Good Morning! On this day in 1871, the legislature authorized the establishment of the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, allocating $75,000 for the construction of the institution. A 2,416-acre site near Bryan was selected as the home of Texas A&M University, which opened its doors in October 1876.
The Texas House passed two major education bills yesterday. Check out today’s Roundup section for details.
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The Texas House passed legislation yesterday to provide an additional $7.7 billion in public school funding and allocate $1 billion to a new school choice program that would establish parent-directed education savings accounts for up to 100,000 eligible students in its first year.
House Bill 2 increases the state’s base funding per student from $6,160 to $6,555. It also raises teacher salaries between $3,500 and $7,000, limits the hiring of uncertified teachers, and allocates special education funding. The measure received preliminary approval in a 144-4 vote.
Senate Bill 2 would provide participating families with 85% of the amount public schools receive for each student, which currently amounts to a little more than $10,000 a year. Homeschoolers would receive a lesser amount, and the program would prioritize special needs and low-income students.
Prior to debate, President Donald Trump held a phone call with Republican members urging them to support the bill, and dozens of protesters gathered in the State Capitol to oppose it.
Mayra Flores Challenging Henry Cuellar
Mayra Flores, a former Republican congresswoman who briefly flipped a Democratic district in South Texas after the incumbent resigned in 2022, announced she is running for the congressional seat occupied by Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo). Cuellar was indicted last year on federal bribery charges.
Flores won a special election for Texas’s 34th Congressional District in June 2022, but she lost to Democrat Vicente Gonzalez in November and again in 2024. Following her announcement that she intends to challenge Cuellar, Flores was briefly hospitalized for an unknown reason.
Cuellar has represented Texas’s 28th Congressional District—since 2005. He previously served as Texas Secretary of State and as a member of the Texas House. He has described himself as a “moderate centrist.”
Last May, Cuellar was accused of accepting nearly $600,000 from Azerbaijan and a Mexican commercial bank in exchange for legislative influence.
Texas National Parks Among Best for Wildlife
Both of the state’s national parks—Big Bend National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park—ranked in the top 10 for wildlife watching, according to a recent analysis by outdoor apparel brand KÜHL.
The top spot went to Grand Canyon National Park, while Big Bend ranked third and Guadalupe Mountains ranked sixth. The rankings were determined by species diversity and visitor interest in eight wildlife categories, including mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, and mollusks.
With 59 reptilian species—including desert tortoises and Texas horned lizards—Big Bend ranked first in that category. It came in second for birdwatching, contributing to the state’s No. 1 overall ranking for that activity in a separate study.
Guadalupe Mountains boasts 47 species of mollusks, ranking fourth in that category. It is also home to 43 species of reptiles and 69 mammal species, including mule deer, elk, and porcupines.
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➤ Dallas: The suspect accused of shooting four students at Wilmer-Hutchins High School on Tuesday, 17-year-old Tracy Haynes Jr., has turned himself in to police and is detained on a $600,000 bond. The victims are expected to recover. (See Details)
➤ San Antonio: A teenage student was shot and killed yesterday near a public alternative school when a fight broke out among a group of at least eight students. (More)
➤ Liberty County: The Texas Commission on Jail Standards ordered the county jail to shut down temporarily due to several “non-compliance issues.” (More)
➤ State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) announced he is running to replace Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is challenging U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the upcoming election. The president of an independent oil and gas company, Middleton announced he plans to spend $10 million of his own money on the campaign. (More)
➤ Fort Bend County: Taral Patel, a former county staffer and a candidate for county commissioner in last year’s election, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges related to posting racist comments about himself using a fake social media account in an attempt to garner voter sympathy. (See Details)
➤ Corpus Christi: Coastal restoration company Natrx has partnered with The Nature Conservancy to install 3D-printed breakwater structures off the coast of Shamrock Island, which currently loses about 14 feet of land per year to erosion. (Watch Video)
➤ Galveston County: Commissioners voted to end toll collections for a bridge that was paid off years ago. Over half of the $500,000 collected annually was spent on staffing the bridge’s toll booths, which only accepted cash. (More)
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➤ The Dallas Mavericks faced off against the Sacramento Kings last night with their playoff hopes on the line. (See Score)
➤ After sweeping No. 9 LSU last week, Texas A&M softball has captured the nation’s No. 1 ranking for the first time in program history. (More)
➤ A former Baylor athletics staffer is facing NCAA sanctions for placing 2,950 “impermissible” bets totaling $45,979 on contests during his five-year tenure. (More)
➤ NFL veteranTyron Smith, who played left tackle for the Dallas Cowboys for 13 years before playing for the New York Jets last year, signed a one-day contract with the Cowboys so that he could retire as a member of the team. (More)
➤ Artificial intelligence startup Cognigy is moving its U.S. headquarters from San Francisco to Plano. The company, which has raised about $160 million in funding, designs customer service chatbots and counts companies like Toyota, Nestle, and DHL among its clients. (More)
➤ Austin real estate investor Nate Paul, who has been accused of bank and wire fraud and was a key figure in the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2023, accepted a plea deal requiring him to pay a $1 million fine and serve four months of overnight home confinement. (More)
➤ Meanwhile, billionaire real estate investor John Goff’s company broke ground yesterday on a new 170,000-square-foot office building in Fort Worth. When it opens in 2027, JPMorgan Chase & Co. will occupy three floors. (More)
➤ United Regional Healthcare System, a hospital network based in Wichita Falls, announced it plans to invest $853 million over the next 15 years in building new facilities, expanding telemedicine, and integrating artificial intelligence into its services. (More)
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➤ Texas man Andrew Longoria has amassed over 1,308 memorabilia items related to the late Latina pop singer Selena—a Guinness World Record. (See Photos)
➤ Tyler Stevenson, a 27-year-old Belton man, recently reconnected with the paramedics who helped his mother deliver him on the side of I-35. “It’s pretty cool to meet him 27 years later,” one of the first responders said. (Watch Video)
➤ Country music legend George Strait surprised a fan when he pulled up in the drive-thru of a Dairy Queen near Cotulla on Saturday. “He is so handsome and so friendly,” Becky Gonzalez said. “It was awesome.” (See Photo)
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Have you ever visited Guadalupe Mountains National Park?
Texas House Passes Education Bills
