent heavy rain and severe weather, and flood alerts remain in effect across portions of the Lone Star state in anticipation of more precipitation in the coming days. Several inches of rain have already fallen in areas south of Dallas and north of Houston, leaving the ground extremely saturated. That includes along the Trinity River, which hasn’t seen water this high in years. "I was just looking back in the past crests, and the last time it’s been this high, and the expected crest is back at (Hurricane) Harvey," FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said. "That was 2017. So, we’re going back almost seven years." view article

His job done in Texas—crime defeated, corruption accusations beaten, wrongdoing righted—Attorney General Ken Paxton traveled from Austin yesterday to a much deeper den of iniquity: Manhattan. “With President Trump in NYC to sit through this sham of a trial,” he posted this morning. “This trial is a travesty of justice. I stand with Trump.” view article

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Mexico has sent 600 troops to the border states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon amid a new spike in violence. Criminals attacked a Mexican army installation last week in the town of Miguel Aleman and armed clashes between rival gangs also were reported there on Monday. A mayor seeking reelection in Ciudad Mante was murdered, and in Nuevo Leon police investigated several mass kidnappings and reported the rescue of 13 individuals. view article

The measure specifically targets the Federal Student Aid of those who have attacked police in the ongoing anti-Israel demonstrations.  A Republican congressman is preparing legislation that would withhold federal aid from students who have been convicted as a result of anti-Israel demonstrations.  U.S. Rep. August Pfluger, who represents Texas’ 11th congressional district, is chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security’s subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence.  “It’s simple: federal taxpayers should not be paying for college for anyone who engages in a violent riot or assaults a police officer,” the San Angelo-based Republican told Texas Scorecard. “There must be a return to order on college campuses.”  In a separate statement to Fox News, Pfluger emphasized that the “horrific antisemitic riots on college campuses across the country underscore the urgency of this issue.” view article

East Texans are bracing for an evacuation order in Polk County to stay in place for several days after heavy rainfall led the Trinity River to overflow, forcing operators at a nearby dam to release the floodgates. Rainfall in the Polk County region and elsewhere in the state is expected to prolong the evacuation order, officials said. In the two days leading up to Monday’s declaration, the north end of Polk County — Groveton — saw 10.92 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. Further north, into Trinity County, that total rose to 11.8 inches of rain. This is an unusual total for the region, which typically sees less than an inch of rain per day. But storms formed and reformed above Polk County and those north of it, leaving the county in a deluge over the weekend. view article

Flaws in some solar, wind and battery storage resources on the Texas power grid could lead to issues that could cause “immediate catastrophic grid failure” if they are not addressed, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said. ERCOT, the state’s power grid operator, and owners of clean energy resources haven’t been able to reach consensus on what to do about the problem despite months of negotiation. An industry proposal was tabled by ERCOT’s board Tuesday to allow both sides to address ERCOT staff’s concerns, despite protest from developers that its proposals and continued regulatory uncertainty with the delay could chill investment in Texas. “Retroactive implementations of any market rules without any technical or commercially feasible path to compliance sends a very clear signal and chilling effect to any additional investment,” Omar Martino, executive vice president of markets and regulatory for energy developer Invenergy, said at an April ERCOT subcommittee meeting on the issue. view article

Texas lawmakers have mandated new school safety policies including armed guards at every public school campus, classroom panic buttons and more staff training.  In response to the deadliest school shooting in Texas, lawmakers have upped legislation concerning gun and school safety. House Bill 3 passed late last year, which created the requirement for an armed security guard to be present on all campuses and also ramped up mental health resources for students.  In Texas, the responsibility for establishing the guidelines for public school safety belongs to the Texas Education Agency and Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office along with the TxSSC. These rules have been updated since the 2022 tragedy in Uvalde, but some experts worry that parents and guardians still don’t know the intricacies of school safety policy. view article

The Bryan ISD school board hears from the husband of an educator who was assaulted by a student. During the public comment portion of the BISD board’s April 15th meeting, James Long said his wife sustained a traumatic brain injury. Among other things, Long said “Bryan ISD teachers are being assaulted and victimized across the district. And it appears that the district is not only not doing anything about it, but they are actively trying to cover it up.” view article

A hack that caused a small Texas town's water system to overflow in January has been linked to a shadowy Russian hacktivist group, the latest case of a U.S. public utility becoming a target of foreign cyberattacks. The attack was one of three on small towns in the rural Texas. Local officials said the public was not put in any danger and the attempts were reported to federal authorities. view article

