Trump orders work on new census, says people in US illegally 'WILL NOT BE COUNTED'  President Donald Trump declared in a Thursday morning Truth Social post that he has directed the Commerce Department to start working on a new census, noting that illegal aliens in the U.S. will not be included in the population count.  "I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024," the president said in the post.  view article

Just days before the first day of school at the newly constructed Homer C. Calfee Middle School, part of Willis ISD, the City of Conroe shut off the school’s water service. The school is set to welcome more than 800 students on August 13, but parents said important back-to-school events like orientation have been postponed because of the water permitting problem. view article

A new school year means even more classroom time for students at 15 Fort Worth ISD schools, the district announced. To accelerate academic growth, the Fort Worth ISD School Board approved a plan to add additional school days at 15 campuses. At these schools, the school year will begin Aug. 12 and extend to June 30. The plan adds 25 more instructional days for students at those campuses. view article

As students prepare to return to class, HISD is rolling out a new cell phone ban under a new state law that takes effect this school year. The law, House Bill 1481, requires all Texas school districts to restrict students from using personal electronic devices during the school day. That includes cell phones, tablets, smartwatches, headphones, and earbuds. view article

The countdown for returning to class is on with most Houston-area students starting a new school year next week. This weekend also marks Tax-Free Weekend where shoppers can purchase many school essentials without paying sales tax. To help out, many major retailers across the country and in the Houston area currently have deals to help students return to class or to college without breaking the bank.   Here are some of the deals:  view article

The agency initially blocked the payout because of two state investigations into now-banned lottery courier services, one of which sold the winning ticket. view article

For the seventeen year-olds that gathered in late July to begin their college applications, it may have still felt like summer, but for the five-person college counseling team at the newly built YES Prep Northline secondary campus, the bootcamp was the culmination of months of work preparing to send the class of 2026 off to college. Equipped with the folder of all folders — including an itinerary for the two-day college bootcamp, usernames and passwords to college application websites, a community service hours tracker, a blank version of the Common App, a master college list-building worksheet, a guide to calculating class rank and information on SAT scores benchmarks — the emerging high school seniors got to work. view article

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UNT will pay more than $700,000 to resolve accusations of racism.  A public university in Texas just learned an expensive lesson.  According to media reports, the University of North Texas will pay $725,000 to Professor Robert Jackson. Jackson sued the university in 2021, claiming to have suffered professional and emotional damage following accusations of racism leveled at him in te immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s death.  The dispute arose following a discussion in an obscure academic journal edited by Jackson. 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

Just a few months shy of the one-year anniversary of a near-miss incident at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Austin City Council members approved a resolution July 24 urging the Federal Aviation Administration to prioritize staffing at the airport. Austin City Council member Vanessa Fuentes, who authored the measure, said the call to action includes several components, among them an FAA-approved air traffic controller academy in partnership with Austin Community College.  “We want to continue to ask and demand that the FAA take action, but also add a local solution,” Fuentes said in an interview with Community Impact. “Rather than pointing a finger, we are lending a hand, trying to address and help solve for the staffing shortages.”  If the city succeeds in establishing a certified air traffic controller program locally, it would be the first and only one of its kind in Texas. view article

Austin city leaders are urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reinstate $50 million in funding for flood protection upgrades to critical city utility infrastructure — money that was pulled earlier this year. In 2022, FEMA appropriated $50 million for part of the Fallwell Lane Capital Renewal Project, which aims to bolster flood resilience at a water treatment plant and a power plant in Del Valle, both of which border the flood-prone Colorado River. But the Trump administration canceled the FEMA program that provided the funds. Without those funds, the back half of the project — meant to protect $1.4 billion of infrastructure and prevent sewage overflow and power outages — has been stuck in financial limbo.  view article

Democratic members slammed the process, questioning why hearings were happening before maps were available for review. Chair Cody Vasut said follow-up public hearings will be scheduled once maps are filed. view article

Our mission is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Based directly inside schools throughout Bexar County and surrounding areas, Communities In Schools of San Antonio connects children and their families to educational and community-based resources tailored to each student’s needs. view article

President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday proposed revoking a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. Senate Democrats are imploring Trump ‘s administration to intervene as Palestinians suffer and starve in Israeli-controlled Gaza, with more than 40 senators signing onto a letter Tuesday urging the resumption of ceasefire talks and sharply criticizing an Israeli-backed American organization created to distribute food aid. Trump has been playing more golf Tuesday in Scotland on the White House has called a working trip including meetings with world leaders.  Here’s the Latest: view article

At least two summer camps in the Texas Hill Country have invited campers back after sustaining little to no damage from the flood. Other camps are still combing through the rubble. view article

East Texas school districts are making plans for a new state law that would create a public catalog of what books are in the libraries and classrooms. Senate Bill 13 allows school districts to decide which books are permitted in their school libraries. The law goes into effect on September 1. Nacogdoches ISD Superintendent, Gray Burton said the district is working on updating several campus library catalogs. They will also add books from teachers’ classrooms as of Monday. view article

Children’s crafts and certificates of achievement remain in some corners of Dobie Pre-Kindergarten School. The campus officially closed its doors in May 2025 as part of Richardson ISD’s Project RightSize consolidation plan. Dallas County and Richardson ISD were able to strike a deal to repurpose the campus into a resource hub. view article

