The City of Everman announced Wednesday that private funeral services have been arranged for Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez and that the public is invited to a candlelight vigil in his memory Oct. 24. view article

To Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian, the debate over data centers starts with the boom in capital investment and property tax revenue the developments promise to the state.  Creating regulatory guardrails on issues such as water usage and power are necessary but shouldn’t risk the potential return, Christian told the Fort Worth Report after appearing on a data centers panel Sept. 26 at the Texas Tribune’s annual TribFest conference in Austin.  “I think you can learn from previous problems from data centers that have shown problems in the past,” said Christian, who doesn’t regulate data centers but has increasingly spoken on related questions about natural resources. “And what you do as an educated public is you fix the problems, you regulate to make sure it doesn’t happen again. But you don’t stop and turn down billions, billions of free market dollars.” view article

If you walk into your local library, you can borrow a book or ask for help with a research question. You can also get help with your resume, access the internet on public computers, borrow a movie, or perhaps participate in some free public programming.  The Texas Library Association commissioned a study this summer to measure the return on investment for public dollars spent on libraries. They found that every dollar spent by local libraries generates almost $5 in statewide economic activity.  Shirley Robinson, the executive director of the Texas Library Association, said they did this by comparing what people get from libraries to what they could pay for on their own.   “Our research firm compared all of those services to comparable resources that one might be able to go and find in the open marketplace if you were needing to pay for those things,” she said. “And so that’s how that dollar figure of $4.74 for every dollar invested towards Texas libraries produces for an individual and community value.”   The study included data from a wide variety of libraries, from small rural systems to big urban ones. It also looked at how libraries impact the economy beyond the direct dollar calculation. view article

An iconic Texas panhandle water oasis that had been impacted by the state's largest wildfire has emerged from the flames and returned to the market with a jaw-dropping price tag.  view article

Dallas will keep more than 300 Flock Safety cameras originally slated for removal after the surveillance company paused certain agencies’ payments for the devices for 90 days, a move made in response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s state funding freeze for the controversial cameras.  At least two other cities and one county — Addison, New Braunfels and Johnson County — have also been granted extensions allowing them to keep cameras that were supported by state grants, according to presentations to their city councils or statements from the agencies. Local officials from those areas said in city council and county commission meetings that without the help from Flock, they likely would have shut down the affected devices. view article

https://www.tasb.org/news-insights/press-releases/tasb-names-gary-vandeaver-as-executive-director  view article

Appointed a decade ago, the education commissioner insists that when he has direct oversight, academic gains follow. His critics await better student outcomes. view article

Presented by [Raise Your Hand Texas]  Texas is home to the second-largest public school system in the U.S., educating more than 5.5 million students across 9,113 schools within 1,202 districts. The Texas Tribune’s Public Schools Explorer gives you information on enrollment trends, demographics, teacher experience, pay and outcomes for all of those schools, at both the district and the campus level. view article

State Board of Education members on Friday approved a rewrite of what Texas high schoolers learn in social studies, disregarding pleas from Muslims who testified that schools should teach how people of Islamic faith positively contributed to world history. The Republican majority instead adopted a lesson, for example, requiring public school students to learn that “radical Islam” motivated the 9/11 attacks, as opposed to more narrowly focusing on terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and extremists such as Osama bin Laden. A Muslim-American EMT was notably among those killed while attempting to save lives during the tragedy.  view article

Fort Worth revealed Thursday the names of the community advocates, academics and industry representatives who will comprise Fort Worth’s Data Center & Infrastructure Commission, the group tasked with providing the city with recommendations on how to best regulate the supercomputer hubs. The commission members are:  view article

