Good morning! On this day in 1915, a Category 4 hurricane came ashore at San Luis Pass with 130 mph winds, killing 275 people along the Texas coast. Galveston’s seawall held, but 90% of the island’s homes outside of it were destroyed.
An item in Around Texas mentions that the Department of the Interior just opened millions of acres for hunting and fishing. In Et Cetera, 11 kids won lifetime fishing licenses at a weekend tourney. Our Poll asks how often you fish these days. Hit reply to share any whoppers about the biggest one you landed (or that got away).
How does the military decide who’s tough enough to become a Navy SEAL? Why does it take a full year to train someone to fly a plane that never leaves the ground? And what exactly happens inside the school that teaches Americans how to survive being captured? The military doesn’t advertise most of this, but the answers are out there, buried in Navy attrition reports, Army training records, and firsthand accounts from the people who made it through. Today on The Flyover Podcast, Ayla digs into what that paper trail reveals about how America really forges its warfighters. Tune in here!
Later today, keep an eye out for a message from our partner Blood Pressure Secrets revealing the food they say ranks No. 1 for blood pressure support. Think you can guess it before you see the answer?
Car insurance has become one of those bills that seems to creep higher every renewal, even if nothing about your driving has changed. That’s why today’s sponsor is Insurify, a free comparison tool that helps drivers quickly see if they’re paying more than they need to.
More than 40 Texas House members from both parties asked Gov. Greg Abbott Thursday to help halt border barrier construction inside Big Bend National Park.
The letter says the park’s mountains and cliffs already form a “God-given border barrier,” with drones and radar handling the rest. Rep. Eddie Morales Jr., D-Eagle Pass, said Texas “should not bend the knee” to the federal government.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said the agency isn’t building a 30-foot wall or stadium lighting there, and that the bulldozers people spotted are doing survey and design work. CBP is adding one access road, improving existing ones, and installing cameras and vehicle barriers.
Abbott’s office hasn’t said whether he’ll act. A spokesman said rugged areas like Big Bend are “great opportunities to deploy technology” to secure the border. A Lipan Apache nonprofit and a Terlingua outfitter sued Friday to block the work, citing damage to archaeological sites.
Killeen Schools Mourn Fallen Pilots
Both Fort Hood pilots killed in last week’s Apache helicopter crash near Salado grew up in Killeen ISD schools. “We share in the grief of their families, friends, fellow soldiers, former classmates, and all who knew and loved them,” Killeen ISD officials said. “We are proud they were part of the KISD family.”
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Deontre Huey, 34, wore No. 30 as a running back at Killeen High, graduating in 2011 and joining the Army in 2014. Former coach Sam Jones said Huey wasn’t handed a starting job but competed his way onto the field by his senior year. “He didn’t give up,” Jones said.
Warrant Officer Seth Olmstead, 25, of Belton, graduated from Harker Heights High in 2019 and had just married his high school sweetheart. Friend Logan Faber, who called him “an incredible person,” said Olmstead flew small planes with his grandfather and always wanted to fly.
The two died Aug. 12 when their helicopter went down during a maintenance test flight, sparking a 155-acre grass fire. The Army has grounded Apache training flights while it investigates.
Bomb Threat Strands Passengers at Hobby
A bomb threat called in to Houston police Saturday evening grounded flights at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport and left passengers sitting on the tarmac for hours.
The call reached police watch command at 6:29 p.m. from someone who said a husband was acting strangely and had made a bomb threat referencing the airport. Officers ordered a security screening of one Southwest Airlines flight, which put a hold on other inbound planes.
Nashville Vice Mayor Angie Henderson, aboard a flight bound for home, said passengers waited more than two hours before deplaning five at a time while officers and K-9s sniffed bags.
Officers searched the plane and found nothing. Passengers were let off, and Southwest spokesman Chris Perry said operations were “rolling again” at Hobby. Most departure delays ran about 50 minutes. Houston police said they haven’t found the threat credible and are still investigating.
