Abbott Expands Special Session Agenda

A Texas Senate panel advanced a Republican-backed congressional redistricting plan yesterday. President Donald Trump said in a post that the House’s approval of the new map was a “Big WIN for the Great State of Texas!!!”

On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott added three items to the special session agenda, including legislation to punish lawmakers who are willfully absent. “We need to ensure that rogue lawmakers cannot hijack the important business of Texans during a legislative session by fleeing the state,” he wrote in a statement.

During the House debate on the new map, state Rep. Nicole Collier (D-Fort Worth) went to the Capitol bathroom to participate in a video call with California Democrats about their effort to pass a new map of their own. She ended the call when she was told she was breaking the law.

On Tuesday, a state district judge in El Paso temporarily blocked Attorney General Ken Paxton from attempting to revoke the license of Beto O’Rourke’s Powered by People political action committee, which Paxton has accused of breaking the law by funding the quorum-breaking House Democrats.

Camp Mystic Families Testify at Capitol

The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country has pledged $40 million to provide housing assistance to flood victims. Gov. Greg Abbott said he has “never seen a community or foundation respond faster at getting the resources donated to the people who need it the most.”

The organization has raised more than $100 million since the July 4 flash floods, which killed 117 in Kerr County. Future distributions will fund mental health services and projects that support the region’s economic recovery and revive its quality of life.

On Wednesday, families of Camp Mystic victims testified at the Texas Capitol to support legislation to enhance safety regulations for camps. “Protocols that should have been in place were ignored. As a result, our daughter was stolen from us,” said Cici Williams Steward, whose daughter Cile remains missing.

Meanwhile, the Kerrville City Council established the maximum tax rate it could adopt without voter approval during a Tuesday meeting. The council will formally adopt a tax rate next month.

Big Country Getting Another Data Center

A Denver company is building a massive $25 billion data center on 1,200 acres in Shackelford County. The 1.4 gigawatt project, dubbed Frontier, is being developed by Vantage Data Centers.

The campus will comprise 10 data centers housing ultra-high-density server racks cooled by a closed-loop chiller system to minimize water usage. Construction is already underway.

“This investment in Texas will be a significant economic growth driver for the area as we rapidly deploy the digital infrastructure needed to support AI applications,” said Vantage representative Dana Adams.

OpenAI is developing a 5-gigawatt data center in partnership with Oracle in nearby Abilene for the $500 billion Stargate initiative. ERCOT has predicted the state’s energy consumption will double by 2030, due in part to the huge growth of data centers in Texas.

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➤ U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Austin) announced he will run to succeed Ken Paxton as attorney general, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick launched his reelection campaign. Meanwhile, former Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) announced his retirement via a video by actor Chuck Norris. (See Details)

➤ San Antonio: The city council approved a nonbinding agreement to pay $489 million toward the construction of a new Spurs arena despite strong objections from Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones. (More)

➤ Austin: The University of Texas System Board of Regents voted Wednesday to hire former Republican lawmaker John Zerwas as the next chancellor and former Ken Paxton staffer Jim Davis as the next president of UT Austin. (See Details)

➤ Lancaster: Preston Malone, a sophomore football player at Lancaster High School, died Wednesday after suffering a heat stroke during Monday’s indoor practice. “You never want to experience these things,” said Superintendent Dr. A.K. Perera. (More)

➤ Houston: A massive fire at an apartment complex on Tuesday evening injured two firefighters and displaced more than 300 residents. “I broke down in tears. I couldn’t believe it,” said resident Elizabeth Przyborski. (Watch Video)

➤ Tarrant County: Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, a Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitive whose 6-year-old son Noel has been missing since at least 2023, was arrested by authorities in India. FBI Director Kash Patel announced her capture on social media. (More)

➤ Corpus Christi: The U.S. Navy positively identified the remains of Petty Officer 3rd Class Storekeeper Robert Stillman Garcia, who was killed aboard the USS California during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He will be buried in the Coastal Bend State Veterans Cemetery in October. (More)

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➤ Paige Bueckers scored 44 points for the Dallas Wings on Wednesday night—a single-game WNBA rookie record. (More)

➤ Dallas Baptist University has agreed to join the PAC-12 for baseball starting in 2026. (More)

➤ Houston Astros outfielder Taylor Trammell was evaluated for a concussion after he ran into the wall while tracking a fly ball during Wednesday’s 7-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers. (More)

➤ Texans safety Jimmie Ward is facing a $20 million domestic violence civil suit following his arrest earlier this summer. (More)

Yesterday’s Results: NFL | MLB | Soccer | WNBA | LLWS | PGA | LPGA

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➤ A factory operated by Austin-based electronics manufacturer Flex was damaged by a Russian missile strike in Ukraine early Thursday morning. Some 800 night-shift workers had taken shelter prior to the attack. (See Details)

➤ White Castle, the country’s oldest burger chain, is famous for its square-shaped sliders. It’s expanding to Texas with a location in The Colony’s Grandscape shopping center. (More)

➤ Misti and Ben Guenther, owners of the Jungle Jam indoor playground in New Braunfels, are opening a new location in Seguin at the site of the recently closed ZDT’s Amusement Park. (More)

➤ Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences, the $10 billion startup known for its de-extinction efforts, is expanding in Australia, where it aims to revive extinct species like the Tasmanian tiger. (More)

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➤ Texas A&M University has partnered with Buc-ee’s to sell more than 45 of the convenience store’s most popular products at its flagship College Station campus. (More)

➤ Drilling companies are using AI-powered drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras to detect methane leaks at rig sites across the Permian Basin. (Watch Video)

➤ Meanwhile, Catahoula Custom Spraying of Ballinger uses 140-pound drones to apply pesticides at nearby farms. Owners of smaller farms have welcomed the technology as an alternative to crop dusting. (See Photos)

➤ South Texan Laura Treviño donated one of her kidneys to her twin brother, Francisco Alvarado, who has been on dialysis for the last seven years. The siblings underwent surgery on Wednesday and spent their birthday recovering in the hospital. (More)

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Have you ever eaten at White Castle?

1. Yes
2. No

Yesterday’s Results:

Does the proposed redistricting plan put your residence in a new district?

1. Yes: 10%
2. No: 39%
3. Not sure: 51%

What Texas high school football team has the most state titles?

Show me the answer