Do you have a special place for you and your family? For my family, that place is the Big Bend region and particularly Big Bend National Park. Texas is blessed with two national parks. Guadalupe Mountains National Park contains Texas’ highest peak, Guadalupe Peak. And the fall colors of McKittrick Canyon are spectacular. But Big Bend National Park is my favorite spot on earth. Its remote desert beauty is a balm to my soul. I am most content when I stare up at a clear Milky Way on a cold November evening.  Big Bend National Park was officially established on June 12, 1944. Some of the park's roads and trails were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The park is massive, containing 1,252 square miles. This makes it larger than Rhode Island’s land area. view article

Metroplex residents seeking their next career opportunity can take a break from scouring through websites and submitting job applications on Thursday when the North Texas Job Fair makes its return. Globe Life Field will host the 2026 North Texas Job Fair 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Aug. 6. Organizers expect a lineup of more than 650 employers — including the city of Arlington, Lockheed Martin and the Texas Rangers — offering 66,000 positions.  “​​We’re actually going to be taking up four concourses at Globe Life, which is the most we’ve ever had,” said Nicolette Pianelli, the outreach director for U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne. “We have pretty much employers across almost every industry.”  The event will offer entry, mid-level and senior positions in industries such as aviation, law enforcement, healthcare, retail, education and more. Some employers will offer on-the-spot interviews for open positions.  view article

Fort Worth resident Sue Weston has always considered herself “all for business.” As the booming data center industry comes to Fort Worth and surrounding areas, she understands the economic benefits that developers and city leaders say the projects will bring. But as an environmentalist, Weston worries about the possible side effects on Fort Worth’s natural resources and the quality of life of her family and neighbors. Weston owns the garden center and event venue Weston Gardens, which sits adjacent to the $10 billion data center project led by energy conglomerate Black Mountain in southeast Fort Worth. In recent months, Weston joined a growing chorus of Tarrant County residents and data center skeptics calling for strict regulations, a temporary pause or an outright ban on data center development. At local government meetings and community town halls, residents have urged elected officials to pump the brakes on data center projects in Fort Worth, research their impact on the environment and come up with thoughtful ways to regulate the developments.  view article

Over the last few months, people have cut down surveillance cameras owned by the company Flock Safety with an electric saw in upstate New York, thrown paint on them in Oakland, California, and rammed a truck into them in Idaho. One man in Florida sits in a lawn chair holding up a piece of cardboard on a pole to block the camera's view. City governments have joined in by deactivating the cameras or canceling contracts with Flock in Fort Collins, Colorado; Eugene, Oregon; Madison, Wisconsin; Knoxville, Tennessee; Syracuse, New York; and Walla Walla, Washington.   Flock sells its services as a crime-fighting tool, built on a network of cameras that record and analyze everything that passes by them. Law enforcement agencies that have contracts with Flock use its troves of observed license plate numbers and other vehicle data to track or reconstruct the movements of vehicles in criminal investigations. view article

Some families in San Antonio may need to add new backpacks to their shopping lists as they gear up for a new school year.   Harlandale Independent School District recently adopted a new policy, requiring that all students use clear or mesh backpacks for the 2026-27 school year, which starts Aug. 12. It’s the first year the district of roughly 11,500 students has done so.   While some parents feel like the new policy is inconvenient, they say it makes them feel safer when sending their kids to school.  view article

Abbott says HHSC acted on his directive by referring allegations involving two South Texas hospitals to Ken Paxton for possible enforcemen view article

Rumors that former Dallas ISD superintendent Michael Hinojosa would run for mayor started shortly after he stepped down from his second stint of leading the district in 2022.  Those rumors became reality when he officially announced his campaign this week— 16 months ahead of the November 2027 election.   "I'm baaaack," Hinojosa said in a sing-song voice during his first presser Tuesday morning.   November 2027 will be an open seat election because Mayor Eric Johnson is termed out. Hinojosa is the first person to announce his candi view article

Reports circulated Tuesday morning that Rogan was expected to host the vice president on an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Adam Wren, a senior national politics correspondent for POLITICO, reported that a person familiar with the plans said Vance was expected to record the podcast. 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.