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➤ Balcones Canyonlands: The Interior Department opened more than 92 million acres of national wildlife refuge land to hunting and fishing, including expanded migratory bird, upland game, and big game hunting at the Central Texas refuge. (See Details)
➤ Medina Lake: The Hill Country reservoir sits at 29.9% full after gaining about 30 feet in a month, up from 9.3% on July 14. It hasn’t hit full capacity since 2019. (See Details)
➤ Caldwell County: A mechanical problem forced a pilot to put a plane down on FM 671 Thursday afternoon, leaving the pilot injured. Nobody else was aboard. The FAA and NTSB are investigating. (More)
➤ Statewide: ERCOT will audit 250 to 300 projects, most of them data centers, before any can connect to the state grid under Gov. Greg Abbott’s Aug. 3 order. The projects account for 200 gigawatts of future demand. (See Details)
➤ Sabine County: Deputies recovered an abducted girl safely in Louisiana near the Mississippi line Sunday and arrested Roger Smith Jr., 60, of Pineland. License plate reader cameras helped track the suspect’s vehicle. (More)
➤ San Angelo: A grass fire that spread from a previously burned debris pile destroyed 26 abandoned vehicles Saturday near Highway 208 North. Four volunteer departments and the Texas A&M Forest Service saved a neighboring home and three workshops. (See Details)
➤ Collinsville: A train derailment blocked U.S. 377 north of town early Sunday, and an oncoming vehicle then slammed into the wreckage, injuring an unknown number of people. Officials closed the highway in both directions between Collinsville and Whitesboro; the cause of the derailment remains under investigation. (More)
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➤ Former Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman John Niland, a six-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl VI champion, died Saturday at 82. Niland spent nine seasons with Dallas before finishing his career with the Philadelphia Eagles. (More)
➤ UConn is hiring Charlie Stevens, who spent the past five seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, as its new general manager, according to a report. Stevens most recently served as San Antonio’s director of grassroots scouting. (More)
➤ Incoming sixth grader Lundyn Reyes of Harker Heights won gold in the 11-year-old boys 3,000-meter run at the AAU Junior Olympic Games in Des Moines, clocking 10:40.03. Coached by his mom, Reyes also earned All-American honors in the 1,500 meters. (More)
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➤ Stone Oak Mercantile, a $6.4 million shopping center on San Antonio’s Far North Side, is nearing completion, with Crust Pizza Co., Paris Baguette, and Black Rock Coffee among the tenants. Developers plan to turn over the 57,325-square-foot building in December. (See Details)
➤ Rice University welcomed its largest incoming class Sunday, more than 1,350 freshmen and 50 transfer students. The school received more than 38,000 first-year applications and admitted about 8% of applicants. Undergraduate enrollment is up roughly 25% since 2020. (More)
➤ Hunger Free Nac, a new coalition of Nacogdoches food charities, launched Saturday to coordinate groups already handing out food. Co-chair James Morris said no single organization coordinates the programs. The Nacogdoches Hope Food Pantry served 312,880 meals through July. (See Details)
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➤ A dive-bombing bird picked a fight with a police officer outside the Southside Place station, and the officer threw punches back. The bird kept coming. (See Video)
➤ Eleven lifetime fishing licenses, worth $1,000 each, went to kids at Saturday’s Steve Simmons Memorial tournament on Pleasure Island in Port Arthur. Anglers 16 and under fished eight categories, from speckled trout to crab. (Read Story)
➤ Country singer Ella Langley was choosing steak and eggs on Friday at 1983 Mexi-Café in Corpus Christi, hours before her sold-out show at the Hilliard Center. She returns to Texas on Oct. 10 in Lubbock. (See Photo)
➤ Over 1,000 pets from more than 35 shelters were up for adoption at Fort Worth’s Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibits Hall this weekend, and more than 800 of them found forever homes. (See Photos)
➤ “I Voted” stickers at Williamson County polling places this November will be designed by local students. Kids in grades 6-12 can enter the contest through Sept. 4, and elementary students will compete with designs for a “Future Voter” sticker. (See Details)
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The following stories are featured exclusively on The Flyover Podcast—a daily show that gives you the most important headlines in under 15 minutes. Clicking the links will take you directly to these stories:
➤ Navy SEAL candidates cover more than 200 miles on roughly four hours of sleep, and most still don’t finish. (Hear Toughest Training)
➤ Two million American raccoons have taken over Germany, and the Nazi commander blamed for it didn’t do it. (Hear Real Culprit)
➤ Your beach read reveals which of four anxieties is quietly driving you. (Hear Your Type)
Lawmakers Press Abbott on Big Bend