Proposed changes to state Medicaid plans could shake up health coverage for 1.8 million low-income Texans  Texas health officials are poised to drop the state’s three largest nonprofit children’s health plans from multibillion-dollar Medicaid and children’s health insurance contracts — threatening the future of plans run by legacy children’s hospitals in Fort Worth and South Texas and shaking up health care coverage for low-income families throughout the state. view article

WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — The next five years might seem far away, but they’ll be here sooner than you think. That’s why members of the Wichita Falls Independent School District want to get a head start on planning their future. “This five-year strategic plan will tell us where we are going in the future and, more importantly, how we are going to get there,” WFISD Superintendent Dr. Donny Lee said. “When we get there, are we making some positive results?” view article

In Borger, officials say a prescribed burn stopped the Windy Deuce Fire from entering neighborhoods. But the practice has faced opposition from some landowners.  BORGER — Months before the Texas Panhandle erupted with destructive wildfires, fire crews in Borger were igniting fire intentionally on a seven-mile, roughly 250-foot wide ribbon of land on the edge of town.  The prescribed burn in November removed dense grass and brush next to homes on the southwest side of of the town. When the Windy Deuce fire ravaged the region in February, the prescribed burn area acted as a fireproof wall that stopped the blaze in its tracks.  “I would bet my next paycheck, if that black line had not been there, we would have lost homes and, it’s quite possible, lives.  view article

PAMPA — On the second day of the Smokehouse Creek fire, Dale Jenkins was looking out his window. He could see the wispy white smoke passing over the hill on the horizon of his Candadian ranch. A squad of local volunteer firefighters had worked all night to contain the fire. Jenkins, a life long rancher in the Texas Panhandle, had witnessed enough wildfires to know this wasn’t over. It was too windy. The ground was too hot. This was just the beginning. The Panhandle rancher and his family hurried to save more than 100 heads of cattle that were to be sold for breeding in two weeks for more than $300 per head. Each cow needed to be protected. view article

PAMPA — On the second day of the Smokehouse Creek fire, Dale Jenkins was looking out his window. He could see the wispy white smoke passing over the hill on the horizon of his Candadian ranch. A squad of local volunteer firefighters had worked all night to contain the fire. Jenkins, a life long rancher in the Texas Panhandle, had witnessed enough wildfires to know this wasn’t over. It was too windy. The ground was too hot. This was just the beginning. The Panhandle rancher and his family hurried to save more than 100 heads of cattle that were to be sold for breeding in two weeks for more than $300 per head. Each cow needed to be protected. view article

ELYSIAN FIELDS, Texas (KLTV) - The Elysian Fields ISD has announced it will be closed Tuesday due to heavy flooding overnight. According to their official Facebook page, the Elysian Fields ISD was forced to close its campus today due to heavy flooding on several roads within the district overnight. Details about when classes will resume were not provided. view article

HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KEYE) — A Texas teacher has filed a lawsuit in connection to the deadly school bus crash that killed a 5-year-old and a doctoral student. Of all the 25 years of cases I've brought for families where hiring practices have hurt people, this is the worst by far," said trial Attorney Sean Breen. The lawsuit states the Tom Green Elementary School teacher, Deborah Serna, was severely hurt in the crash. She broke at least four bones in her back and will be out of work for the time being. view article

An employee with the Rio Grande City Grulla school district was arrested Wednesday and accused of faking an injury on school grounds to obtain workers' compensation, records show. An affidavit released to Channel 5 News shows Yadira Montalvo was charged with fraud to obtain workers' comp following an investigation from the district’s police department. view article

Houston ISD has restored stipends for speech and debate sponsors for the 2024-25 school year after initially excluding them from the list of eligible employees. HISD announced its compensation plan for the upcoming academic year in early March, including a link to all positions that would be eligible to earn stipends during the upcoming school year. The district offers stipends for duties that are unrelated to an employee’s primary job, such as working days outside of their normal schedule. The posted list initially did not include several positions, such as academic coaches, teacher mentors, speech and debate sponsors and department chairs, who earn stipends this year. The district also removed stipends for sponsoring yearbook, newspaper, student council or robotics in New Education System schools but kept the stipends for employees at non-NES schools. view article

Rusk ISD has canceled classes for Rusk High School Monday after a fire inside of a classroom Sunday evening. Superintendent Grey Burton said the fire was contained, but there is smoke in the building. Classes will be canceled Monday so the building's electrical system can be checked. view article

