Good Morning!On this day in 1891, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury officially opened the new deepwater port at Velasco on the Brazos River. The boomtown flourished until the 1900 Galveston hurricane leveled it.
Last week, we passed along a story featuring the most influential Texans of the last 250 years as selected by the editors and readers of Chron.
We asked for your votes. After receiving hundreds of responses, here are the most influential Texans according to the readers of the Texas Flyover:
Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, George W. Bush, Sam Rayburn, Ann Richards, Audie Murphy, Barbara Jordan, Charles Goodnight, and Elon Musk
If you got a little too much sun over the Fourth of July weekend, you’re probably paying for it now. Before you reach for expensive creams, experts say several tried-and-true remedies can calm irritated skin and speed up recovery. In today’s Flyover Podcast, Ayla shares five of the most effective sunburn remedies and explains why they work. Curious which ones made the list? Tune in here to learn more!
Later today, watch for a special email message from our partner, EnergyX, about an early-stage investment opportunity in a pioneering lithium company backed by major industry leaders.
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The Texas Stock Exchange began trading on Monday in Dallas, opening the most well-funded challenge to the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ in decades.
The phased rollout starts with member broker-dealers, banks, and trading firms trading test stocks, with thousands of equities coming online through July. Exchange-traded funds are expected this fall, corporate listings by year’s end, and the first IPOs in early 2027.
The Dallas-based startup is backed by $275 million from investors including BlackRock and Citadel Securities. Since TXSE announced its plans in 2024, the NYSE and NASDAQ have each opened Texas branches.
Justices Won’t Block Texas App Law
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to block Texas’ App Store Accountability Act, leaving the age-verification law in force while a First Amendment challenge plays out.
The law requires app stores to verify every user’s age and to link minors’ accounts to a parent, who must approve each download or purchase. A federal judge in Austin blocked it in December, but the 5th Circuit revived it last month.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, backed by 27 other state attorneys general, defended the law. “Texas has not only the right, but the duty, to protect children from the harms of our modern digital space,” he said after the appeals court ruling.
The challengers, a trade group representing Apple and Google and a coalition of Texas students, argue the law restricts lawful speech for adults and minors alike. Trade group president Matt Schruers said such choices “should be made around the dinner table, not the governor’s desk.”
Jason Horne, a medic and firefighter for 20 years, was on the Johnson County lake with his 12-year-old daughter when a group frantically flagged him down. A boat carrying nine people had flipped, trapping three children beneath the hull.
Horne dove in, freed one small child, and revived another. The third, a boy tangled in anchor-line rope, surfaced when other boaters flipped the boat. He wasn’t breathing, but Horne restored a pulse before racing him to a waiting dock.
All three children were hospitalized for evaluation, and no other life-threatening injuries were reported. “We are incredibly grateful for the courageous and selfless actions of the off-duty firefighter,” Alvarado police said in a statement.
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➤ Statewide: Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a $13 million settlement with Walmart over allegations it misrepresented pay in its Spark Driver delivery program, including customer tips, base pay, and incentive opportunities. About half the funds have already been distributed to affected drivers. (See Details)
➤ Houston: A man drove off in a vehicle with three children inside, ages 1, 3, and 10, after their mother left them in the car while she went into an Aldine gas station on Monday, Harris County deputies said. The mother tracked the car through one child’s phone, and Humble police stopped the vehicle and recovered all three safely. (More)
➤ Dallas: Three Romanian nationals were sentenced to as much as 30 years in prison for running a credit card skimming operation that stole the financial data of nearly 800 North Texas shoppers, prosecutors announced Monday. (See Details)
➤ Big Spring: The federal Bureau of Prisons will permanently close the Federal Correctional Institution in Big Spring and its satellite camp, part of a nationwide restructuring of six facilities tied to staffing shortages and a maintenance backlog. (See Details)
➤ Kerrville: The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country has raised $150 million from more than 140,000 donors in the year since the July 4, 2025, flood, CEO Austin Dickson said, adding that families are recovering at very different paces. (More)
➤ Dallas: Police and firefighters pulled a young woman from a steep, sewage-filled ravine behind Emmett J. Conrad High School on June 28 after a passerby heard her faint cries. Crews crossed a quarter-mile of rough terrain in 104-degree heat, and she was hospitalized for severe dehydration. (See Details)
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➤ The San Antonio Spurs are asking Bexar County to amend their lease to allow up to four home games per season away from Frost Bank Center. The request comes as the team has already committed to playing games in France in 2027 and continues negotiations on a new $1.3 billion downtown arena. (More)
➤ Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez was voted the American League’s starting designated hitter for the All-Star Game on July 14. He leads the AL in both home runs (27). (More)
➤ Meanwhile, Texas Rangers reliever Jacob Latz earned his first career All-Star selection after leading all MLB relievers in multi‑inning saves, and he is the Rangers’ lone representative in this year’s game. (More)
➤ Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson filed for salary arbitration, making him an unrestricted free agent after the 2026-27 season. He turned down a lucrative eight-year offer from the Seattle Kraken, but the Stars haven’t been able to lock him into a long-term contract. (More)
➤ Caterpillar, the Irving-based manufacturer, pledged up to $5 million to Texas workforce training, part of its five-year, $100 million national initiative, at an event with Gov. Greg Abbott at its Seguin engine plant last week. The funding targets advanced manufacturing and industry-technician training statewide. (See Details)
➤ The City of Taylor is investing $500,000 into its downtown through four grant programs: the Front Porch Package, Stay-A-While, Multi-Business Event, and Economic Development Recruitment. (More)
➤ H-E-B, the San Antonio-based grocer, reopened its expanded Kyle H-E-B plus! store at more than 182,000 square feet, adding a True Texas BBQ restaurant, a wellness primary care clinic, and upgraded departments for the growing Hill Country community. (See Photos)
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➤ Sky Elements flew a 2,500-drone show July 1 in North Richland Hills to kick off Fourth of July celebrations, featuring configurations forming George Washington, Uncle Sam, and a pyrotechnic bald eagle. The video drew nearly 3 million YouTube views in two days. (See Video)
➤ The new backcountry area at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, north of Fredericksburg, opens for self-guided day use today. There’s no parking on-site, so visitors hike in roughly two miles from the park headquarters to reach the gate. (See Details)
➤ Austin ranked ninth on WalletHub’s list of America’s most educated cities, the only Texas metro in the top 50. The report analyzed the 150 largest U.S. metros. Dallas-Fort Worth placed 67th, Houston 88th, and San Antonio 100th. (More)
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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:
➤ Skip the expensive creams, because here are five sure-fire remedies to calm sunburned skin and speed recovery. (Hear Details)
➤ Charlie Kirk’s suspected assassin heads to a Utah courtroom this week, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. (Hear Episode)
➤ China test-fired a long-range ballistic missile from a submarine into the South Pacific, inside a decades-old nuclear-free zone. (Listen Now)
Texas Stock Exchange Begins Trading
