KTBB News, Weather, Talk

AUSTIN – Lawmakers have suggested several initiatives this session to address the online dangers affecting Texas children, but among those progressing through the lower chamber include House Bill 186 filed by Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco. It would prohibit minors from creating accounts on social media sites and require age verification for new users. In addition to restrictions on access, the bill would grant parents the right to request the deletion of their child’s social media account, and a company must comply within 10 days.

“This legislation will allow today’s kids to be kids again,” Patterson told lawmakers on Tuesday, calling this bill “one of the most important pieces of legislation” he has carried.

Patterson’s bill passed the House on Tuesday with 116 votes, the same day as lawmakers passed House Bill 499, by Rep. Mary González, D-Clint, which would require social media platforms to have a warning label concerning the association between a minor’s social media usage and significant mental health issues.

“We do know warning labels have an effect,” Gonzalez told lawmakers on Monday, citing the warning label on cigarettes. “We are using the same concept for social media.”

Both of these bills are expected to receive support from the more conservative Senate, meaning new rules on social media platforms like TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram might be implemented later this year or early next year. If these bills become law, it is expected to face lawsuits from tech companies, who have consistently challenged government mandates on the industry, saying it’s unconstitutional under the First Amendment free speech right.

House Bill 4456, which would require social media platforms to verify the age of account holders, and House Bill 4338, which would require social media platforms to create and maintain third-party safety software to manage online interactions for children, are still pending in committees.

These bills are part of a larger effort that Texas and other states have undertaken over the past few years to mitigate the harmful effects of social media.

“The harms we are seeing in today’s children will only be exacerbated if steps are not taken,” Patterson said.

Studies show that 95% of youth aged 13 to 17 report using social media, with more than a third stating they use social media “almost constantly.”

Nearly 40% of children aged 8 to 12 use social media, despite most platforms requiring a minimum age of 13 to sign up, according to a study by the U.S. Surgeon General.

This has created a generation of chronically online children, and the medical community is still unsure of their long-term effects.

Two years ago, the American Federation of Teachers and the American Psychological Association, among other national organizations, called out social media platforms for undermining classroom learning, increasing costs for school systems, and being a “root cause” of the nationwide youth mental health crisis. The admonishment came after a report detailed how school districts across the country are experiencing significant burdens as they respond to tech’s predatory and prevalent influence in the classroom.

The same year, in an attempt to hold social media companies more accountable, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law House Bill 18, known as the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act. The SCOPE Act requires covered digital service providers to provide minors with certain data protections, prevent minors from accessing harmful content, and give parents tools to manage their child’s use of the service.

It also required school districts to obtain parental consent for most software and social media applications used in the classroom and to look for alternatives to the internet for instruction.

Original article published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

AUSTIN – Texas Health and Human Services Commission late Wednesday began notifying another 33,529 recipients of state benefits that their private information had been improperly accessed.

The latest announcement comes as the state agency continues to investigate a series of breaches by its own employees of its database for Medicaid, food stamp and other assistance programs.

Three months ago, the state notified 61,104 Texans that their personal information may have been improperly accessed by state employees. At that time, seven state employees tied to the breach had been fired including two who stole from recipients food stamp cards.

In February, the agency notified lawmakers that another two state employees had been fired, bringing to a total of nine state employees who had accessed individuals’ accounts without a stated business reason.

HHSC officials said Wednesday that these fired employees are now responsible for breaching the personal information of another 33,529 account holders who had either applied or received assistance between June 2021 and January 2025. It is not known how many of those account holders had their benefits compromised.

The state agency recommends that affected individuals carefully review their accounts and health care provider, insurance company and financial institution statements to make sure their account activity is correct. Any questionable charges should be reported promptly to the provider or company and contact law enforcement.

HHSC advises Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients to check their Lone Star Card transactions for potential fraudulent activity at YourTexasBenefits.com or through the Your Texas Benefits mobile app. Recipients who believe they may have been a victim of SNAP fraud should call 2-1-1, select a language, and choose option 3 to report the fraud to the Texas Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General. They should also contact law enforcement to report the fraud and visit a local HHSC benefits office to have their benefits replaced.

HHSC has determined full names, home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, email addresses, Social Security numbers, Medicaid and Medicare identification numbers, financial, employment, banking, benefits, health, insurance, medical, certificate, license and other personal information may have been inappropriately accessed. Recipients who want to know more can go to this link on the agency’s website.

The state agency is offering two years of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services to those affected by the breach. They can also call 866-362-1773, toll-free and use the engagement number B139792

In addition, HHSC has notified one of its contractors, Maximus, that one of the company’s employees was suspected of improperly using personal information from HHSC’s computer systems. Maximus has since terminated that employee for improperly accessing protected health information of Texans enrolled in state benefits between May 8, 2023 and Feb. 28, 2025.

The health agency’s office of inspector general is investigating the data breaches.

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A least two people drowned when their vehicles were caught in floodwaters in Oklahoma on Wednesday as slow-moving thunderstorms inundated roads across parts of that state and Texas, authorities said, while Pennsylvania residents picked up from a powerful storm that left three people dead.

Heavy rains and severe thunderstorms will mean a heightened risk of flash flooding across the south-central U.S. through early Thursday, the National Weather Service said.