Houston-based chain Shipley Do-Nuts no longer has Texas ownership after being acquired Monday by a California private equity firm, Houston TV channel KHOU reports.    A spokesman for Peak Rock Capital announced Monday that the Austin-based firm had sold Shipley to Leichtman Capital Partners, based in Beverly Hills. Also included in Leichtman's portfolio are Cici's Pizza and Nothing Bundt Cakes.  Shipley Do-Nuts, one of the largest donut companies in the country, got its start as a small Houston shop in 1936. Now, the nearly 90-year-old business has more than 375 stores operating in 14 states. view article

Children’s crafts and certificates of achievement remain in some corners of Dobie Pre-Kindergarten School. The campus officially closed its doors in May 2025 as part of Richardson ISD’s Project RightSize consolidation plan. Dallas County and Richardson ISD were able to strike a deal to repurpose the campus into a resource hub. view article

A new bill passed by the 89th Texas Legislature will officially prohibit Carroll ISD students -- as well as all Texas public and open-enrollment charter schools -- from using cell phones once the 2025-26 school year begins. House Bill 1481 will "implement a new policy restricting the use of personal electronic communication devices during the school day" effective this upcoming school year, according to a Carroll ISD press release. view article

The Argyle ISD board of trustees unanimously approved a flexible school day program at a July 22 meeting. The program will be available for students for the 2025-26 school year. view article

Starting this fall, students across Fort Worth ISD will no longer be allowed to use their cellphones, smartwatches, earbuds, or other personal devices during the school day. The district’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved the new “Put it Away, Learn Today” policy at its July 22 meeting, aligning with a new state law that takes effect Sept. 1. view article

Districts across Texas are making decisions about student cellphone use ahead of a new state law taking effect this fall. On Tuesday, Fort Worth ISD joined that list. During a board meeting on Tuesday, the district voted to approve a new phone policy that bans personal communication devices in schools. view article

Bexar County’s largest school district is developing a cellphone use policy that will allow students to bring devices on campus this fall but keep them turned off and out of sight during the school day, in compliance with a new state law.  view article

Chances of formation remain low, National Weather Service forecasters said. There is a 10 percent chance the system will develop into a tropical cyclone over the next two days, and a 10 percent chance it will develop into a cyclone over the next seven days.  While much of the moisture comes from a typical Atlantic tropical wave, some of the rain will be fueled by the remnants of Invest 93L – the same system that brought rain to the region last weekend.   The system will continue to move southwest into the north-central part of the Gulf  over the next few days.  view article

Dayton ISD is expanding its dual credit opportunities for high school students through a new partnership with Lamar University in Beaumont. At the July 15 school board meeting, trustees approved the agreement, which will offer new Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses in welding, audio/visual technology, culinary arts, and agricultural science to students in grades 10 through 12 at Dayton High School. view article

Special Session Kicks off With Redistricting Fight Looming and Billions on the Table   The Texas Legislature gaveled in today for the start of a 30-day special session, called by Gov. Greg Abbott to tackle a wide-ranging agenda from flood recovery to mid-decade redistricting.  Abbott’s 18-item call includes several unfinished conservative priorities from the regular session, but the most politically charged is redrawing the state’s congressional map. Though redistricting is typically done once every decade, Republicans are eyeing changes they say reflect population shifts and court rulings.   Democrats, meanwhile, have already slammed the effort as a partisan power grab. view article

State Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat based in Austin, continued his schedule of news media interviews, sitting down with popular podcast host Joe Rogan to discuss how his Christian views contradict those of the religiously conservative politicians leading Texas.  The 36-year-old former middle school student (who is now studying at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary) previously gained notoriety for criticizing Gov. Greg Abbott's school voucher program and the newly passed state law that requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments. More recently, Talarico has shared that he's considering a possible run for the U.S. Senate. view article

Outside Thomas Jefferson High School, educational pressures have been building. But inside was where Dallas ISD principals reverted to their “why.” “I’m a principal where I grew up,” Cedar Crest Elementary Principal Stacy Ray said. Having brought the school from a state grade of an “F” to a “B,” Ray said her focus has been on improving the school’s climate and culture. view article

Montgomery County school districts are making plans to comply with a new state law requiring the Ten Commandments to be on display in each Texas classroom. Gov. Greg Abbott in June signed off on Senate Bill 10, which states "a public elementary or secondary school shall display in a conspicuous place in each classroom of the school a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments." view article

The Judson Independent School District is paying an outside consultant $1,500 a day to help the school board understand the budget and reduce the deficit. That’s according to the consultant’s contract, obtained by TPR through an open records request. view article

The San Antonio Independent School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved the sale of a critical piece of land that is expected to become the future home of the San Antonio Missions. The board approved the resolution during its Monday meeting to sell the property to Bexar County after discussing the move in a closed session. The projected $160 million, 4,500-seat stadium would replace Wolff Stadium, which does not meet current Major League Baseball (MLB) standards. view article

El Paso Independent School District has updated its student dress code for the upcoming 2025-26 school year, including uniform requirements for high-school students, the district announced on Tuesday night, July 15. The new updated code reflects “the district’s commitment to creating inclusive student-centered campuses that honor the diversity of every learner and support families with clear, practical guidance,” the district said. view article

El Paso Independent School District announced updates to its student dress code for the 2025-26 school year. EPISD officials said the revised guidelines were developed with input from campus leaders, educators, and families, and are designed to support safe learning environments while simplifying expectations for families. view article