Frisco ISD officials are considering expanding the 6.0 weighted GPA to include dual-credit courses for the class of 2030. The change in grade point average would affect current sixth graders, said Amy Harp, FISD’s managing director of academic programs, during a March 4 meeting. Changing the GPA weights was only discussed by the board of trustees and district staff, and no action was taken by the board. view article

After a few students made noise during the drill, the principal allegedly yelled at the 5th grade class until they cried and then took photos of them.  ALLEN—According to a parent, a lockdown drill at her daughter’s elementary school quickly got out of hand when a substitute teacher and principal overreacted. After the experience, Brooke Wilcox pulled her daughter out of the school.   Texas Scorecard offered Allen ISD the chance to respond to Wilcox’s allegations. Their response is printed in full at the bottom of this article.  view article

Texas’ practice of busing illegal aliens to Democrat-led cities continues. Gov. Greg Abbott’s office released an updated list Friday regarding the number of illegal aliens Texas has transported to Democrat-led cities over the last couple of years. State officials have transported over 12,500 illegal aliens to Washington, D.C., since April 2022; 40,300 to New York City and 33,000 to Chicago since August 2022; 3,400 to Philadelphia since November 2022; 17,100 to Denver since May 2023; and 1,500 to Los Angeles since June 2023. The numbers represent a jump of 1,300 more illegal aliens to New York City, 800 more to Chicago, and 500 more to Denver since Abbott’s office last updated the totals. view article

The man was found in the suitcase by Border Patrol agents in Uvalde. As the crisis at the border wages on, a photo has surfaced that shows an illegal alien smuggling victim being transported over the Texas-Mexico border inside a suitcase. The shocking photo—reported by The Dallas Express—was posted on Facebook by Galveston County Constable Jimmy Fullen, who said the photo was shared with him by a Kinney County deputy working with Operation Lone Star. The photo shows a man stuffed inside a suitcase in an attempt to avoid detection from border patrol. Fullen told The Dallas Express that the photo was originally taken by Border Patrol agents in Uvalde County, just east of Kinney County, and shared among law enforcement in the region. view article

Texas is divesting $8.5 billion from BlackRock Inc. due to the investment company’s fossil fuel policies, according to a statement from the chairman of the State Board of Education. Aaron Kinsey, the Republican chairman of the board, said the $53 billion Texas Permanent School Fund on Tuesday delivered an official notice to BlackRock “terminating its financial management of approximately $8.5 billion in Texas’ assets.” ADVERTISEMENT The move drew a sharp rebuke from the world’s largest asset manager. “Today’s unilateral and arbitrary decision by Board of Education Chair Aaron Kinsey jeopardizes Texas schools and the families who have benefited from BlackRock’s consistent long-term outperformance for the Texas Permanent School Fund,” a BlackRock spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg. “The decision ignores our $120 billion investment in Texas public energy companies and defies expert advice. As a fiduciary, politics should never outweigh performance, especially for taxpayers.” view article

South Sudan is closing all schools starting Monday in preparation for an extreme heat wave expected to last two weeks. The health and education ministries advised parents to keep all children indoors as temperatures are expected to soar to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit). They warned that any school found open during the warning period would have its registration withdrawn, but the statement issued late Saturday didn't specify how long schools would remain shuttered. view article

As firefighters contained the largest wildfire in Texas history last week, the electricity provider for the state’s Panhandle region, Xcel Energy, announced some bad news: The wildfire, which burned more than a million acres of land and killed at least two people, seemed to have been caused by one of the utility’s electrical poles. “Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire,” the statement read, referring to the largest of several fires raging in the area. An investigation from the state’s forest management agency found that the fire began when a decayed wooden pole splintered and fell, sending sparks onto nearby grass. Photos obtained by Bloomberg News appear to show that the pole had been marked unsafe before the fire. view article

A series of deadly wildfires have burned for nearly three weeks, destroying farms and ranches in several counties.   LUBBOCK — Firefighters have completely contained the Smokehouse Creek fire in Hutchinson County after a nearly three-week battle with what quickly became the largest wildfire in Texas history. That inferno and a series of other wildfires killed at least two people as it burned more than 1 million acres across several counties.  Many Panhandle residents lost homes, farms and ranches. Thousands of livestock were killed.  Relief efforts in the region are ongoing. The U.S. Small Business Administration has set up disaster loan outreach centers in Canadian and Borger for people affected. A Texas House committee is investigating the cause of the fires, as well as the response and effectiveness of disaster preparedness. view article