Rains drench parts of Oklahoma and Texas

The storms drenched much of southern Oklahoma and northern Texas, flooding and washing out roads and causing hundreds of flights to be canceled or delayed at major airports.

One man drowned in Oklahoma after his vehicle got swept off a Pottawatomie County highway, said Sheriff Freeland Wood.

“My deputy went in to try and save him, and he got caught up in the same mess,” Wood said.

The deputy was treated at a local hospital and released, Wood said. Floodwaters closed nearly three dozen roadways in the county.

Another drowning was reported in neighboring Lincoln County after a driver’s vehicle got trapped in floodwaters along a highway northwest of Prague, Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesperson Sarah Stewart said.

Authorities in the state reported that numerous drivers were rescued from floodwaters, while some residents in the small city of Lexington were evacuated from homes as the waters rose.

Oklahoma City set a record Wednesday with 11.94 inches (30.33 centimeters) of rain in April, surpassing the 1947 mark of 11.91 inches, according to Oklahoma State Climatologist Gary McManus.

Oklahoma was poised to break the 1942 record for statewide rainfall average of 8.32 inches (21.13 centimeters) for the month, McManus said.

By Wednesday night parts of more than a dozen highways were closed due to flooding and three shelters opened in Comanche County.

In the Dallas area, departures were grounded at Dallas Love Field and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for part of the day because of thunderstorms, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Hundreds of flights were canceled at DFW International Airport and dozens more at Love Field, according to FlightAware.

AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports legislation designed to make it easier for parents to exempt school children from vaccine requirements is fueling tensions over declining vaccination rates amid the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas. Currently, to exempt a child from school vaccine requirements, a parent must request the required form from the Texas Department of State Health Services. The department then mails the form to a parent, who must then fill it out and have it notarized before taking it to the school. State Rep. Lacey Hull, R-Houston, wants the form available on the department’s website, cutting days or weeks from the process as parents wait to receive the required paperwork. During a debate that went late into Monday night, Hull said her House Bill 1586 was a “DOGE-like” proposal solely about government efficiency.

However, several testified before lawmakers that the proposal would undermine public health, expose children to diseases and further erode vaccination rates that have been declining in schools. “By making it easier for parents to opt out of routine childhood vaccinations required for school entry, this bill threatens the protection of vulnerable children who cannot be vaccinated,” said Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The partisan divide was evident during the House Public Health committee’s debate as a Democratic lawmaker questioned an advocate representing an organization dedicated to banning vaccine mandates. Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, said taking sides on the issue based solely on political party affiliation will hurt public health at large. “If we make this purely Republican and Democrats, guess who suffers? All of us,” said Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston.

AUSTIN – The Houston Chronicle reports House lawmakers are proposing to replace the state’s annual STAAR exams with a series of tests given throughout the year under a plan they say would reduce the exams’ high-stakes nature and relieve pressure on students. The widely-criticized State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests would be scrapped in favor of three much shorter tests given at the start, middle, and end of each school year, according to draft legislation released on Tuesday. The plan would mark the most dramatic redesign of the state’s tests since STAAR was established for public and charter school students in 2011.

State Rep. Diego Bernal, a San Antonio Democrat who authored the bill, said having multiple short tests makes the purpose less about grading a student’s learning each year, and more about diagnosing any problem areas and improving them over time. It also means teachers and schools can be better evaluated on student improvement in between tests, he said, rather than just raw performance scores. “We’re not just teaching to the test anymore, we’re allowing teachers to shift and give individualized calibration and attention to students,” Bernal said. “You see the starting point, what kind of progress they’ve made, and how they are doing at the end.” House Bill 4 is up for its first public hearing Tuesday afternoon in the House education committee, whose chair, Republican state Rep. Brad Buckley, is the bill’s primary author. It is a priority bill for House Speaker Dustin Burrows and comes as part of a wider education package that includes vouchers for private schools and a boost in funding for public schools.

AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman reports the Texas Lottery Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to ban third-party “courier companies” that broker game ticket sales through smartphone apps, a practice that has been in place for years but only recently gained political attention. Tuesday’s action came with little discussion, a far cry from the stinging criticism lawmakers heaped on the recently resigned former executive director of the state-run gaming operation during a series of legislative hearings. Several lawmakers expressed concern that the couriers are effectively a work-around to the 1991 state law that established the Texas Lottery, which expressly forbids using a telephone to buy and sell tickets. Others warned that faceless transactions can invite money launderers or those underage to illegally play the lottery in Texas.

Ryan Mindell, the director who resigned this month, and his predecessor Gary Grief, who resigned in February 2024, each told legislative committees that they were powerless under state law to regulate couriers. However, after forceful pushback from lawmakers and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick earlier this year, Mindell reversed course. He said the law permits him to revoke the licenses of lottery retailers who do business with couriers, which the commission affirmed with its vote Tuesday. Commissioner Mark Franz said that initially he was skeptical of imposing a ban on courier companies, noting the Legislature is considering action to either regulate the way they operate in Texas or to outlaw them outright. However, he said, his mind changed once he took a closer look over the weeks since Mindell made his recommendation. “I have during this 30-day period weighed all evidence, and I am persuaded that this is the right move to go forward, and that we should do the maximum amount allowable under our current statute, which is what this does my in understanding,” he said during the meeting. The measure will promote and ensure integrity, security, honesty and fairness in the operation and administration of the lottery, the rule states.